DCCC announces top targets

[Holmes]

I'd post the whole article but it's mostly rhetoric that everyone's seen before, so.

Representative Judy Biggert (IL-13)
Representative Ken Calvert (CA-44)
Representative Michael Castle (DE-AL)
Representative Charlie Dent (PA-15)
Representative Jim Gerlach (PA-06)
Representative Mark Kirk (IL-10)
Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer (MO-09)
Representative Dan Lungren (CA-03)
Representative Thad McCotter (MI-11)
Representative Adam Putnam (FL-12)
Representative Dave Reichert (WA-08)
Representative Pete Sessions (TX-32)

And here's a map from the site.

So, can anyone justify Sessions being on the list? Basically everyone else makes sense, but... anyone with more insight on TX-32 wanna weight in?

[Lunar]

They also identified their most vulnerable incumbents

http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0209/DCCC_announces_Frontline_members.html

Representative John Adler (NJ-03)
Representative Mike Arcuri (NY-24)
Representative John Boccieri (OH-16)
Representative Leonard Boswell (IA-03)
Representative Bobby Bright (AL-02)
Representative Chris Carney (PA-10)
Representative Travis Childers (MS-01)
Representative Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Representative Kathy Dahlkemper (PA-03)
Representative Steve Driehaus (OH-01)
Representative Bill Foster (IL-14)
Representative Gabrielle Giffords (AZ-08)
Representative Alan Grayson (FL-08)
Representative Parker Griffith (AL-05)
Representative Debbie Halvorson (IL-11)
Representative Martin Heinrich (NM-01)
Representative Baron Hill (IN-09)
Representative Jim Himes (CT-04)
Representative Steve Kagen (WI-08)
Representative Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15)
Representative Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Representative Larry Kissell (NC-08)
Representative Suzanne Kosmas (FL-24)
Representative Frank Kratovil (MD-01)
Representative Dan Maffei (NY-25)
Representative Betsy Markey (CO-04)
Representative Eric Massa (NY-29)
Representative Mike McMahon (NY-13)
Representative Jerry McNerney (CA-11)
Representative Walt Minnick (ID-01)
Representative Harry Mitchell (AZ-05)
Representative Glenn Nye (VA-02)
Representative Tom Perriello (VA-05)
Representative Gary Peters (MI-09)
Representative Ciro Rodriguez (TX-23)
Representative Mark Schauer (MI-07)
Representative Kurt Schrader (OR-05)
Representative Carol Shea-Porter (NH-01)
Representative Harry Teague (NM-02)
Representative Dina Titus (NV-03)

[Holmes]

Baron Hill? I thought it was established that Indiana House Dems were more than safe.

[Lunar]

Well, it’s the list of people the DCCC is giving money to, not how much is going to each, which could be influenced by political calculations.  Also, there might be more than a few safe Democrats thrown in there just to make the list less useful to the media and GOP strategists.

[Verily]

Don't call this specific knowledge, but, looking at TX-32, it is possible that Obama won the district or at least came very close depending on where the swings in Dallas County were. The DCCC also may want to throw the Republicans off by having a race on there they won't seriously target. I doubt Sessions is actually in danger even if his district did vote for Obama.

It's worth pointing out that a number of people on the "most vulnerable" list are very likely not at all vulnerable: Himes, Heinrich, Halvorson, Giffords, etc.

[Keystone Phil]

Gerlach's seat will be a real battle since it will likely be open. Dent, however, should be fine. They won't get a top tier opponent to challenge him especially in a midterm.

[Lunar]

It’s not all about defeating them or not.  This far out, it’s all designed to get these Congressmen to not always mirror Eric Cantor’s whims on TV Cable bills and so on and let the Dems pick up a few more votes on the side.  It’s basically a pesky reminder to the targeted Congressmen (on both sides) to vote with their districts more.

And also, doing stunts like this lets DCCC donors see where their contributions are going.

