Tag: House

Last night I received a fundraising email from the Charlie Brown for Congress campaign stating that 15% of online donations will go to the Sacramento – Sierra Red Cross to help the victims of the Angora fire in South Lake Tahoe (which is in California’s 4th congressional district).

Now, for those of you who don’t know it, Charlie Brown has done something similar before. At the end of the previous fundraising quarter in March he pledged to give 10% of contributions to local veteran aide groups. The donations were distributed to the Sacramento Stand Down, Nevada County Stand Down, and Sierra College Veterans Club in mid April.

This is in stark contrast to the actions of Congressman John Doolittle who’s practise it was to give 15% of all contributions to his wife. Charlie in contrast is giving money to the community in his district.

Here’s the fundraising email:

As you know, the upcoming June 30th FEC deadline is a very important benchmark for our campaign. But it pales in comparison to what’s happening right now in Lake Tahoe, where thousands of our neighbors are facing a devastating wildfire.

That’s why between now and the FEC deadline of midnight on June 30th, we will be donating 15% of all contributions made through our online ActBlue page to the Sacramento- Sierra Red Cross–to help area residents who have been affected by this horrible tragedy.

CLICK HERE to Contribute Now! (15% of your donation will help Tahoe Area Fire Victims).

CLICK HERE for a list of groups who are helping those displaced by the fire, and information about how you can help.

Together, we’ve shown that leadership is about much more than just affecting policy in Washington. It is also about mobilizing our collective strength to address real life problems here at home. In other words, leading by example.

A few months ago, our “no veteran left behind” campaign did much more than provide needed funds to area organizations helping veterans and families in need. It set an example that others have followed- both inside an outside of politics. Veterans and families in need across America, not just in our own community, have been the beneficiaries.

The events of this week demand that we lead by example once again.

Please be aware that it says that 15% of all contributions through Charlie’s ActBlue page will go to the Tahoe fire victims. So, I’m not sure if this also applies to other ActBlue pages raising funds for Charlie. I’ll ask the campaign and update once I’ve heard back from them.

cross-posted from Turn Tahoe Blue

More information on the Angora Fire at Lake Tahoe:

Tahoe Daily Tribune
OurTahoe.org
Reno Gazette-Journal
Sacramento Bee

Just for curiosity’s sake, I took a moment tonight to compile a list of the hottest House candidates on Actblue.com, as ranked by their total fundraising totals for the 2008 cycle so far.* It should also give us a few clues as to which candidates we should be keeping an eye on as second quarter fundraising reports are filed with the FEC in the next few weeks.

State	CD	Candidate	Raised on Actblue
CO	2	Jared Polis	$100,621
MA	5	Niki Tsongas	$92,787
MA	5	Jamie Eldridge	$84,358
ME	1	Chellie Pingree	$73,390
CA	26	Russ Warner	$55,512
IL	10	Dan Seals	$48,083
AZ	3	Bob Lord	$45,275
TX	10	Dan Grant	$44,010
NY	29	Eric Massa	$42,931
NY	26	Jon Powers	$37,825
CA	4	Charlie Brown	$34,516
FL	8	Mike Smith	$32,645
MO	6	Kay Barnes	$27,675
CT	4	Jim Himes	$25,278
NM	1	Martin Heinrich	$23,044
NC	8	Larry Kissell	$22,686
MD	4	Donna Edwards	$19,217
MT	AL	Bill Kennedy	$12,541
NM	2	Bill McCamley	$11,580
OH	1	Steve Driehaus	$9,065

*As of 9:52 PM EDT June 27, 2007

Definitely some interesting names in that list, including Russ Warner, who appeared to be capable of giving Republican incumbent David Dreier a respectable challenge in 2006. Warner apparently made the mistake of not spending enough on the primary, and lost the nomination to the district’s 2004 nominee, the unknown, underfunded Cynthia Matthews. Predictably, Dreier went on to win his 2006 contest by a comfortable 57-38 margin, even though his district has a PVI of R+4. Hopefully Warner has learned a thing or two about what it takes to win a primary and we can see how he hustles against Dreier in a general election. Judging by his campaign website, Warner has picked up a strongly anti-war flavor.

