Month: July 2009

It’s on.

U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison on Wednesday told WBAP’s Mark Davis she plans to officially launch her bid for Texas governor in August.  She added that she will step down from the U.S. Senate sometime in October or November to battle incumbent fellow Republican Governor Rick Perry.

Senator Hutchison said he wants to remain in the Senate long enough to fight against President Barack Obama’s government healthcare plan and cap and trade.

Hutchison also said, in the same interview, that she’ll be voting against Sonia Sotomayor. Gotta burnish those right-wing credentials in order to gear up for the fight over the sizable right-wing base in the GOP primary.

Roll Call has a piece from yesterday that predates this announcement, but discusses the mechanisms for a special election, and also looks a bit more at the potential candidates. GOPers would prefer that Hutchison not resign until when (or if) she actually wins the governor’s race, but she appears determined to bolt this year. If she does leave, Gov. Rick Perry will appoint a temporary successor (and signs point to Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst), but only until a special election can be held. If KBH resigns anywhere between Sept. 29 to Apr. 2 of next year, the special election, under Texas law, will be held on May 8. (H/t Taegan Goddard.)

I have been working on (with some much appreciated help from pl515) a concept I’m calling PBI or Party Brand Index, as a replacement for PVI.  PVI (Partisan Voting Index), which is measured by averaging voting percentage from the last two presidential elections in each house district, and comparing it to how the nation as a whole voted, is a useful shorthand for understanding the liberal v. conservative dynamics of a district. But in my opinion it falls short in a number of areas. First it doesn’t explain states like Arkansas or West Virginia. These states have districts who’s PVI indicates a Democrat shouldn’t win, yet Democrats (outside of the presidency) win quite handily. Secondly why is this the case in Arkansas but not Oklahoma with similar PVI rated districts?

Secondly PVI can miss trends as it takes 4 years to readjust. The main purpose of Party Brand Index is to give a better idea of how a candidate does not relative to how the presidential candidate did, but compared to how their generic PARTY would be expected to perform. Last week I calculated PBI for Indiana, this week I tackled Colorado and Virginia.

My best case for arguing against PVI is Indiana.  Bush won Indiana quite easily in 2000 and 2004. The PVI of a number of it’s districts showed them to be quite Red. Yet in 2006 democrats won several districts despite their PVI’s. Also Obama won Indiana in 2008 a state, which based on the make up of the districts PVIs, made little sense. I therefore chose Indiana as my first test case for PBI:

Donnelly in the Indiana 2nd is a perfect example of my issues with PVI. Under PVI Donnelly is in a Republican district with a PVI of -2. But look at how Democrats have recently performed in this district. In 2008 Donnelly won reelection by 37%! Obama won this district by 9 points, and Bayh won it by 22%! Does this sound like a lean GOP district? Under PVI it is, under PBI it’s not it’s a +11 democratic district.

This week I tackled Colorado and Virginia. My general strategy is to work my way “out” from swing states. Both these states have undergone noticable ideological shift. Yet the PVI of their districts haven’t moved as much. This made them ideal candidates.

COLORADO

The big difference in Colorado is that Salazar’s district goes from being a lean Republican one under PVI (-5 Republican), to a lean Democratic one (+4 Democrat), considering that a Salazar has held this same seat for some time this makes more sense. Remember I measuring total party preference not just the presidential preference of a district like PVI measures.

VIRGINIA

Virginia was the first time I had doubts on my ability to compute rough Senate numbers for House districts based on county totals. My estimates from Mark Warner Senate run yielded results of 3540% in Tom Perriello’s (VA-5th) district. This seemed way to high, even though now Senator Warner won the state with 65% of the vote.  At the time Virgil Goode was the representative from the VA-5th, and he lost by only a few hundred votes.- This lead me to do some additional research to try and discover if these numbers were published anywhere. Boy was I wrong Warner actually won the VA-5th by 65%!. Also several of the large victory margins were the results of representatives who ran unopposed. Fixed Party ID, and election results

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As a reminder I will review how I calculate Party Brand Index.

To compute PBI I basically did the following. I weighed the last 3 presidential elections by a factor of 0.45. Presidential preference is the most indicative vote since it’s the one politician people follow the most. The POTUS is the elected official people identify with or despise the most, thus illuminating their own ideological identification. I then weighed each house seat by 0.35. House seats are gerrymandered and the local leader can most closely match their districts make up in a way the POTUS can’t. So even though they have a lower profile I still gave them a heavy weight. Lastly I gave the last two Senate elections a weight of 0.2. Senatorial preference can make a difference, although I think it’s less than that of the President or the House members. Also (more practically) because I have to back calculate (estimate) Senate result totals from county results, a smaller number helps lessen the “noise” caused by any errors I may make. Under my system Democratic leaning have a positive number, the GOP has a negative number.

I then developed a way to weight for incumbents.  The reelection numbers for incumbents is so high it would be a mistake to weight a district solely on the fact that an incumbent continues to get elected. There is a long list of districts that have PVI that deviate from their incumbent members, whom none the less keep getting elected. These districts then change parties as soon as the incumbent member retires. This is evidence that incumbency can disguise the ideology of voters in a district.

Next I added a weighting of about 7% for House members. I remember reading that incumbency is worth about 5-10%. Nate wrote in a 538.com article that a VP pick from a small state was worth about a 7% swing, a house seat could in fact be thought of as a small state, that seems as good a number as any to start from. Conversely I will deduct 7% from an incumbents win. I think this will score them closer to the natural weight of a district. By the way I’m weighting the win 7% less, not actually subtracting 7% from the number.  Open seat races will be considered “pure” events and will remain neutral as far as weighting goes.  A seat switching parties will also be considered a neutral event. The 1st defense of a seat by a freshman house member will be given a weighting of 2%. The toughest race for any incumbent is their 1st defense. I decided to adjust for this fact. Note: Indiana’s bloddy 9th was a tough call a case could be made that when a seat keeps flipping, and the same two guys run 4 straight times in a row each election should be a neutral event.

Senate weighting is as follows. In state with a single House seat the Senate seat will be weighted the same as a house. In states with multiple seats, the Senate will get a weighting of 2%. Nate Silva stated that a VP pick in a large state is worth this amount. An argument could be made for a sliding scale of Senate weighting from 2-7%, this added complexity may be added at a later date. I will give incumbent presidents a 2% weighting, until I get better data on how powerful a “pull” being the sitting POTUS is, I will give them the same weighting as a senator.

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Still to come:

The last major issue is how to deal with the “wingnut” factor. Sometimes a politician like Bill Sali (R-Idaho) or Marylin Musgrove (R-CO)lose because their voting record is outside of the mainstream of their district. I decided to try and factor this in.  

First I had to take a brief refresher on statistics. I developed a formula based on standard deviations. Basically I can figure out how much the average rep deviates from their district.  If I then compare where a reps voting pattern falls (in what percentile) and compare it to their district’s PVI, I can develop a “standard deviation factor”. Inside the standard deviation will get a bonus, outside a negative.

For example, if Rep X is the 42 most conservative rep, that would place her in the 90th percentile. But if her district’s PVI was “only” the in the 60th, their is a good chance her margins would be effected. Using a few random samples I found most reps lie within 12% of their district’s PVI.

Using these dummy numbers I then came up with this.  

   SQRT[(30-12)^2 /2] = about 13%

    Her factor would then be 100 – 13 = 0.87.

So her victory margin would be weighted by 0.87 because she is more than 12% beyond her acceptable percentile range it making the victories in her district approximate 13% less “representative”.

    My theory yields the following formula:

        If rep’s voting record is > PVI then

            100 – SQRT[({Record percentile – PVI} – Standard PVI Sigma)^2 /2] = factor

        else if rep’s voting record < PVI

             100 + SQRT[({Record percentile – PVI} – Standard PVI Sigma)^2 /2] = factor

To really do this I need to compute the standard deviation for all 435 reps, which is a pretty large undertaking. Instead  I will do a google search  to see if anyone has already done this. If not well it will take some time. But this would deal with the wingnut factor. Since politician tend to vote relatively close to their districts interest (even changing voting patterns over time) this may not be a major issue. But developing this factor may eventually allow the creation of a “reelection predictor”, so I am still going to work on it.

One last note, the corruption factor (for example Rep. Cao (R-LA) beating former Rep. Jefferson) is outside of any formula I can think of. The only saving grace here is that because my formula uses several elections, the “noise” from a single event will eventually be reduced.

NEXT UP: NC and MO

• FL-Sen: Charlie Crist got an endorsement today from one of the guys who was considered to be one of the likeliest GOP nominees up until the point when, well, Crist got into the race: Rep. Vern Buchanan. (If you’re keeping score among Florida’s Reps., the Diaz-Balarts and Cornelius McGillicudy IV have endorsed Crist, while Jeff Miller has endorsed Rubio.)

• IL-Sen: Rep. Mark Kirk has drawn another seemingly-minor challenger in the GOP primary. John Arrington, an African-American former city councilor from Chicago’s southern suburb of Harvey, will run. He also sought the party’s nomination for the same seat in 2004 after GOP primary winner Jack Ryan dropped out, although the state party gave the nomination to the much more fun Alan Keyes.

• NC-Sen, NC-07: As most people expected, Rep. Mike McIntyre announced that he will run for re-election instead of for the Senate seat held by Richard Burr. Which is just as well, as McIntyre is pretty conservative and also needed to hold down his reddish district. SoS Elaine Marshall is probably the biggest name left who’s sounding interested in the Senate race.

