Swing State Project

« AZ-05, CA-50, MN-02, NM-01: SUSA Shows Huge Movement for Democratic Challengers | Main | It's Monkey Mail Time »

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

TX-17: NRCC Retreats, Circles the Wagons in... Idaho?

Posted by James L.

Another quick 'n' dirty update (I've got a major midterm tomorrow): from the indispensable Burnt Orange Report comes word of a full-scale retreat by the National Republican Campaign Committee in TX-17, home of the perennially-targeted Democratic incumbent Chet Edwards:

According to five television stations in the DFW market, the NRCC on Monday canceled its planned television ad buy on behalf of Taylor. The cancelled Taylor buy was valued at over $1.5 million and was scheduled to run in the last two weeks of the campaign.

One by one, Republicans are cutting the lifelines of even their most top-tier challengers, and focusing on precarious seats in purplish states like... Idaho. Yes, Idaho, home of one of the most surprisingly competitive congressional races this cycle:

At the same time, the National Republican Congressional Committee on Monday began buying tens of thousands of dollars of television airtime across the district to run a last-minute advertising blitz beginning today, broadcasters said. Democratic candidate Larry Grant said Idaho airwaves will be flooded with attack ads targeting him because Republicans are panicking.

“Our understanding is the NRCC has produced a negative ad, and they bought almost $400,000 to run these ads against me,” Grant said. “I think most folks are going to understand they are in trouble.”

$400,000 on a district that delivered 70% of its vote for Bush in 2004. Chew on that one. With the Republicans losing confidence in Van Taylor's campaign in TX-17 (a district that is just as Republican as ID-01), how often do we see the NRCC nervous about their ability to win in districts that have delivered 70% of their vote to Bush?

For just a taste of how awful Idaho Republican candidate Bill Sali is as a politician, check out his statement from four years ago on his mental affliction that he curiously refers to as "brain fade".

Posted at 04:24 PM in 2006 Elections - House, Idaho, Texas | Technorati

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/mt/mt-track-ssp.cgi/2652

Comments

The question now is whether the Democrats leave their money in races the Republicans and leaving, or if they are smart and put their recources into the more competative districts.

Posted by: Lucon at October 17, 2006 06:08 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

It's simply mindboggling that the NRCC is dumping so much money into ID-01. They must have an internal poll that shows Bill Sali is in deep doodoo - as well he ought to be, given his unpopularity with GOP leadership.

But make no mistake: In debates and ads, he portrays himself as a sensible conservative. In a state where the default position is "R," we at Grant for Congress are working overtime to be sure people know about the real BS.

Posted by: Julie Fanselow at October 17, 2006 07:09 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

It occurs to me that in races like ID-01, cross-over endorsements from Republican officials are not just good for the Democrat, they're good for the Republicans doing the endorsing as well. It may not endear them to the nutty candidate and his backers, but it allows them to go to the electorate and say "See? I'm in this for the good of the people, not just the good of one party or the other."

I don't know if that's a useful insight or simply tacit information, but I thought it was an interesting side note to the Republicans for Grant/That Idiot Is Just an Idiot storyline.

Posted by: JelloAbode at October 18, 2006 08:02 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment