Swing State Project

PC Load Letter? What the fuck is that?

I made this map assuming New York will lose one seat, all incumbents will win in 2010 and Republicans will hold NY-23. I chose to assume Republicans would hold the 23rd district because it seemed easier to redistrict out the 23rd district than the 26th.  

NY-19 Hall	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 19th	50.7%	46.2%
Saratoga County	2151	1987	4217
Washington County	12741	12533	25714
Rensselaer County	39753	32840	73976
Columbia County	17556	13337	31403
Dutchess County	71060	59628	132246
Putnam County	21613	25145	47206
Total	164874	145470	314762
New 19th	52.4%	46.2%

With slow population growth and redistricting out the 23rd district, districts had to move East and North. Since I started in the West and making it more Democratic Hall’s district changed a lot but Dutchess and Putnam Counties account for over 50% of the district which are in his district now.

NY-20 Murphy vs Scozzafava	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 20th	50.7%	47.7%
St Lawrence County	23706	16956	41223
Franklin County	10571	6676	17495
Clinton County	20216	12579	33312
Essex County	10390	7913	18590
Warren County	16281	15429	32206
Schenectady County	38611	29758	69765
Saratoga County	54494	50868	107008
Total	174269	140179	319599
New 20th	54.5%	43.9%

The 20th’s new Make up is 40.9% from the old 20th, 37.7% from the old 23rd, and 21.4% from the old 21st. Every county voted for Obama.

NY-21 Tonko	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 21st	58.1%	40%
Lewis County	4986	5969	11129
Jefferson County	18166	20219	38847
Herkimer County	12904	14619	27176
Hamilton County	1225	2141	3408
Fulton County	9695	11709	21800
Montgomery County	9080	10711	20168
Ostego County	13570	12026	26094
Schoharie County	6009	8071	14381
Albany County	93937	50586	147110
Total	168762	136051	310113
New 21st	54.4%	43.9%

Pickes up area from the old 23rd and 24th to the North and West becomes less Democratic. Albany County makes up about half of the district.

NY-22 Hinchey	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 22nd	59.2%	39.3%
Delaware County	9462	10524	20384
Greene County	9850	12059	22287
Sullivan County	16850	13900	31153
Ulster County	52539	32527	86461
Orange County	69913	60951	132233
Total	158614	129961	292518
New 22nd	54.2%	44.4%

Becomes more compact and less Democratic by losing its finger that goes through Binghamton and to Tompkins County.

NY-23 Massa	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 29th	48.2%	50.5%
Monroe County	101751	82413	186379
Ontario County	17431	15978	33816
Wayne County	9803	13009	23150
Yates County	4890	5269	10264
Seneca County	7422	7038	14725
Schuyler County	3933	4542	8600
Chemung County	18888	19364	38693
Tioga County	10172	12536	23085
Steuben County*	5951*	8398*	14535*
Total	180241	168547	353247
New 23rd	51%	47.7%

The numbers for the 23rd and 26th are not exact numbers because I could not find political data for Steuben County so I split up the numbers based on population. I would assume Corning is less repulbican than Steuben County on a whole, but since I dont know the area and couldnt find information on it I just split Steuben up evenly.

The 23rd picks up more of the Rochester exurbs and loses its strong republican areas in the Southwest. Monroe County now makes up about half of the district.

NY-24 Arcuri	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 24th	50.3%	48%
Cayuga County	16536	13398	30463
Cortland County	11861	9678	21897
Broome County	47204	40077	88707
Chenango County	10100	10337	20847
Madison County	14692	14434	29774
Oneida County	32627	34555	68237
Tompkins County	29826	11927	42472
Total	162846	134406	302397
New 24th	53.9%	44.4%

After his close call in 2008 making Arcuri’s district safer was one of my main goals. Picks up the rest of Tompkins and Broome Counties making it more Democratic.

NY-25 Maffei	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 25th	55.7%	42.6%
Wayne County	8381	9230	17829
Onondaga County	129317	84972	218194
Oswego County	24777	23571	49249
Oneida County	10879	14701	26069
Total	173354	132474	311341
New 25th	55.6%	42.5%

Loses its area in Monroe County and parts of Wayne County. Picks up Oswego County and parts of Oneida County. Stays almost the exact same politicaly.

NY-26 Lee	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 26th	46.4%	52.2%
Niagara County	26003	27267	54148
Orleans County	1758	2714	4550
Monroe County	12813	15385	28593
Genesee County	10762	15705	26866
Wyoming County	6379	10998	17665
Livingston County	13655	16030	30112
Chatauqua County	29129	28579	58762
Cattaraugus County	14307	17770	32588
Ontario County	7762	9193	17186
Allegany County	7016	11013	18386
Steuben County*	11197*	15805*	27353*
Total	140781	170459	316181
New 26th	44.5%	53.9%

Lee would now live in the 27th but I assume he would run in the safer 26th. Becomes more republican after losing its areas in Erie County and picking up most of the heavy republican areas from the 23rd.

NY-27 Higgins	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 27th	54.2%	44%
Erie County	191229	125711	321941
New 27th	59.4%	39%

Loses Chautauqua County and becomes more Democratic by picking up the rest of Buffalo.

NY-28 Slaughter	Obama	McCain	Total
Current 28th	68.5%	30.3%
Erie County	65070	53104	119985
Niagara County	21300	19081	41014
Orleans County	4856	6994	12024
Monroe County	92661	46355	140630
Total	183887	125534	313653
New 28th	58.6%	40%

I kept the general earmuff shape of the district the same to allow the 23rd to pick up more of Monroe County. I also kept it pretty safe considering Slaughter would be 93 on election day 2022 most likely creating an open seat in the next decade. I also drew Slaughter out of her own district but I did it mainly to make it easier to calculate the results it wouldnt much diffrence to draw an finger out to Fairport like there is now.

Michael Bond will return… to the Illinois Senate. From a statement posted on his campaign website:

After careful consideration, I have decided not to seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in the Tenth District, and will instead seek reelection to the Illinois Senate. While I am grateful for the encouragement I have received to run for Congress, I feel an obligation to continue working to address the enormous challenges our state is confronting.

Bond was considered an early recruitment success for House Democrats, but his star quickly faded once Mark Kirk bailed on this seat for his Senate bid and it was revealed that he Bond had only raised $86K since announcing his candidacy in late April. Two other very credible Democratic candidates — ’06/’08 nominee Dan Seals and state Rep. Julie Hamos — quickly pounced on the open seat, so perhaps Bond felt getting out of a three-way primary may have been too daunting a task for him without a lot of money in the bank.

RaceTracker Wiki: IL-10

• AR-Sen: Here’s a tea leaf that state Sen. Gilbert Baker may be interested after all in getting into the Senate race: he issued a press release today going after Democratic health care reform and Blanche Lincoln in particular. He’d probably be the favorite to win the GOP nomination if he got in, if only by virtue of the rest of the field being gaffe-prone wackos.

• CT-Sen: Best wishes to Chris Dodd, who has been diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer and will undergo surgery over the August recess. He said he’ll be back at work after several weeks of recuperation at home, and that he still plans to run for re-election in 2010.

• IL-Sen: Add one more GOP Twitter fail to the increasingly long-list. Rep. Mark Kirk, who is also a Naval Reservist, tweeted his location (the National Military Command Center) while on duty. The DoD is now investigating, as it’s a problem on two fronts: one, the prohibition against using the media to give away your position, and two, the prohibition against, while on military service, updating a website established prior to the beginning of service. Complicating the legal question even further: it may have been a staffer tweeting on Kirk’s behalf. Because, y’know, it’s so hard to think up 140 characters of content on your own.

• NY-Sen-B: The confusion over the Carolyn Maloney campaign has reached epic proportions. Yesterday, CQ reported that Maloney had no fixed timeline for officially getting into the Senate primary, but that early August seemed likely. But today, Politico’s Glenn Thrush is reporting that Maloney is “leaning heavily against” making the race at all, according to several prominent Dems.