It’s interesting to note that, outside the top four candidates (who are all vying for safe Democratic open seats), some of the top names on Actblue are contesting tough districts like Bob Lord‘s campaign against Rep. John Shadegg in Arizona’s 3rd (R+5.9), and Dan Grant against Mike McCaul in Texas’ 10th (R+13). It will be interesting to see how many aggressive challenges can be raised in Republican-leaning districts like these over the next year and a half. My guess is that we’ll see quite a few. There’s nothing quite like a massive wave election to inspire recruitment.

On a more technical side, it will also be of high interest to see how great a proportion these Actblue-generated receipts will have in these candidates’ overall 2Q filings.

John Boccieri in OH-16

Allow me to reccomend State Senator (and Air Force Reserve Major) John Boccieri.

John has been endorsed by VoteVets.org, General Wesley Clark and Governor Ted Strickland, who spoke at our campaign kick-off event:

“As a former Congressman, I know that it takes a strong leader like John Boccieri to stand up for Ohio families in Washington. John Boccieri understands the problems facing our communities and he is the right leader to fight for this area in Congress.  He’s been fighting to turn around Ohio as a state Senator and he will fight to turn around Ohio as a Member of Congress.” 

As others have mentioned, this Saturday, June 30, is the end of the quarter for FEC fundraising. We’re hoping that we can keep the momentum building that we’re enjoyed so far. If you can help with financial support through ActBlue, it would be GREATLY appreciated.

Sincerely,

Earl Britt
Web assistant
http://johnforcongress.com

Considering that it’s a state that Gore won (in my book), and that John “The Haunted Tree” Kerry lost by 5 points, Florida’s lopsided congressional delegation of 16 Republicans and 9 Democrats sticks out like a sore thumb on the U.S. electoral map.  (Of course, it was even worse before the victories of Tim Mahoney in FL-16 and Ron Klein in FL-22 last year, at a brutal margin of 18R-7D.)  Chalk it up to tenaciously shrewd gerrymandering by the Florida state legislature.  Five of Florida’s House Democrats are packed in districts that delivered over 65% of their votes to Kerry in 2004, one (FL-11) gave Kerry 58%, one is in marginally Democratic turf (Klein), and two Blue Doggies hold districts that lean GOP on the Presidential level as of late (Allen Boyd and Mahoney, whose districts both delivered 54% their vote to Bush in 2004).  Florida’s Congressional Republicans, on the other hand, have set up shop in a plethora of districts specially created for them–areas that Bush won by margins between 10 and 20 points (of which there are 11).

But as Democrats have proven themselves more adept at holding red turf than Republicans have been at retaining seats in blue districts (Democrats currently hold 62 House districts that Bush won in 2004, while Republicans hold a scant eight that voted for Kerry), so too has their zeal for stepping up the pressure against incumbents in Republican-leading districts.  According to the AP,  DCCC chair Chris Van Hollen has lined up five Republican seats for aggressive challenges in 2008:

For Democrats, the targets are Reps. Vern Buchanan, Ric Keller, Dave Weldon, Tom Feeney and C.W. “Bill” Young.

Here’s the rationale for each:

– Buchanan barely won his District 13 seat in the Sarasota area after spending more than $5 million of his own money on the race. He won by 369 votes. His opponent, Christine Jennings, believes touch-screen voting machines lost thousands of ballots and that she would have won if all votes had been counted.

– Keller promised to leave office after eight years, then decided after the last election to break his vow. He’ll have to use resources in a primary before facing a Democratic opponent. Democrats see signs the District 8 seat that includes the Orlando area could favor one of their candidates, and they’ll make a case that Keller’s voting record doesn’t reflect the interests of his constituents.

– Weldon underperformed at the polls last year when he was re-elected in District 15, which represents the Atlantic coast from Vero Beach north to Cape Canaveral. He was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote, but against a weak Democratic candidate who spent far less money. A stronger, better financed candidate could be a challenge.

– Feeney’s District 24, which stretches from the area north and east of Orlando to Brevard and Volusia counties’ coastline, would normally be considered safely his. But Feeney’s golf trip to Scotland with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff could taint the congressman as Democrats continue to make ethics an issue in 2008.

– Young’s District 10 seat, which represents Pinellas County, is slightly Republican, but trends show the large independent voting bloc favors Democratic candidates. Young also hasn’t been seriously tested in years.