• OH-Sen: George Voinovich had one of his occasional moments of independence the other day, telling the Columbus Dispatch that too many conservative southerners (specifically citing Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn) are dragging down the party’s brand nationwide. “They get on TV and go ‘errrr, errrrr,'” he said. “People hear them and say, ‘These people, they’re southerners. The party’s being taken over by southerners. What they hell they got to do with Ohio?'” (I’m not quite sure what “errrr, errrr” means — maybe it’s supposed to be some sort of Frankenstein’s Monster noise — but otherwise it’s spot on.)

• CT-Gov: State senator Gary LeBeau, from East Hartford, seems to be the first Democrat to actually announce his candidacy for Governor. He’s been a Senator since 1996. Potential candidates he may face in the primary include Stamford mayor Daniel Malloy, SoS Susan Bysiewicz (both of whom have outpaced incumbent Governor Jodi Rell at fundraising so far), former state House speaker James Amman, and former Senate candidate Ned Lamont.

• MI-Gov: Although Lt. Gov. John Cherry seems on track to the Dem nomination, he got another primary opponent, former state Rep. John Freeman. Freeman’s hook is strong ties with organized labor, but Cherry is also friendly with labor. State Rep. Alma Wheeler Smith is also in the race, and former MSU football coach George Perles is all but in.

• MN-Gov: Will he or won’t he? After the news broke last night that Norm Coleman wasn’t planning to run for Governor, that has been updated today to reflect that he won’t really decide until some point in spring 2010… which seems intended to give his personal brand some time to, uh, recover his interminable contesting of the Senate election, but still sounds very odd, as the party’s endorsing convention is in late April, giving him almost no time to ramp up.

• SD-Gov: If there’s one job that’s even more thankless than being state Senate minority leader in South Dakota, it’s being the Democrats’ gubernatorial candidate in South Dakota. Kudos to Scott Heideprem for doing both. Likely GOP contenders include Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard and state Senate majority leader Dave Knudsen.

• TX-Gov: Kay Bailey Hutchison is already shaking up her campaign staff, confronted with polls that show her faltering in the gubernatorial primary as incumbent Rick Perry consolidates the hard-core base with his ranting against the feds. Campaign manager Rick Wiley is out, replaced by Terry Sullivan.

• CA-26: Rep. David Dreier has reimbursed himself an unusually high $200,000 out of his congressional campaign funds this decade, without the proper level of itemization required by the FEC, and watchdog groups are starting to wonder why. He says these are mostly mundane food expenses and that he’ll provide additional documentation if the FEC makes him. Hopefully he’s not making the same mistake a lot of small-time crooks make: when you launder money, you don’t put it in the Dreier afterwards.

• FL-16: With state Sen. Dave Aronberg running for AG, our next best bet is probably St. Lucie Co. Commissioner Chris Craft, and he’s “leaning” toward jumping into the race against freshman GOPer Tom Rooney in the next few weeks.

• LA-02: The first Democrat to announce a run against improbable GOP Rep. Joseph Cao is state Rep. Juan LaFonta. LaFonta had been rumored to be thinking about avoiding the Dem primary and running as an Independent, but won’t. State Rep. Cedric Richmond, who lost last year’s primary, and State Sen. Cheryl Grey Evans also sound likely to get in.

• MN-06: State Sen. Tarryl Clark made her run official, filing the paperwork for her candidacy ysterday. She’ll face off against 06 candidate Elwyn Tinklenberg and former IP member Maureen Reed in the primary.

• MS-01: This has been expected since state Sen. Merle Flowers said he wouldn’t run, but state Sen. Alan Nunnelee made it official yesterday, filing to run against Rep. Travis Childers. Nunnelee’s opening salvo against Blue Dog Childers was that he votes with Nancy Pelosi “100 percent.” Which is true, if by 100%, you actually mean 61%.

• TX-32: Here’s a profile of Grier Raggio, the locally-prominent attorney who’s running for the Democrats in the 32nd. The district still is Republican-leaning, but demographics are poised to move it quickly in our direction.

• FL-St. House: Term limits look like they’ll cut a sizable swath through the GOP delegation in Florida’s state House, with Republicans facing 25 open seats in 2010 — many of which are narrowly GOP-leaning and in Dem-trending central Florida — compared with only three for Democrats. Dems are starting out in a very deep hole in the state House, so an outright takeover isn’t likely, but it may bring them closer to balance.

Pennsylvania, my home state, will see a lot of big races in 2010. We are electing a new Governor – electing new members of Congress from vacant seats, have a Senate election, and progressive Democrats need to win in the State House and Senate races (We have a very un-progressive Republican state Senate, the only Republican chamber left in the Northeast). It is CRITICAL that the netroots and the grassroots and all of the progressives come together and focus on PA…it's very important.