• ND-Sen: The NRSC is flogging a new internal poll which claims Gov. John Hoeven has a 53-36 lead over Sen. Byron Dorgan. Both men are very popular, with Hoeven with an 86% approval and Dorgan with a 69% approval. A public poll from R2K in February found the numbers almost exactly reversed, with Dorgan beating Hoeven 57-35… but Hoeven hasn’t taken any public steps to get into the race, so we may never find out who’s right.

• AK-Gov: Local pollster Hays Research looked at in-state approvals for Alaska’s incoming and outgoing governors, and found Sarah Palin leaving in net negative territory: 47/48. Sean Parnell looks bulletproof for the moment, at 67/8, but, having been in office for less than a week, hasn’t had the chance to screw anything up yet.

• TX-Gov: A bit more egg on the Kay Bailey Hutchison campaign’s face today, as the Austin American-Statesman found that her website had over 2,200 hidden phrases on it designed to steer traffic, including “rick perry gay.” (This wasn’t mere meta-tagging, but blind keywords invisibly put into the site’s code, something of a search engine-optimization no-no.) A spokesperson said they’d remove “rick perry gay,” although it sounds like the other 2,199 phrases stay.

• KS-04: Businessman Jim Anderson got into the overflowing GOP field in KS-04 to replace retiring Rep. Todd Tiahrt. He seems like he might get a little lost in the shuffle, in a field that already includes local GOP heavyweights RNC committeman Mike Pompeo and state Sen. Dick Kelsey, along with state Sen. Jean Schodorf, who recently began exploring the race.

• MO-04: Ike Skelton, who’s held down the fort for Dems in dark-red central Missouri since time immemorial, has drawn a more serious opponent than usual (not hard, since his usual opponents are nobodies or no one at all). Vicky Hartzler is a former state Rep. who has also written a book called “Running God’s Way,” apparently a how-to guide to campaigning for Christian right candidates. CQ also mentions several other still-in-office legislators who could also take on the 77-year-old Skelton (especially if he hears the siren song of retirement): state Rep. Tom Self and state Sen. Bill Stouffer.

• DCCC: The DCCC has responded with its own ad offensive on the health care front, a day after the RNC targeted 60 districts. The DCCC’s radio buy and robo-call package is a bit more targeted, focusing on 8 GOPers (not coincidentally, maybe their 8 most vulnerable incumbents running in 2010): Michele Bachmann, Joseph Cao, Charlie Dent, Dan Lungren, Thad McCotter, Erik Paulsen, Dave Reichert, and Pat Tiberi.

• Where Are They Now?: Former GOP Rep. Anne Northup found her way into the Obama administration, as a commissioner on the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This initially seems very odd — she already lost KY-03, so there’s no sense in appointing her to facilitate a Dem pickup — but it’s because the Senate GOP leader has a say in picking a Republican for one of the five commissioners, and Mitch McConnell opted to give the job to his long-time protege, who, having lost three races in a row, is probably finished with electoral politics.

Christopher Dodd, running for re-election and losing in a race against Rob Simmons, has been diagnosed with cancer.

Of course we will pray for his recovery and wish him to get well as soon as possible. 

But, How does this change the state of the race?

Dodd still intends to run for re-election in November 2010. “As you have probably noticed, I'm working some long and hard hours lately,'' he said. “And that will continue.”

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Rob Simmons beating Chris Dodd by a nasty 48-39 percent.  A majority of voters in CT disapprove of Dodd.

55 percent of voters said Dodd is not trustworthy or honest.

The way I see it the man has credibility problems and it is unfortunate that CT has to be a concern for us.  It is a reliably blue state.

I think that Chris Dodd should end his political career here, tell the voters that he is grateful for their support, but that he will leave the Senate in 2010.  It's better for him than being demolished in the election.

I think that we need a new Democrat and I would recommend either Christopher Murphy, Rosa DeLauro, or Chris Shays, if we can get him to run as a Democrat.

What do you think, Progressives?!

This has not been a good past 48 hours for National Republican Campaign Committee chair Pete Sessions. In fact the past two days have been horrible. Perhaps Sessions should fly out to Vegas for one of his risque fundraisers . Badump Tish

First The earmarks flap

Then the recruiting flap where he fails to get top prospect John McKinley to take on Jim Himes (CT-04).