Democrats have already lined up a few ambitious challengers for these districts.  Keller, who won re-election by an underwhelming 53-46 margin against Democrat Charlie Stuart (a DCCC pick whose ability to compete monetarily in the general election was hampered by a competitive primary), will square off either with prosecutor Mike Smith or Sierra Club activist Corbett Kroehler.  But first Keller (who’s breaking his term limit pledge by running again), will have to get through a primary with conservative radio host and attorney Todd Long.  Long caught Keller somewhat off-guard during the first quarter, where he outraised the incumbent by a $40k to $27k margin.

In FL-15, Democrats have recruited Paul Rancatore, a Lt. Col. in the Air Force Reserves and the current “Director for Commercialization of Human Space Flight in the National Security and Space Office” at the Pentagon (that’s a mouthful).  In FL-13, Christine Jennings never ended her campaign against Vern Buchanan, of course, and she’s been raising money at a fast clip to pay for her legal expenses.  Despite her narrow “loss” last year, her race will be as tough to win as the rest of these, given some of Buchanan’s cautious votes in the House.

But it’s perhaps Florida’s 10th district that could be the most exciting of the five.  Unlike the rest of Florida’s Republican delegation, Bill Young holds a true toss-up seat, with a PVI of D+1.1.  Gore won this area by two points, and Kerry lost it by the same margin.  On paper, Young would appear formidable: he’s a 36-year incumbent, and he hasn’t won a re-election with less than 65% of the vote in ages.  But on the other hand: Democrats haven’t really tested his hand.  And given his totally irresponsible handling of the Walter Reed scandal, there’s clearly some rust to be punctured here.  Democrats have yet to line up a strong challenger to either him or the Abramoff-loving Tom Feeney (FL-24), and these will be major tests of Van Hollen’s recruiting prowess.

One final note about the article:

Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, expressed confidence that the party wouldn’t repeat its showing in 2006. He said Mahoney never would have won if it hadn’t been for Foley’s scandal and that Republicans perform better in Florida during presidential elections.

“All these districts will perform more like they normally do in ’08 than they did in ’06. That’s what presidential elections do. The Democrats had their best shot at a lot of these folks in 2006 and either didn’t make it or didn’t pull the trigger. I don’t think they’ll get a second opportunity,” Cole said. “We’re back to normal politics.”

With Iraq spiraling out of control, it’ll never be “normal politics”, Tom.  You should be ashamed of yourself.

Anzalone-Liszt, the firm that revealed Robin Hayes’ vulnerability against underdog Democrat Larry Kissell in a surprising poll last May, is back with perhaps the first publicly-leaked House race match-up polls of the 2008 cycle.  And boy, is it a doozy:

Robin Hayes (R-Inc.): 45
Larry Kissell (D): 43

Re-Elect Hayes: 40
Vote For Someone New: 43

Kissell, who came within 329 votes of upsetting the CAFTA-loving Hayes in 2006 despite being outspent by $779k to Hayes’ $2.48 million, won’t be as starved for funds in 2008, if DCCC Chair Rep. Chris Van Hollen has anything to do with it:

We are fully committed to this effort going forward. We think this is a winnable race. We think the fact that we came so close, that Larry came so close last time is a clear indication that Robin Hayes is vulnerable. We think he remains vulnerable. […]

I told Larry, that come next spring when we put together our Red to Blue program, that this race will be on that list from the start and we will continue obviously to work with the campaign going forward.

That was part of a transcript of a conference call between Kissell, Van Hollen, Marc Silverman of Anzalone-Liszt, and potential donors posted on BlueNC.  Also discussed during the call was the broad name recognition gap that Hayes holds over Kissell.  Despite being known to only 34% of voters (compared to 84% for Hayes), Kissell trails the incumbent by a statistically insignificant margin.  Compare Kissell’s 34% recognition to the 19% that Democrat Paul Hodes posted in May 2006 (also his second–and successful–crack at the bat in a House race), and you can see why Kissell is ahead of the curve while still showing a lot of room to grow.  With a boost of new resources, Kissell can introduce himself for the first time to a lot of voters that his underfunded grassroots campaign couldn’t reach last year.  The caveat is, as Markos notes, Hayes will take Kissell’s challenge much more seriously at a much earlier starting point in the cycle.  So expect Uncle Pennybags to dip into his own coffers somewhat heavily.  And expect the NRCC to come packing heat.