Please read on to learn more about our 2010 races!

Pennsylvania has been a swing state for some time now so what happens here is VERY IMPORTANT nationwide.

U.S. Senate

Democrats have both Senate seats for the first time since 1968 (okay, January 1969) thanks to the Specter Switcheroo.

Pat Toomey is Rick Santorum 2.0, and he MUST NOT become our new Senator. Arlen Specter or Joe Sestak MUST win.

Our Senate race is very important and has NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS, especially since Arlen Specter is known throughout the country for his switch to the Democratic Party. If Senator Specter wins his primary, we must vigorously support his re-election, no matter what.  So that means no more of the Snarlin' Arlen comments!

The U.S. House

The House delegation has gone from 12-7 Republican to 11-8, with four Democratic pickups (The biggest Democratic sweep in ANY state in 2006- no other state had more than 3 pickups).  In 2008, Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper won in PA-3 (the Erie district) and now we are at 12-7, a complete reversal of pre-2006.

We want to make sure Democrats continue to stay on a roll.

PA-15

My Congressional district of PA-15 is going to be one of the most important races in the country (to me, THE most important House race and a bellwether for the entire nation). Charlie Dent, Republican, has had a VERY easy time winning here despite a prO-bama majority. Mayor John Callahan of Bethlehem is running for the Democratic nomination.  We must make him Congressman. Plus, if you ask me, he's kinda cute (-:

 Mayor Callahan's Campaign Site (Very new)

PA-8

Jim Gerlach is running in the Republican primary for Governor and we have (so far) Doug Pike, who I don't know much about but will support if he is the Democrat.  I think this is VERY winnable.  If Gerlach loses, I'm not so sure he can get back into the race.  Curt Schroder is already running.  A Pike victory will mean A LOT on Election Day since it is expected the Republicans will narrowly hold onto this seat in the Philly suburbs.  It's an Obama district though.

Governor's Race

We also have to watch the Governor's race- most likely it will be between Jack Wagner and Tom Corbett.  Ed Rendell will not have very good approval ratings which will bode poorly for the Democrat but hopefully Jack Wagner (or Dan Onorato from Pittsburgh) will run a top-notch campaign and really narrow that gap in the last few weeks.  My mind says Corbett though.  Please let me wrong.

State Senate

We have a ridiculous 30-20 Republican majority in the State Senate and it keeps getting bigger by the day, so to turn it blue we'll need SIX MAGIC SEATS to take it back (I'm assuming Democrats had control of it at one point).

We will have 25 chances to win the Senate (half of it is up for election in 2010) and most of these will remain the same, however…judging from previous election results, I see these six Republican seats as the most vulnerable (Keeping in mind that they were all last up in 2006, a Democratic year):

SD 6 – held by Robert Tomlinson (R), last won by 53.4%

SD 10 – held by Chuck McIlhinney (R), won by a measly 51.5% against Democrat Chris Serpico

SD 12 – held by Stewart J. Greenleaf (R), won by 57.4%

SD 16 – held by Pat Browne (R), won by 54.2%

SD 24 – Bob Wonderling (R), won by 56.5%

SD 26 – Edwin Erickson (R), won by 52.2% (his challenger in '06 was Mike Farrell)

SD 34 – Jacob Corman (R), won by 56.0% (but Democrat Jon Eich only got 39.1%)

SD 44 – John Rafferty (R), won by 56.2%

SD 50 – Bob Robbins (R), won by 53.5% (challenger was Art Allen)

 The good news is that all of the Democratic seats will likely, barring any unusual events, be safe so we can focus on these nine seats, which are ripe for a takeover.

 State House

Democrats hold onto a 104-99 majority.  It's clearly not a safe majority.

All of the 201-or-some House seats are up and there are a lot of opportunities to pick off some of these Republicans, so let's go through the seats where the Republican won by less than 60%:

HD 15 – Jim Christiana, 51.5%

HD 26 – Tim Hennessy, 52.1%

HD 57 – Tim Krieger, 51.7%

HD 75 – Matt Gabler, 52.8%

HD 128 – Sam Rohrer, 52.2%

HD 142 – Frank Farry, 51.7%

HD 146 – Thomas Quigley, 53.4%

HD 187 – Gary Day, 52.3%

If we win all of these eight seats (a nice goal), and keep onto our close seats, we will have a 112-91, which will be a significant improvement.