And now we are finding out there are all kinds of holes in his Young Guns Project . Well if you call it Young Guns – not sure that some of his catches count as “Young”.

Keep up the good work Pete and you might be left with just the wignuttiest of the wignuttery in Congress. No complaints here. But the NRCC might want to second guess its decision to put you in charge. Well you are probably taking the rest of the boys to Vegas for another Leadership PAC fundraiser so I’m sure they are just looking forward to a couple of lap dances and craps.

1. Strike One

According to Pete

earmarks have become “a symbol of a broken Washington to the American people

So it’s probably no surprise that He doesn’t tell us on his website that in 2008 he steered 1.6 million to a company doing some research on a blimp. The company has no experience in government contracts, no experience in building airships or blimps and it just by the way employed a former Sessions staffer as a lobbyist. And the best part that former staffer turned lobbyist has a criminal record.

Oh and by the way this father son team (The Fergusons) that own this company – contributed $5,000 to Sessions Leadership Pac in 2007.

Wonder if they were at the Vegas Risque fundraiser.

And not only was this former staffer Plesha convicted on a gun charge but he also has a criminal record from some FEC violations related to lying to investigators about creating some false mailers.

Oh and see Pete here while Jeff Flake talks about earmarks today

2. Strike Two

Sessions announced on Tuesday

There are people proactively coming to us. We are doing far less recruiting and more catching.”

That’s a day before

“Republicans’ hopes of ousting freshman Democrat Jim Himes in Connecticut’s 4th District suffered a serious blow, as heavily recruited GOP state legislator John McKinney has taken himself out of the running.” [CQ Politics, 7/30/09]

Maybe you should be doing more recruiting then Pete.

3. Strike Three

Oh and then we just found out from this article that Sessions thinks that Mississipi State Senator Alan Nunnelee (see below) is running in Alabama against Freshman Parker Griffith (AL-05). h/t to Left in Alabama for this discovery

A few top candidates who entered their races in the last month have yet to be placed on the list but could be soon. Sessions said, for instance, that Alabama state Sen. Alan Nunnelee, who just announced he would challenge Rep. Parker Griffith (D-Ala.), would soon be a part of the program.

Way to be on top of it sport. Nunnelee has announced to run against Blue Dog Travis Childers (MS-01). The one that the NRCC ran the same candidate against in a Special Election and then a few months later again in the General and lost both times.

Not sure that this Nunellee guy (see below) really qualifies as a “Young Gun” either

But as Swing State Project points out that being young is not really a requirement of the “Young Guns” program

And let’s leave aside the issue of calling 62 year-old Steve Pearce and 56 year-old Steve Chabot “Young Guns” for the moment.

You are outtttttttttttt of there buddy. See ya in Vegas.  

• MO-Sen: This is actually starting to be a theme with Rep. Roy Blunt: he’s willing to go on the record as hating Medicare. An interview this weekend included the comments:  “We’ve had Medicare since 1965, and Medicare has never done anything to make people more healthy.” I think tens of millions of senior citizens might take exception to that.

• NC-Sen: SoS Elaine Marshall is “pretty seriously leaning toward” getting into the race against Richard Burr, according to strategist Thomas Mills in CQ (although with no mention of whether or not he was speaking on her behalf or just running his mouth). He says she doesn’t have a firm timeline, but will let us know in late summer or early fall.

• TX-Sen/Gov: When the tradmed actually refers to a conversation with a Senator as a “bizarre series of interviews,” you know something’s seriously gone awry. Kay Bailey Hutchison seemed to try to walk back her resignation announcement from yesterday when talking with the Houston Chronicle, but after some more probing, made it sound more like all she wanted was for Rick Perry to get out of the race. Because it’s her turn. Sounds exactly like something someone who’s leading in all the polls would do for her.

In the meantime, Rick Perry said he’d consider moving up the date of the special election to replace KBH, by way of mocking her resignation sort-of-decision, saying that there were too many important things going on in Washington. (Although I’m not sure Texas law would let him do so; it’s pretty clear about the election’s date.) Also, all this dissonance can only help Democratic Houston mayor Bill White in the special election, who got some good news from the FEC yesterday: they issued an advisory opinion saying he can go ahead and additional funds for the special election that technically doesn’t exist yet. (It’s kind of complex; he’s already raised $4 million in his regular 2012 Senate fund, but now he can raise additional money from the same maxed-out donors in the new fund.)