BlueNC has much, much more.

Race Tracker: NC-08

Yep we have hit the magical 300. 17 months before election day too. We have so many more candidates in the field this cycle than at the same time in 2005.

Once again go and take a look at the 
2008 Race Tracker Wiki. & DCCritters.

Below the fold for all the news.
(cross posted at MyDD and Daily Kos)

300 races filled! This of course includes 233 districts held by Democratic Congresscritters.

But we also have 67 GOP held districts with confirmed Democratic opponents.

So here is where we are at (GOP Districts):
Districts with confirmed candidates – 67
Districts with unconfirmed candidates – 6
Districts with rumoured candidates – 29
Districts without any candidates – 100

1) The GOP held districts with confirmed Democratic challengers are as follows:
AL-04,
AK-AL,
AZ-01,
AZ-02,
AZ-03,
AR-03,
CA-04,
CA-24,
CA-26,
CA-41,
CA-48,
CA-50,
CO-04,
CT-04,
FL-01,
FL-08,
FL-09,
FL-13, [Either through the House of Reps investigation or Jennings has committed to another run.]
FL-15,
FL-21,
FL-24,
FL-25,
GA-10 [SPECIAL ELECTION JUNE 19TH],
ID-01,
IL-10,
IL-14,
IN-06,
IA-04,
IA-05,
LA-01,
MD-01,
MD-06,
MI-07,
MN-06,
MO-06,
MO-09,
MT-AL,
NE-02,
NV-03,
NJ-07,
NJ-11,
NM-01,
NM-02,
NY-25,
NY-29,
NC-03,
NC-08,
NC-09,
OH-01,
OH-02,
OH-07,
OH-15,
OH-16,
PA-03,
PA-15,
TX-04,
TX-08,
TX-10,
TX-11,
TX-13,
TX-14,
VA-05,
VA-06,
WA-04,
WA-08,
WI-01,
WY-AL,

2) The following 2 GOP held districts have candidates that are expected to run but are yet to confirm:
NJ-05,
NY-26,
OH-14,
PA-18,
VA-10,
WV-02,

3) The following 33 GOP held districts have rumoured candidates – please note that some of these “rumours” are extremely tenuous!
AL-01,
AZ-06,
CA-03,
CA-42,
CA-45,
DE-AL,
FL-06,
FL-10,
FL-12,
IN-03,
IN-04,
KY-05,
MI-09,
MN-02,
NE-03,
NV-02,
NJ-02,
NJ-03,
NJ-04,
NY-03,
NY-13,
NC-05,
OK-04,
PA-06,
TN-07,
TX-02,
UT-03,
VA-01,
VA-11,

4) And last but not least the following 106 districts have not a single rumoured candidate:
AL-02,
AL-03,
AL-06,
CA-02,
CA-19,
CA-21,
CA-22,
CA-25,
CA-40,
CA-44,
CA-46,
CA-49,
CA-52,
CO-05,
CO-06,
FL-04,
FL-05,
FL-07,
FL-14,
FL-18,
GA-01,
GA-03,
GA-06,
GA-07,
GA-09,
GA-11,
ID-02,
IL-06,
IL-11,
IL-13,
IL-15,
IL-16,
IL-18,
IL-19,
IN-05,
KS-01,
KS-04,
KY-01,
KY-02,
KY-04,
LA-04,
LA-05,
LA-06,
LA-07,
MI-02,
MI-03,
MI-04,
MI-06,
MI-08,
MI-10,
MI-11,
MI-12,
MN-03,
MS-01,
MS-03,
MO-02,
MO-07,
MO-08,
NE-01,
NY-23,
NC-06,
NC-10,
OH-03,
OH-04,
OH-05,
OH-08,
OH-12,
OK-01,
OK-03,
OK-05,
OR-02,
PA-05,
PA-09,
PA-16,
PA-19,
SC-01,
SC-02,
SC-03,
SC-04,
TN-01,
TN-02,
TN-03,
TX-01,
TX-03,
TX-05,
TX-06,
TX-07,
TX-12,
TX-19,
TX-21,
TX-24,
TX-26,
TX-31,
TX-32,
UT-01,
VA-02,
VA-04,
VA-07,
WA-05,
WI-05,
WI-06,

Praise to those states where we already have a full slate of house candidates – Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming.

