(Bumped – promoted by DavidNYC)
Alright, let’s keep the ball rolling. And don’t forget to help fill out the 2008 Race Tracker wiki.
P.S. Please welcome Left in the West to the SoapBlox network. As I’m sure you know, L/W was the place for MT-Sen coverage in 2006 and I’m sure it’ll be a hopping place for more of the same in 2007 & 2008. Now, with user diaries, it can only get better.
P.P.S. Please don’t forget the Blue Majority ActBlue page. We’ve just added netroots hero Larry Kissell’s recount fund to the list.
Norm Coleman is already generating some bad press for himself by invoking the filibuster as a threat to the Democratic majority after having spent the past four years taking a “principled stand” against the filibuster.
People at Raising Kaine are discussing whether John Warner is retiring and who the Democratic candidate might be (aside from Mark Warner).
like LA-02 & TX-23 & those in recount status? LOL.
Well, from “Raising Kaine” the following Richmond Times-Dispatch article showing that Warner-R Va is not a definite retire… yet:
http://www.richmondt…
Hat-tip to RK poster “Ambivalent Mumblings”.
So many dominoes would fall should Warner-R decide to retire, so much is dependent upon that possibility.
Dole’s replacement/challenger:
http://www.bluenc.co…
Former Gov. Jim Hunt, Gov. Mike Easley, Cong. Bob Etheridge NC-02…??? Anyway, sounds like a decent field.
Tim Walberg is extemely vulnerable.
I wonder if Iraqi War Vet and ’04 Candidate David Ashe-D would have fared better against Drake-R, than Kellam did?
And yes, MI-07’s Club For Growther should be ripe for the picking in ’08.
Sharon Renier-D’s unexpectedly good showing, only a 5 point loss is a positive sign.
Who was her Primary opponent?
Is not anywhere near enough money to raise a serious campaign, which is how much Sharon Reiner raised. Tim Walberg I see as target number 1 in the whole country.
Delaware Liberal discusses the early line for ’08. His blog has gotten dramatically better in the past two months.
Pete Domenici said he’s running for re-election. This essentially takes one of our better pick-up opportunities off the table.
If you got within 5 points against a full-court press by the GOP with no help from the Dems, I think you could really make a race of this in ’08. I hope you get added to the netroots list next cycle.
Because the DNC didn’t directly fund a particular campaign this year sounds like something Jim Carville might say. Sending money to Puerto Rico? Paul Begala might get a laugh out of that. I think we all know that the DNC’s 50-state strategy is about rebuilding the party over the course of many years, not funding individual races. Though I suppose it’s refreshing to see Dean rather than Rahm on the receiving end of such criticism.
Anyhow, I never once heard Paul Hodes’ people complain about a lack of support for their race, even while the DCCC was backing a candidate in a less-favorable district right next door who went on to lose his primary. They just went out, worked their butts off and raised enough money so that the big boys were forced to take notice and dump some cash in the final weeks of the campaign. And hell, the Shea-Porter folks did it without even a dime from the party committees!
As far as being from a poor district, I’m very sympathetic. But that can’t be the whole answer. Eric Massa raised over a million dollars in a district that’s materially poorer (median income $2,000 lower, 2x as many people living in poverty) and also more Republican than MI-07. (Massa also did not see any IEs from the DCCC, though the NRCC spent on behalf of Kuhl.)
and sorry that your effort to suceed Cong. Schwarz-R was thwarted by the Club for Growther Nutjob Walberg-R and his & the RNC’s dirty campaign tactics and the RNC’s last minute targeting of bucks, to keep this seat. I know this race wil be towards the top of my action/watch list in ’08. For one thing, Walberg is way too far rightwing. Is there any chance that issues such as Stem-Cell Research, Minimum Wage legislation would play to your advantage in your District?
One of the most important acts in the Election’s process is follow-up and analysis of what went wrong & what went right in either a winning or losing campaign.