Worst Case Scenario

If the Republicans win PA big, we will have:

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (formerly the president of right-wing Club for Growth and you can just imagine those tax breaks for the rich)

Governor Tom Corbett replacing the fairly progressive Ed

A 30-20 Republican Senate (I sincerely doubt they'll win any Democratic seats)

A Republican State House (which will pass an anti-gay marriage amendment to the Constitution, at top of their to-do list when they retake the House)

The loss of Democrats Paul Kanjorski (he barely won last time around), Jason Altmire (represents a very conservative district), Chris Carney (representing an even more conservative district), freshman Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper, Republican victories in the 6th and 15th, which will give the Republicans a pickup of FOUR seats…which would undo the results of 2006, and perhaps if Joe Sestak runs for the Senate and abandons his House seat they will have FIVE seat pickups.

So as you can see the stakes cannot be higher here in the Keystone State.

Craptaculastic:

Embattled U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning has announced that he will not seek re-election to a third term in 2010.

His decision ends months of speculation that he would drop out of the Senate race because of his inability to raise money, poor poll numbers and lack of support from top Republican officials.

Needless to say, this race just got a whole lot tougher — and less fun. However, Democrats will still have a solid shot at this seat as long as the primary between Lt. Gov. Dan Mongiardo and state AG Jack Conway doesn’t get too bitter. (Mongiardo hasn’t been playing too nicely so far, but it’s still early.)

UPDATE: Straight from the horse’s mouth:

“To win a general election, a candidate has to be able to raise millions of dollars to get the message out to voters,” Bunning said in a statement. “Over the past year, some of the leaders of the Republican Party in the Senate have done everything in their power to dry up my fundraising. The simple fact is that I have not raised the funds necessary to run an effective campaign for the U.S. Senate. For this reason, I will not be a candidate for re-election in 2010.”

Shorter Bunning: I let McConnell roll me, because I’m a sadsack.

LATER UPDATE: In the comments, trowaman has a pretty good suggestion for Bunning; he should make good on his earlier threat to resign and let Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear select his replacement! What better revenge could there possibly be against McConnell and the NRSC?

RaceTracker Wiki: KY-Sen

http://www.clarionledger.com/a…

Looks like state senator Alan Nunnelee is planning on making the run.  Given Nunnelee’s lackluster performance in the state senate, I don’t see how he could possibly say he’s going to effect change in the Washington spends money.  It’ll make for a competitive race given that he and Rep. Childers are from the same neck of the woods.

Previous diares

Summary:

 NE has 3 reps: all R

 NV has 3 reps: 2 D, 1 R

 NH has 2 reps: both D

 NJ has 13 reps: 8 D, 5 R

 NM has 3 reps: All D

Possibly vulnerable:

 NE-02 (R) (a little)

 NV-03 (D) (a little)

 NH-01 (D) (a little)

 NH-02 (D)

 NJ-03 (D)

 NJ-07 (R)

 NM-02

Sources:

House vote in 2008 from WaPo

VoteView (ranked from 1 for most liberal to 447 for most conservative; more than 435 because some districts had more than one rep in the 110th congress)

Race Tracker

Obama vote by CD from Swing State

National Atlas for maps

and my previous diaries.

District: NE-01

Location Eastern NE, except for Omaha.  Borders MO and IA  map

Cook PVI R + 11

Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R)

VoteView 267

First elected 2004

2008 margin  70-30 over Max Yashrin

2006 margin  58-42

2004 margin 54-43

Obama margin 44-54

Bush margin 2004 36-64

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 51st fewest Blacks (1.4%)  

Assessment Long shot

District: NE-02

Location  Omaha and suburbs  map

Cook PVI R + 6

Representative Lee Terry (R)

VoteView 373

First elected 1998

2008 margin  52-48 over Jim Esch (D)

2006 margin  55-45

2004 margin 61-36

Obama margin 50-49

Bush margin 2004 39-60

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics  Not unusual on what I track

Assessment Possible.  NE-02 wen narrowly for Obama, and this is a possible pickup.

District: NE-03

Location The western 3/4 of the state, bordering SD, WY, CO and KS  map

Cook PVI R + 24

Representative Adrian Smith (R)

VoteView 371

First elected 2006

2008 margin  77-23 over Jay Stoddard

2006 margin  55-45

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 30-68

Bush margin 2004 75-24

Current opponents Rebekah Davis (this website needs help!)

Demographics  33rd most rural (53.9%), tied for fewest Blacks (0.3%), 9th most Republican

Assessment Long shot

District: NV-01

Location   Las Vegas  map

Cook PVI D + 10

Representative Shelley Berkley Not confirmed

VoteView 180

First elected 1998

2008 margin  68-28 over Kenneth Wegner

2006 margin  65-31

2004 margin  66-31

Obama margin 64-34

Bush margin 2004 42-57

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics  55th most Latinos (28.2%)

Assessment Safe

District: NV-02

Location Almost the whole state, except for Las Vegas and suburbs, bordering CA, OR, ID, UT, and AZ  map

Cook PVI R + 5

Representative Dean Heller (R)

VoteView 384

First elected 2006

2008 margin  52-41 over Jill Derby (remainder split)

2006 margin  50-45

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 49-49

Bush margin 2004 57-41

Current opponents There’s  a primary, and then Paul Reeves (I couldn’t find a website, but he’s on Facebook) is running and others considering.