It is also interesting to note that we have only one race left to fill in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia. Thats 16 states with a full slate (17 when I can conform Unger in WV-02) and 6 states with one race to fill! That is almost half the states full or nearly full 17 months before election day, an impressive feat indeed!

Please note that in some races others at the racetracker site have confirmed candidates that I haven’t. This is because to satisfy me a confirmed candidate has either filed with the FEC, The Sec of State or has an active campaign website, or even if they come and blog and say yep I am running. Others are not so rigorous.

It is also great to see candidates in VA-06 and TX-11, 2 of 10 districts we did not contest in 2006!

We are well on track to beat the 425 races we contested in 2006.

*** Tips, rumours and what not in the comments please.***

Another 2 weeks passes and another 7 races with confirmed Democratic candidates. At this rate we will be up to 400 by christmas!

Once again go and take a look at the 
2008 Race Tracker Wiki. & DCCritters.

Below the fold for all the news.
(cross posted at MyDD and Daily Kos)

295 races filled! This of course includes 233 districts held by Democratic Congresscritters.

But we also have 62 GOP held districts with confirmed Democratic opponents.

So here is where we are at (GOP Districts):
Districts with confirmed candidates – 62
Districts with unconfirmed candidates – 2
Districts with rumoured candidates – 33
Districts without any candidates – 105

1) The GOP held districts with confirmed Democratic challengers are as follows:
AL-04,
AK-AL,
AZ-01,
AZ-02,
AZ-03,
AR-03,
CA-04,
CA-24,
CA-26,
CA-41,
CA-48,
CO-04,
CT-04,
FL-01,
FL-08,
FL-09,
FL-13, [Either through the House of Reps investigation or Jennings has committed to another run.]
FL-15,
FL-21,
FL-24,
FL-25,
GA-10 [SPECIAL ELECTION JUNE 19TH],
ID-01,
IL-10,
IL-14,
IN-06,
IA-04,
IA-05,
LA-01,
MD-06,
MI-07,
MN-06,
MO-06,
MO-09,
MT-AL,
NE-02,
NV-03,
NJ-07,
NJ-11,
NM-01,
NM-02,
NY-25,
NY-29,
NC-03,
NC-08,
NC-09,
OH-01,
OH-02,
OH-07,
OH-15,
OH-16,
PA-03,
PA-15,
TX-04,
TX-08,
TX-10,
TX-13,
VA-05,
VA-06,
WA-08,
WI-01,
WY-AL,

2) The following 2 GOP held districts have candidates that are expected to run but are yet to confirm:
NJ-05,
OH-14,

3) The following 33 GOP held districts have rumoured candidates – please note that some of these “rumours” are extremely tenuous!
AL-01,
AZ-06,
CA-03,
CA-42,
CA-45,
CA-50,
DE-AL,
FL-06,
FL-10,
FL-12,
IN-04,
KY-05,
MI-09,
MN-02,
NE-03,
NV-02,
NJ-02,
NJ-03,
NJ-04,
NY-03,
NY-13,
NY-26,
NC-05,
OK-04,
PA-06,
PA-18,
TN-07,
TX-02,
TX-14,
UT-03,
VA-01,
VA-11,
WV-02,

4) And last but not least the following 106 districts have not a single rumoured candidate:
AL-02,
AL-03,
AL-06,
CA-02,
CA-19,
CA-21,
CA-22,
CA-25,
CA-40,
CA-44,
CA-46,
CA-49,
CA-52,
CO-05,
CO-06,
FL-04,
FL-05,
FL-07,
FL-14,
FL-18,
GA-01,
GA-03,
GA-06,
GA-07,
GA-09,
GA-11,
ID-02,
IL-06,
IL-11,
IL-13,
IL-15,
IL-16,
IL-18,
IL-19,
IN-03,
IN-05,
KS-01,
KS-04,
KY-01,
KY-02,
KY-04,
LA-04,
LA-05,
LA-06,
LA-07,
MD-01,
MI-02,
MI-03,
MI-04,
MI-06,
MI-08,
MI-10,
MI-11,
MI-12,
MN-03,
MS-01,
MS-03,
MO-02,
MO-07,
MO-08,
NE-02,
NY-23,
NC-06,
NC-10,
OH-03,
OH-04,
OH-05,
OH-08,
OH-12,
OK-01,
OK-03,
OK-05,
OR-02,
PA-05,
PA-09,
PA-16,
PA-19,
SC-01,
SC-02,
SC-03,
SC-04,
TN-01,
TN-02,
TN-03,
TX-01,
TX-03,
TX-05,
TX-06,
TX-11,
TX-12,
TX-19,
TX-21,
TX-24,
TX-26,
TX-31,
TX-32,
UT-01,
VA-02,
VA-04,
VA-07,
VA-10,
WA-04,
WA-05,
WI-05,
WI-06,