I hope you will consider issuing a Diary here regarding your experience running in MI-07 in ’06. For one thing I’d like to hear about your experiece in the funding/attention arena with both the Michigan Democratic Party and the DCCC.
There more we know, the more we can help.
85% of my contributions this cycle went out of state, 100% were outside of my CD (Pelosi).
Choosing which candidate to contribute to can be a very frustrating process, there seemed to be so many deserving candidates this cycle.
The RNC Robocalls were a nightmare and cost us more than a few seats. There is an excellent action Diary for this on DailyKos:
Gotta love people who make comments about me who have never met me. I guarantee that I am not quirky and am very well educated.
I’m also proud to say that we raised over $50,000 the hard way, with $10 and $25 contribution from voters in our state. (Been to Michigan lately? There are no jobs or money here. People gave everything they could.) Absolutely no money came into our race from the Democratic Party, not one penny. If they had helped out, just a little, we could have won this race. I’m still wondering where our funds from the 50 State Venture of Howard Dean went? We are thinking maybe they went to Puerto Rico?
It is a sad day when Republicans bring in the First Lady, the Vice President and Bill Frist against me, yet the Dems never woke up that we could win this seat. All we needed was $20,000. I guess most folks don’t know anything about hard work anymore and think that you need millions to win a Congressional seat.
Now, let’s talk about the fake robo calls in the middle of the night, and negative campaign of my opponent. I guess I just can’t think of things to do that are that mean, much less do them. It’s pathetic that folks like this win on lies and are running our country.
Yes, I’ll be back in 2008.
Sharon Renier
Well James, I did a little research and created a Diary on
MI-07 Creme Brulee has been flung.
And from one of my favotites, “Dirty Dick” Pombo may run again in ’08:
Enjoy.
“Renier, an organic farmer from Munith, doesn’t offer a palatable alternative. In meeting with The News’ editorial board earlier this year, she touted job growth accomplishments on her part that bordered on absurdity and didn’t seem to understand the basics of how government works.
Neither candidate deserves a ticket to Congress, and we are not endorsing in this race”. http://www.mlive.com…
This is why the DCCC, Michigan Democratic Party, local party officials, and Labor, didn’t support you.
The only one responsible when a candidate looses is the candidate.
payoff campaign debt. Most of the Candidates of 06, the ones that were truly from the Grassroots, had little or no institutional resources to call on or to rely on.
They took our fight to their streets. Most of them quit their jobs to campaign full time, hired staff and then lost.
If I could find a list of email addresses I would see how much each of them owes and start a Movement to Help Pay Off Their Debt! Remember, they did our work. I know three of the candidates (one of whom was my own)and I know they are in a tough situation.
We asked a lot, they gave a lot and I feel we owe them at least an effort beyond some special list to help them payoff their campaign debt.
Anyone feel the same way? Or does anyone have a list of the losing Congressional Candidates and their active emails and phones numbers?
John Lynch said he’s not looking at a race against Sununu in 08. I still think this is one of our best pickup opportunities of this cycle but Lynch would’ve been an almost sure thing.
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned candidate recruitment in Dennis Hastert’s district yet? It would be amazing if he served out his full two year term. Historically, giving up the Speakership is tantamount to announcing your departure from Congress. And if he surprises and does remain in the House for a full two years, the odds are great that he will retire in 2008.
I do not have any names to throw around for the Democrats to run, but if the DCCC is not already recruiting a Democrat to run for this seat they are already falling behind in the race. The netroots needs to start looking for a candidate for the Dems to run in Hastert’s district.
We’ll definitely be covering MT-Sen, MT-Gov, MT-Leg, MT-AL, and all the other races heading into ’08.
There might also be some decent Presidential primary discussion.
Of course, for all the other races, I’ll be checking here regularly.
It’s hard for me to see too many “swing states” this time around, although obviously the candidates will make a difference.
Is their runoff election system. It got Landrieu narrowly elected in 2002 and will probably save her in 2008.
that Jennings-D will “sue” for a new election and that Madrid-D NM-01 will pursue a recount.