From The Hill:
Some GOP insiders have bemoaned the NRCC’s recruiting shortcomings. One top GOP consultant said the effort has “been a disaster.”
“The approach to recruiting has been weak, and it’s driven by a staff that doesn’t know the districts they’re recruiting in,” the consultant said. “[Chairman Tom] Cole [Okla.] can’t do everything, and he’s been let down by those who serve him.”
more like making excuses for Tom Cole. He sounds like he’s surrounded by incompetents.
hits a reef or runs aground, The Captain accepted responsibility whether he or the crew was at the wheel at the time.
But the “captain” of the NRCC, Captain Cole seems to be too busy now pointing fingers and doing some CYA.
I’d wager that John Boehner is now kicking himself he didn’t take Cole up on Cole’s threat to quit when they had that dust-up a while back!
Couldn’t happen to a more deserving party.
let ’em go into the red… 🙂
Here’s CQ on new additions to the ROMP program. Well worth a read. The races they’re adding are MN6, MO6, NY13, FL8, KY3, MN3, ID1, OIH2, MI7, and NM1.
Some thoughts:
– weird list. Some that make sense, some I’m surprised; does the R team think that things are going to be quite this bad that they need to shore up FL8, NY13 and MN6?
– going back through the news archives at NRCC, the ROMP and CHOMP programs are full of odd calls; very little offense, significant omissions. It’s very useful to look at their lists (see here, and here). Some of these are a little old.
– It look likes ROMP is being run out of Boehner’s shop, not Cole’s. That’s a vote of no-confidence for Cole from leadership.
The overall picture that emerges is one of triage – figuring out what races to abandon as safe, what races to abandon as hopeless, and what races need extra assistance right now hedge against unpleasant surprises. I know Boehner recently said that team R would actually gain seats in 08, but the impression I’m getting is that they’re looking to hold losses to the teens.