Praise to those states where we already have a full slate of house candidates – Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. It would be great to see some more candidates bob up in Texas as it is the first state for filings to close (I think).

Please note that in some races others at the racetracker site have confirmed candidates that I haven’t. This is because to satisfy me a confirmed candidate has either filed with the FEC, The Sec of State or has an active campaign website, or even if they come and blog and say yep I am running. Others are not so rigorous.

It is also great to see a candidate in VA-06, one of 10 districts we did not contest in 2006!

We are well on track to beat the 425 races we contested in 2006.

*** Tips, rumours and what not in the comments please.***

Nationally, many pundits and bloggers didn’t take Nevada’s 2nd district too seriously in 2006. It was too safe a Republican district to be even slightly competitive, so the argument went.

Well, we all know that Dean Heller in the end won his election against Democrat Jill Derby. Against expectations though, his result wasn’t very convincing. The man who was elected Secretary of State of Nevada three times, barely won more than 50% of the vote in a district that doesn’t include Democratic Las Vegas. So today, I ventured out in search of Republicans who won their districts in 2006 and did worse than him. Turns out that there weren’t that many.

Only 11 Republicans were elected with a worse result than Heller. Among them: Rep. Sali of Idaho, Rep. Cubin of Wyoming, Rep. Musgrave of Colorado and Rep. Doolittle of California. All these districts were presumed to be safely in Republican hands. There was no way they would become competitive and yet they were.

Again, there is talk of Heller being safe, of other Republican districts more important than Nevada’s 2nd. This is reminder for all of these folks that Heller is among the vulnerable dozen Republicans currently serving in Congress:

  * 50.37% Heller
  * 50.24% Pryce (OH-15)
  * 50.21% Wilson (NM-01)
  * 50.14% Hayes (NC-08)
  * 50.08% Buchanan (FL-13)
  * 50.05% Bachmann (MN-06)
  * 49.95% Sali (ID-01)
  * 49.53% Ferguson (NJ-07)
  * 49.26% Doolittle (CA-04)
  * 48.46% Porter (NV-03)
  * 48.33% Cubin (WY-01)
  * 45.91% Musgrave (CO-04)

Results were taken from NPR.

PS: Please note that I only looked at how many people were willing to vote for the Republican, not how well the opponent did. This is not a diary on close margins. Feel free to comment on that below.

Cross posted from Helluva Heller, where Nevada bloggers have united to take down Heller in 2008.

More and more candidates continue to pour out of the woodwork for 2008 House races. 11 have confirmed or announced in the last 2 weeks alone!

Once again go and take a look at the 
2008 Race Tracker Wiki. & DCCritters.

Below the fold for all the news.
(cross posted at MyDD and Daily Kos)

288 races filled! Eleven in the last 2 weeks alone. This of course includes 233 districts held by Democratic Congresscritters.

But we also have 55 GOP held districts with confirmed Democratic opponents.

So here is where we are at (GOP Districts):
Districts with confirmed candidates – 55
Districts with unconfirmed candidates – 4
Districts with rumoured candidates – 37
Districts without any candidates – 106

That 106 number looks disturbingly large but let me tell you that we are just humming along. I think that there is every chance that half of the GOP districts will have candidates by July 4th.

