We had a lot of fun last year at the expense of the GOP’s Young Guns (a group of 30 and 40-something House “up and comers”). Other than raising a few dineros for their colleagues, their crowning electoral achievement was sending a small battalion of hapless, bluetooth-equipped and frappuccino-powered DC staffers on a wild goose chase in rural northeast Mississippi last year, trying to rustle up votes for South Memphis Southaven Mayor Greg Davis.
It seems that Pete Sessions has bigger and better plans for the Young Guns brand this cycle, and the NRCC is appropriating the name for its new program designed to lend assistance to candidates hoping to topple Democrats (or retain open seats). Call it Blue to Red, if you will. The full list:
| District | Candidate | Incumbent | PVI | 2008 (D) Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AL-02 | Martha Roby | Bright | R+16 | 1% |
| CA-47 | Van Tran | Sanchez | D+4 | 44% |
| CO-04 | Cory Gardner | Markey | R+6 | 12% |
| FL-12 | Dennis Ross | (Open) | R+6 | -15% |
| HI-01 | Charles Djou | (Open) | D+11 | 58% |
| ID-01 | Vaughn Ward | Minnick | R+18 | 1% |
| IL-11 | Adam Kinzinger | Halvorson | R+1 | 24% |
| MD-01 | Andy Harris | Kratovil | R+13 | 1% |
| NH-01 | Frank Guinta | Shea-Porter | R+0 | 6% |
| NM-01 | Jon Barela | Heinrich | D+5 | 12% |
| NM-02 | Steve Pearce | Teague | R+6 | 12% |
| OH-01 | Steve Chabot | Driehaus | D+1 | 5% |
| OH-15 | Steve Stivers | Kilroy | D+1 | 1% |
Despite including their names in the program, the NRCC is actually only formally endorsing two candidates from this list — Iraq vet Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) and state Sen. Dennis Ross (FL-12). Others “Young Guns” facing competitive primaries are Vaughn Ward (ID-01) and quite probably Andy Harris (MD-01). I’m sure their would-be primary competitors are chafing at this early stamp of approval from Sessions.
And let’s leave aside the issue of calling 62 year-old Steve Pearce and 56 year-old Steve Chabot “Young Guns” for the moment…
is our best chance to get Frank Kratovil reelected. Please NRCC, help Andy Harris win the Republican primary.
Seems like a waste of money. Yeah, yeah, Bush received 47% of the vote there in ’04. They’re counting on extremely low hispanic turnout in CA-47.
I really don’t see Sanchez or Heinrich losing.
Pearce’s inclusion is hilarious not only because of his age but because he is the exact opposite of an up-and-comer. Up-and-comers are those with great potential for higher office. Losing a Senate race by twenty-two is the perfect antonym of “up-and-comer”.
Imitation is thee sincerest form of flattery. The DCCC has been doing this sort of thing for a couple of cycles now. Good luck trying to get motley crew to the finish line.
And named a Mississippi state senator as a likely opponent (and “young gun”) against Parker Griffith. In the process, he slighted two Republicans who have already announced for that race — one of them is Les Phillip, the guy who lost almost $40K on a “fundraiser” with Mike Huckabee.
The Republicans are about to get their s*** rocked in redistricting if Democrats can save their unpopular governors. Republican’s last chance is to push in a lot of districts they really don’t have a chance in, so the state legislatures choose to shore up incumbents rather than take ambitious map drawing to a new level for us. Sanchez’ district is one of the few held by a Democrat in California worth doing that to.