Demographics   21st most veterans (17.1%)

Assessment Possible.  The 2008 race wasn’t exactly decisive.

District: NV-03

Location A Y shaped district of Las Vegas suburbs  map

Cook PVI D + 2

Representative Dina Titus (D)

VoteView NA

First elected 2008

2008 margin   47-42 over Jon Porter

2006 margin NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 55-43

Bush margin 2004 50-49

Current opponents None confirmed, but a lot are considering.

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment  A little vulnerable.  Winning with under 50% of the vote is less than superlative.

District: NH-01

Location The eastern part of NH, bordering ME  map

Cook PVI Even

Representative Carol Shea-Porter (D)

VoteView 134

First elected 2006

2008 margin  52-46 over Jeb Bradley

2006 margin  51-49

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 53-46

Bush margin 2004 51-48

Current opponents At least two Republicans: Frank Guinta and Robert Bestani.

Demographics  55th fewest in poverty (6.7%), 14th most Whites (95.1%), 24th fewest Blacks (0.7%)

Assessment Vulnerable, but perhaps less so than in 2008. Shea-Porter, never a huge fund raiser, has got $180K COH.

District: NH-02

Location The western part of NH, bordering Canada, VT, and MA  map

Cook PVI D + 3

Representative Paul Hodes (D) Retiring to run for Senate

VoteView NA

First elected NA

2008 margin  NA

2006 margin  NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 56-43

Bush margin 2004 47-52

Current opponents A whole bunch of people considering (see the Wiki).  Confirmed Democrats include: Ann McLane Kuster (more developed site is in the works) and Mark Fernald.  Both websites paint fairly progressive portraits.

Demographics  57th most rural (48.3%), 50th fewest in poverty (6.4%), 14th most Whites (95.1%), 18th fewest Blacks (0.6%).

Assessment An open seat is never safe.

District: NJ-01

Location A T shaped district in southwestern NJ, bordering PA and a tiny bit of DE map

Cook PVI D + 12

Representative Robert Andrews (D) Not confirmed

VoteView 112.5

First elected 1990

2008 margin  72-26 over Dale Glading

2006 margin  Unopposed

2004 margin 65-33

Obama margin 65-34

Bush margin 2004 39-61

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics   Not unusual on what I track

Assessment Safe

District: NJ-02

Location Southernmost NJ, on the Delaware Bay and Atlantic  map

Cook PVI D + 1

Representative Frank LoBiondo (R)

VoteView 244

First elected 1994

2008 margin  59-39 over David Kurkowksi.

2006 margin  62-36

2004 margin 65-33

Obama margin 54-45

Bush margin 2004 50-49

Current opponents

Demographics Not unusual on what I track

Assessment Long shot.  Although this is an increasingly D district, LoBiondo seems popular.

District: NJ-03

Location  The southernmost of several CDs that stretch east-west across NJ, this one from the Atlantic to PA.  map

Cook PVI R + 1

Representative John Adler (D)

VoteView NA

First elected 2008

2008 margin 52-48 over Chris Myers

2006 margin  NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 52-47

Bush margin 2004 51-49

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 20th fewest in poverty (5.1%)

Assessment Vulnerable, Adler is a freshman in a swing district

District: NJ-04

Location Another east west strip, more or less in the middle of the state, including Trenton.  Bordering PA and the Atlantic  map

Cook PVI R + 6

Representative Christopher Smith (R)

VoteView 243

First elected 1980

2008 margin  66-32 over Josh Zeitz

2006 margin  66-33

2004 margin  67-32

Obama margin 47-52

Bush margin 2004 44-56

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics  63rd highest income (median = $54K)

Assessment Long shot

District: Northernmost NJ, bordering PA and NY, including NYC suburbs  NJ-05

Location map

Cook PVI R + 7

Representative Scott Garrett (R)

VoteView 415

First elected 2002

2008 margin  56-42 over Dennis Shulman

2006 margin 55-44

2004 margin 58-41

Obama margin 45-54

Bush margin 2004 57-43

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 6th highest income (median = $73K), 55th fewest Blacks (1.5%)

Assessment It would be so nice to get rid of this troglodyte.