So without further ado here is the list:
1) The GOP held districts with confirmed Democratic challengers are as follows:
AL-04,
AZ-01,
AZ-02,
AZ-03,
AR-03,
CA-04,
CA-24,
CA-26,
CA-41, [In the event of a special election but he will run in 2008 methinks!]
CA-48,
CT-04,
FL-01,
FL-08,
FL-09,
FL-13, [Either through the House of Reps investigation or Jennings has committed to another run.]
FL-15,
FL-21,
FL-24,
FL-25,
GA-10 [SPECIAL ELECTION JUNE 19TH],
ID-01,
IL-10,
IL-14,
IN-06,
IA-04,
IA-05,
LA-01,
MI-07,
MN-06,
MO-09,
MT-AL,
NE-02,
NV-03,
NJ-07,
NJ-11,
NM-02,
NY-25,
NY-29,
NC-03,
NC-08,
NC-09,
OH-02,
OH-07,
OH-15,
OH-16,
PA-03,
PA-15,
TX-04,
TX-08,
TX-10,
TX-13,
VA-06,
WA-08,
WI-01,
WY-AL,

2) The following 4 GOP held districts have candidates that are expected to run but are yet to confirm:
MD-06,
NJ-05,
OH-01,
OH-14,

3) We also have the following 37 GOP held districts have rumoured candidates – please note that some of these “rumours” are extremely tenuous!
AL-01,
AK-AL,
AZ-06,
CA-03,
CA-42,
CA-45,
CA-50,
CO-04,
DE-AL,
FL-06,
FL-12,
IN-04,
KY-05,
MI-09,
MN-02,
MO-06,
NE-03,
NV-02,
NJ-02,
NJ-03,
NJ-04,
NM-01,
NY-03,
NY-13,
NY-26,
NC-05,
OK-04,
PA-06,
PA-18,
TN-07,
TX-02,
TX-14,
UT-03,
VA-01,
VA-05,
VA-11,
WV-02,

4) And last but not least the following 106 districts have not a single rumoured candidate:
AL-02,
AL-03,
AL-06,
CA-02,
CA-19,
CA-21,
CA-22,
CA-25,
CA-40,
CA-44,
CA-46,
CA-49,
CA-52,
CO-05,
CO-06,
FL-04,
FL-05,
FL-07,
FL-10,
FL-14,
FL-18,
GA-01,
GA-03,
GA-06,
GA-07,
GA-09,
GA-11,
ID-02,
IL-06,
IL-11,
IL-13,
IL-15,
IL-16,
IL-18,
IL-19,
IN-03,
IN-05,
KS-01,
KS-04,
KY-01,
KY-02,
KY-04,
LA-04,
LA-05,
LA-06,
LA-07,
MD-01,
MI-02,
MI-03,
MI-04,
MI-06,
MI-08,
MI-10,
MI-11,
MI-12,
MN-03,
MS-01,
MS-03,
MO-02,
MO-07,
MO-08,
NE-02,
NY-23,
NC-06,
NC-10,
OH-03,
OH-04,
OH-05,
OH-08,
OH-12,
OK-01,
OK-03,
OK-05,
OR-02,
PA-05,
PA-09,
PA-16,
PA-19,
SC-01,
SC-02,
SC-03,
SC-04,
TN-01,
TN-02,
TN-03,
TX-01,
TX-03,
TX-05,
TX-06,
TX-11,
TX-12,
TX-19,
TX-21,
TX-24,
TX-26,
TX-31,
TX-32,
UT-01,
VA-02,
VA-04,
VA-07,
VA-10,
WA-04,
WA-05,
WI-05,
WI-06,

Praise to those states where we already have a full slate of house candidates – Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. It would be great to see some more candidates bob up in Texas as it is the first state for filings to close (I think).

Please note that in some races others at the racetracker site have confirmed candidates that I haven’t. This is because to satisfy me a confirmed candidate has either filed with the FEC, The Sec of State or has an active campaign website, or even if they come and blog and say yep I am running. Others are not so rigorous.

It is also great to see a candidate in VA-06, one of 10 districts we did not contest in 2006!

We are well on track to beat the 425 races we contested in 2006.

*** Tips, rumours and what not in the comments please.***

The DCCC is not sitting around waiting for Rick Renzi to resign. According to the Washington Post, they have established a special election fund for the eventual nominee.

Readying for a special election, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has opened a special election fund to collect cash that would benefit the party’s eventual nominee. If a vacancy occurs, the Democratic special election nominee would benefit from an immediate cash infusion from this fund. The DCCC began raising money yesterday for the effort.

“Rick Renzi’s seat was a target before his family business was raided by the FBI. It’s even more so now. If and when there is special election, the Democratic candidate will have the support needed to win,” said Jennifer Crider, a DCCC spokeswoman.

I’ll wait until I see a resignation. But if and when it happens, I will be ready to do my part.