Biggest surprise is PA-03 showing up on this list.

I can see why the NRCC reserved so much money there, originally to our surprise.  

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by: JeremiahTheMessiah @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 00:38:41 AM UTC

what's happening with Use it or Lose it?

I want more of our safe incumbents to pony up to the DCCC. I was pissed off to receive a fundraising e-mail from Leonard Boswell's wife Dody today, including this passage:

It is truly with urgency, that I need to ask you again to help out my husband.  The election is closing in and we need to raise enough money to buy some media for the last few weeks of the campaign.  We also have the reporting deadline in two weeks on September 30 and need to show the press that we have the funds to compete.

Give me a break. Everybody knows IA-03 is safe for Boswell. He's hardly done any campaigning since the primary.

I want people like Boswell to put more money into the DCCC so they can get involved in more winnable pickups.

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by: desmoinesdem @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 02:09:56 AM UTC

They all do that

I've received letters from most of the 2006 candidates I donated to who won.  Many of them are facing little to no opposition but nevertheless plead with me to donate so they can win another hard fought election.  

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by: ChadInFL @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 12:05:09 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I got one from Keith Ellison

MN-5, D+20-something.  The front was some, Even though this a Democratic district, me being the first Muslim elected and being liberal automatically puts me on the Republican target list."  Yeah, whatever.  Granted, I know he is actually campaigning and doing stuff.  His goal is to bring out 20,000 new voters, not for him but for up ticket.

McCollum could do the same...  Both districts have some underperforming areas we could really turn out the vote.

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by: Andrew @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 19:16:20 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

The DCCC thinks Phil English is in trouble

I'd love to see just how much trouble, though.

The Republicans tried to take three seats in Western Pennsylvania when they should have gotten 1-2. In order to create the 18th, the 4th, and now perhaps the 3rd, were sacrificed. The 18th should be vulnerable to D takeover too, if ever we get a decent candidate.  

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by: andgarden @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 02:50:08 AM UTC

They really overreached in the 2002 redistricting

They could have made a PA-04 a safe Republican district if they removed heavily Democratic Beaver county and gave it to Frank Mascara, who was the Democrat who held PA-18 before redistricting made it more Republican.  

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by: BillNolan @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 02:53:47 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Story is

that the Harrisburg Republicans weren't going to go so far, but Rick Santorum essentially ordered them to do it.

They thought they were going to get 14 seats out of this map. (Some of the stuff they did was really mischievous, like throwing a bunch of former Rockefeller Republicans in MontCo together with Catholic Dems in Northeast Philly, or throwing half of Reading into a Lancaster district.)  

Oops. . .

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by: andgarden @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 03:16:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Not so talkative now

Huh, ophthalmologists? Yeah, I'm fuckin' talkin' to you!

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by: DavidNYC @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 03:06:45 AM UTC

LIRL!

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by: James L. @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 03:08:02 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

They should stop

in Ohio 16 and at some point also Ohio 15.  Good to see the OH-1 ad buy.  Now just some in OH-2 and we'll be golden.  They can certainly play up her antics a bit and get this to a toss-up.  OH-15 and OH-16 already lean our way.  That makes 4 pick-ups to really f over their map.  Ohio, the new Pennsylvania.  Hopefully Flordia the new Pennsylvania happens, too.  They deserve to have their map f'd too.

New York's rep ratio is going to get annhilated too, no karma in that but damn.  It'll be hilarious in 2012 when it is 27/0 full Democratic delegation from New York state.  Hahahahahaha, that really is funny.  

You know what I'm excited for, redistricting.  It'll be my first redistricting experience was someone of political knowledge.  Oooooooooooooo.

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by: Andrew @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 19:30:31 PM UTC

Same here...

I think it's bad THIS year... I'll spend twice as much time reading up on stuff during the 2012 election!

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by: tommyiaf @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 19:41:56 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

And holy crap

This is how easy Mike McHugh will be (King will run for Gov and easy pick-up or we're getting rid of a long island seat too, which then he'll just retire, he clearly wants out).

http://nationalatlas.gov/print...

He lives way down in the part called Madison.  Put him in New York 25, the district is a Dem PVI and only that one county or so will know who he is.  The rest can be divided up by 20, 21, 24.  

I wouldnt make 21 too much more Republican.  We should keep that a safe Dem and not overreach.

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by: Andrew @ Thu Sep 25, 2008 at 19:53:37 PM UTC

[ Parent ]