One of the new initiatives over at the NRCC under Pete Sessions’ watch has been the creation of its “Patriot Program”, a Frontline-like fundraising effort to shore up the most vulnerable Republicans in the House. The first round was launched in May, and now the NRCC is adding 15 new names to the effort. Roll Call has the dirt, but here are the targeted district in sortable chart form:
| Incumbent | District | PVI | 2008 Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mike Rogers | AL-03 | R+9 | 6% |
| Mary Bono Mack | CA-45 | R+3 | 14% |
| Bill Posey | FL-15 | R+6 | 11% |
| Tom Rooney | FL-16 | R+5 | 20% |
| Mario Diaz-Balart | FL-25 | R+5 | 6% |
| Lynn Jenkins | KS-02 | R+9 | 5% |
| John Fleming | LA-04 | R+11 | <1% |
| Bill Cassidy | LA-06 | R+10 | 8% |
| Michele Bachmann | MN-06 | R+7 | 3% |
| Blaine Luetkemeyer | MO-09 | R+9 | 3% |
| Lee Terry | NE-02 | R+6 | 4% |
| Scott Garrett | NJ-05 | R+7 | 14% |
| Dean Heller | NV-02 | R+5 | 11% |
| Charlie Dent | PA-15 | D+2 | 18% |
| Cynthia Lummis | WY-AL | R+20 | 10% |
It’s a bit of a weird list, one that’s a mixture of incumbents in real danger (Bachmann, Terry, Dent) and more than a few names who I don’t expect will receive serious challenges this cycle (Garrett, Jenkins, the Louisiana twins, and Luetkemeyer) or anytime soon (Lummis). While the first batch of Patriot participants came predominantly from Obama districts, the opposite is true for this second round. Only Bono Mack, Terry, and Dent occupy districts that Obama won (though McCain barely won NV-02). Amusingly, birther nutcase Bill Posey finds his way onto the list; you may remember Posey as the guy whom the DCCC could find no warm body to run against in 2008, other than Mike Gravel fan Stephen Blythe.
Also interesting is who ain’t on the list for the second time in a row: Bill Young (FL-10) and Mike Castle (DE-AL). Both are facing strong challengers (though Charlie Justice has some work to do), and while Castle admits that a re-election bid is unlikely, the geriatric Young’s exclusion seems more telling. Or is the NRCC perhaps hedging its bets?
in people who will be around for a while?
Jean Schmidt
http://www.politico.com/blogs/…
State Rep. Todd Book. He is from Ohio’s 89th district. According to his Wiki he has been elected since 2003. “His district encompasses all of Scioto County, the Western Half of Lawrence County and the Eastern Half of Adams County.” It would be interesting to see how liberal or conservative that would make his district. Either way, Book faces a primary against 2008 independant candidate David Krikorian.
Ted Strickland endorsed Book today too
here are some other endangered Republicans who were not patriotic enough to be part of the Patriot Program. The most surprising to me are AK-AL and TX-10.
AK-AL-Young – No challenger yet.
AZ-3-Shadegg – No challenger yet.
CA-4-McClintock – No challenger yet.
CA-26-Dreier – Obama won this district by 4. Businessman Russ Warner, who held Dreier to 53% in 2008 (with help from a third party candidate), is back for more.
CA-46-Rohrabacher – Obama lost this district by only 2. No challenger yet.
CA-48-Campbell – Obama narrowly won this district. Decent challenge from former Irvine Mayor Beth Krom.
FL-13-Buchanan – Decent challenge from former Bradenton City Councilor James Golden.
IA-4-Latham – Obama won this district by 8. No challenger yet.
IL-6-Roskam – Obama won this district by 13. No challenger yet.
IN-03-Souder – No challenger yet.
OH-12-Tiberi – Obama won this district by 7. No challenger yet.
PA-18-Murphy – No challenger yet.
SC-1-Brown – Decent challenge from former Manitowac County Board Supervisor Robert Dobbs. Brown seems as likely as not to step aside or lose a primary, which should only improve Republican chances.
TX-10-McCaul – Businessman Jack McDonald has an exploratory committee and is raising a tremendous amount of money.
VA-10-Wolf – Obama won this district by 7. No challenger yet.
Dent, Terry, Bachmann and Bono Mack maybe the rest are in absolutely no danger of going blue any time soon.
Hi there, birthers!