District: NJ-06

Location A strange, thready district, running from a NYC suburb (Plainfield) south and east to Long Beach and then south to Asbury Park  map

Cook PVI D + 8

Representative Frank Pallone (D) Not confirmed

VoteView 35.5

First elected 1988

2008 margin  67-32 over Robert McLeod

2006 margin  69-30

2004 margin  67-31

Obama margin 60-38

Bush margin 2004 43-57

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 67th highest income (median = $56K)

Assessment Safe

District: NJ-07

Location Another strange shape, running east west, but shaped like the Greek letter . map

Cook PVI R + 3

Representative Leonard Lance (R)

VoteView 252

First elected 2008

2008 margin  51-42 over Linda Stender

2006 margin  NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 50-49

Bush margin 2004 53-47

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 4th wealthiest (median income = $75K)

Assessment Vulnerable.

District: NJ-08

Location More NYC suburbs, including Wayne, Patterson, and West Orange  map

Cook PVI D + 10

Representative Bill Pascrell

VoteView 67

First elected 1996

2008 margin  71-28 over Ron Stratten

2006 margin  71-28

2004 margin 69-29

Obama margin 63-36

Bush margin 2004 41-59

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 41st fewest veterans 8.3%)

Assessment Safe

District: NJ-09

Location Close NYC suburbs map

Cook PVI D + 9

Representative Steven Rothman (D)

VoteView 102.5

First elected 1996

2008 margin  68-32 over Vincent Micco

2006 margin  71-28

2004 margin  68-32

Obama margin 61-38

Bush margin 2004 41-59

Current opponents There’s a Democratic primary

Demographics 48th fewest veterans (8.6%)

Assessment Safe

District: NJ-10

Location Newark, and some NYC suburbs  map

Cook PVI D + 33

Representative Donald Payne (D)

VoteView 17

First elected 1988

2008 margin  Unopposed

2006 margin  Unopposed

2004 margin  No major party opposition

Obama margin 87-13

Bush margin 2004 82-18

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 25th fewest Whites (21.4%), 16th most Blacks (56.4%), 15th most Democratic

Assessment Safe

District: NJ-11

Location Central northern NJ, including Dover  map

Cook PVI R + 7

Representative Rodney Freylingheusen (R)

VoteView 276

First elected 1994

2008 margin  62-37 over Tom Wyka

2006 margin  62-37

2004 margin  68-31

Obama margin 45-54

Bush margin 2004 58-42

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 2nd highest income (median = $79K)

Assessment Long shot

District: NJ-12

Location   Another east west strip, from north of Trenton (on the PA border) to NYC suburbs in the east, and almost to the Atlantic map

Cook PVI D + 5

Representative Rush Holt (D)

VoteView 38

First elected 1998

2008 margin  63-36 over Alan Bateman

2006 margin  66-34

2004 margin 59-40

Obama margin 41-58

Bush margin 2004 46-55

Current opponents There’s a primary, and then Mike Halfacre

Demographics 15th highest median income ($70K)

Assessment Save

District: NJ-13

Location Yet another strange shaped district, this one runs north-south along the Hudson River and the Atlantic, with a gap  map

Cook PVI D + 21

Representative Albio Sires (D) Not confirmed

VoteView 112.5

First elected 2006 (special election)

2008 margin  75-22 over Joseph Turula

2006 margin  78-19

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 75-25

Bush margin 2004 31-69

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 12th fewest veterans (5.4%), 51st fewest Whites (32.3%), 26th most Latinos (47.6%)

Assessment Safe

District: NM-01

Location Albuquerque and suburbs, and some desert  map

Cook PVI 275

Representative Martin Heinrich (D)

VoteView NA

First elected 2008

2008 margin  55-45 over Darren White

2006 margin  NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 60-39

Bush margin 2004 48-51

Current opponents Jon Barela

Demographics  86th fewest Whites (48.5%),  92nd fewest Blacks (2.3%), 32nd most Latinos (42.6%)

Assessment Not completely safe, but should be OK.  Heinrich has raised an impressive $600K to Barela’s $73K

District: NM-02

Location The southern half of NM, bordering AZ, TX, and Mexico map

Cook PVI R + 6

Representative Harry Teague (D)

VoteView NA

First elected 2008

2008 margin  56-44 over Edward Tinsley

2006 margin  NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 49-50

Bush margin 2004 58-41

Current opponents Steve Pearce

Demographics   20th lowest income (median = $29K), 73rd fewest Whites (44.3%), 60th fewest Blacks (1.6%), 29th most Latinos (47.3%)

Assessment A district that went for McCain can’t be considered safe for a freshman D.  But, OTOH, he did win in 2008.  Teague has raised $620 K already, to Pearce’s $63K.