[Brittain33]

McCain won TX-32 by a decent margin: 53%-46%. The trends in this district are rough. Bush took 64% in 2000, down to 60% in 2004. Dallas County's clearly a growth area for Dems. Whether they can make this competitive depends... who is going to run here who is going to appeal successfully to both sides of the district? I understood it to be a Hispanic inner city neighborhood tied to affluent inner suburbs that can and do outvote it.

Sessions has some Stanford exposure, which maybe the DCCC thinks they can get somewhere with.

[Torie]

Gerlach's seat will be a real battle since it will likely be open. Dent, however, should be fine. They won't get a top tier opponent to challenge him especially in a midterm.

Is Gerlach going to run for some other office?

[Landslide Lyndon]

Gerlach's seat will be a real battle since it will likely be open. Dent, however, should be fine. They won't get a top tier opponent to challenge him especially in a midterm.

Is Gerlach going to run for some other office?

He said he is seriously considering running for governor.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

McCain won Sessions' district 53-46. He's probably being targeted because he's the head of the NRCC.

[Brittain33]

He's probably being targeted because he's the head of the NRCC.

Ok, yeah, that will do it. Ignore me.

[cinyc]

So the DCCC thinks Kanjorski is safe - or do they not want to give him money?  

[Keystone Phil]

Gerlach's seat will be a real battle since it will likely be open. Dent, however, should be fine. They won't get a top tier opponent to challenge him especially in a midterm.

Is Gerlach going to run for some other office?

He said he is seriously considering running for governor.

I guess he's still officially in the considering stage but he's actually running. Some of us tried to push him to challenge Specter but his campaign has said that he's focused on running for Governor.

[bullmoose88]

Gerlach's seat will be a real battle since it will likely be open. Dent, however, should be fine. They won't get a top tier opponent to challenge him especially in a midterm.

Is Gerlach going to run for some other office?

He said he is seriously considering running for governor.

Some of us tried to push him to challenge Specter

Growl

[Keystone Phil]

Gerlach's seat will be a real battle since it will likely be open. Dent, however, should be fine. They won't get a top tier opponent to challenge him especially in a midterm.

Is Gerlach going to run for some other office?

He said he is seriously considering running for governor.

Some of us tried to push him to challenge Specter

Growl

Listen, it looks like even Don has gotten over him a bit. Time to join the club, my friend. 

[HAnnA MArin County]

Glad to see the Democrats want to go after MO-09, the northeastern part of the state that includes Columbia and Kirksville and some of the extreme St. Louis exurbs. This was the seat that was vacated by Kenny Hulshof in his unsuccessful gubernatorial bid. It upset me that Judy Baker didn't win this seat but the Republicans did a good job at tying her to Barack Obama who didn't win one single county in the district. It was a really close race that I think Luetkemeyer won 50-47 percent. I think Baker should go for a rematch. She needs to rack up the numbers in the college town of Columbia (Mizzou) and Kirksville (Truman State University) to offset Luetkemeyer's margins in the hick counties where Republicans often win by two-to-one margins.

I'd like to see them go after MO-06, Sam Graves's district in northwestern Missouri, but Mayor Kay Barnes (D-Kansas City) was the most formidable candidates the Democrats could have gotten and she was crushed in 2008. With Blunt vacating his seat to run for the Senate, there will be an open seat in MO-07 in Southwest Missouri but hell will freeze over before a Democrat wins that one.

[TeePee4Prez]

So the DCCC thinks Kanjorski is safe - or do they not want to give him money? 

I think he should be primaried.  I supported him last time, but he is a senile, obnoxious old dope who needs to retire for the good of the party and the district.  Lou Barletta would have been FAR worse, but it doesn't say much for Kanjorski.  This is one district I could see a better Democrat win the district against Lou Barletta if he were to run again.  Unfortunately the same could not be said for PA's other old dope who needs to retire- Jack Murtha.  PA 12 would have a very good chance of flipping and again Bill Russell would have been worse.   

[All Along The Watchtower]

Lungren is safe, unless someone more charismatic than Durston runs against him.