District: NM-03

Location Northern half of NM, including Santa Fe, bordering AZ, CO, OK, and TX, and touching corners with UT. map

Cook PVI D + 7

Representative Ben Ray Lujan (D)

VoteView NA

First elected 2008

2008 margin  57-31 over Daniel East

2006 margin  NA

2004 margin NA

Obama margin 61-38

Bush margin 2004 46-54

Current opponents None confirmed

Demographics 68th fewest Whites (41.4%), 36th fewest Blacks (1.1%), 38th most Latinos (36.3%), 14th most nonWhite, nonBlack, nonLatino (mostly 18.9% Native American)

Assessment Probably safe

• CA-Sen: Sorry none of us could be bothered to talk about this poll on Friday: Rasmussen polled the California Senate race again and found former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina gaining some ground on Sen. Barbara Boxer. Boxer leads 45-41 (it was 47-38 in March). Interestingly, though, Fiorina, who quite publicly drove HP into a ditch, already has negative favorable ratings (30/35, with 35% unsure), which has to be a bad sign for any challenger. Boxer is still in positive territory (50/47), so I have no idea to square those results with the head-to-head.

• IL-Sen: State treasurer Alexi Giannoulias had his official campaign launch this weekend, where he name-dropped Barack Obama at every opportunity.

• NY-Sen-B: Is this a sign that Rep. Carolyn Maloney may be backing away from the Senate race, or is she just sidetracked by the chaos in the House? She had been scheduled to announce her primary campaign against Kirsten Gillibrand today or tomorrow, but now Maloney tells the New York Post that the timetable is no longer in effect, and didn’t say anything about a new timetable, other than to say that “This week we are confronting health care.”

• AK-Gov: If the world seems a slightly lighter place today, it’s because it’s our first Sarah Palin-free day in a while; she turned the keys to the state over to Sean Parnell yesterday. I guess now I and other members of the media can, in honor of the American soldier, quit makin’ stuff up about her.

• MA-Gov: The Boston Globe polled Deval Patrick’s prospects and found he’s still in trouble. (The poll was conducted on the Globe’s behalf by often-clueless UNH, so take with the requisite spoonful of salt.) His job approvals are 35/56, and he narrowly loses head-to-heads with both prospective GOPers, 41-35 to Charlie Baker and 41-40 to Christy Mihos. If Dem-turned-Independent treasurer Tim Cahill gets in the race as planned, though, the Republicans fade into the background, as Cahill seems to vacuum up the anti-Patrick votes. Patrick and Cahill tie both matchups: 30-30-20 with Baker, and 31-31-18 with Mihos.

• NJ-Gov: Jon Corzine picked his Lt. Gov. running mate: state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a 74-year-old granny from Bergen County noted for pushing for ethics reform. This comes instead of, as rumored, Apprentice winner Randal Pinkett. Those in the know seem to think that Corzine may have been motivated to pick her in order to emphasize ethics in the wake of the federal arrests of a swarm of lower elected officials, including some Corzine allies. The New York Times presents a dark picture of Corzine’s campaign, framing the corruption sweep as one more blow that he can’t handle, and actually starts speculating on what Dem might replace Corzine at the top of the ticket should be back out (it mentions Newark mayor Cory Booker and Rep. Frank Pallone). The NYT says Corzine still has no plans to bail, but state machine boss George Norcross is making no secret that he wants Corzine out of the race.

• VA-Gov: Barack Obama will be coming to Virginia to stump for Creigh Deeds, with both a public rally and private fundraiser on Aug. 6. This comes as GOP candidate Bob McDonnell has been seeking to increasingly go after Deeds on national issues, as at their first debate where McDonnell challenged Deeds on cap-and-trade and EFCA. Deeds may need some outside help, as he’s had trouble nailing down some of the local big names, most prominently former Gov. Douglas Wilder.

• IL-10: State Rep. Julie Hamos says she’ll officially announce tomorrow that she’s running for the Democratic nod in the now-open 10th. She had been planning to run for AG until Lisa Madigan surprised everyone by deciding to run for another term. Instead, she joins a top-drawer field with state Sen. Michael Bond and 06/08 candidate Dan Seals already in.

• NY-23: We’ll have to wait until tomorrow for Democrats in the 23rd District to have even a plan for picking a candidate, let alone have a candidate, as they seem to have not had much of a Plan B in the event that Darrel Aubertine didn’t run. The Dems say they’ve received about 18 applications; Watertown Daily Times gotten confirmations from 06 nominee Michael Oot, 94 nominee Danny Francis, attorney Stuart Brody, attorney Keith Caughlin, and state assistant inspector general for Medicaid John Sullivan that they are among the 18. Meanwhile, Jim Kelly (no, not the quarterback) sounds like he’s gearing up to run on the Conservative line.

• VA-05: Ex-Rep. Virgil Goode made it official that he won’t be running against Tom Perriello to get his seat back. (Now maybe he can stop running around the district handing out oversize checks.) Speculation turns to GOP state Senator Rob Hurt and delegate Rob Bell, who don’t have the name rec or fundraising power of Goode, but don’t have the polarizing reputations either.