• CA-Gov: It’s not just Democratic governors who are taking a hit in approvals. Arnold Schwarzenegger is running at 28% approval and 59% disapproval in California, according to PPIC. (By contrast, Obama is at 65/27 in the state!)

• PA-Gov: Rep. Jim Gerlach is making coy reference to an internal poll that shows him losing the GOP primary to AG Tom Corbett, but with “the profile” to win. The poll says Corbett beats Gerlach (and Pat Meehan) 39-11-7 overall, but that Gerlach leads in the Philly area and that he wins when only biographical info is read. (For those not familiar with the concept, the “biographical info” poll question is the internal polling equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.)

• UT-Gov/Sen/02: Here’s one more name to take off the Open Seat Watch: Jim Matheson verified that he will run for re-election to his House seat, rather than roll the dice on a Senate bid or a run in the 2010 gubernatorial special election (despite having a conceivable shot against as-yet-to-be-promoted Gary Herbert or whatever other weirdo makes it out of the convention process).

• AK-AL: Nice to see that Rep. Don Young isn’t being forgotten, despite the gravitation of all of Alaska’s Democratic talent (ex-state Rep. Ethan Berkowitz, State Sen. Hollis French) toward the gubernatorial race. State Rep. Harry Crawford says he’s interested in the race, and has met with the DCCC in DC about it.

• CT-04: Here’s a bullet dodged for Democrats, and a miss for the NRCC, who’ve haven’t had too many targets decline them lately: state Senate minority leader John McKinney, a noted environment-minded moderate and son of former Rep. Stewart McKinney, who represented the area prior to Chris Shays, said he won’t run against freshman Rep. Jim Himes. The GOP may look to fellow state Sen. Dan Debicella instead.

• HI-01: Another bit of good news on the recruiting front: state Senate President Colleen Hanabusa has met in DC with the DCCC about the open seat being left behind by gubernatorial candidate Neil Abercrombie. She’d probably be our best bet at keeping ex-Rep. Ed Case from making a comeback.

• IL-07: The first Democratic candidate has filed for the open seat that Danny Davis is likely to leave behind. Darlena Williams-Burnett is the Cook County chief deputy recorder of deeds; she’s married to Chicago alderman Walter Burnett.

• MI-07: Although ex-Rep. Tim Walberg is committed to running to regain his seat from freshman Democrat Mark Schauer, it looks like he’ll have some competition in the primary and may not even be the establishment’s choice in the GOP primary. Brian Rooney, an attorney at the right-wing Thomas More Law Center in Ann Arbor, brother of Florida Rep. Tom Rooney, and grandson of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney, has been talking to the NRCC about the race.

• MN-03: One more recruiting tidbit. This one sounds like it’s far from a sure thing, but state Sen. Terri Bonoff has said she’s “undecided” but taking a MN-03 race “under consideration.” (Bonoff lost the DFL endorsement to Ashwin Madia in MN-03 last year.)

• TX-32: I’m not sure why stories involving blimps are just inherently funny, but Rep. Pete Sessions got into a bit of a blimp-related brouhaha. The ardent foe of all things earmark got busted by Politico, of all places, for very slowly and quietly steering a $1.6 million earmark for blimp construction to an Illinois company with no track record of government contracting, let alone blimp making — but it did have one of Sessions’ former aides lobbying for it.

The Minnesota governors race is heating up. This is the DFL’s best chance to at long last elect a governor. The last time that happened was 1986, over 20 years ago. And we can elect a progressive governor who will do us proud and bring a strong campaign to voters in 2010. I believe this candidate is Minneapolis’s Mayor R.T. Rybak. That’s why I’m helping organize the Draft Rybak grassroots movement. Let me explain why for a bit and invite you to our kickoff.

He can win: The latest poll of the race showed Rybak as the strongest candidate, leading Norm Coleman and with the best favorability rating of all DFL candidates. A earlier poll showed him as the second strongest candidate behind Mark Dayton. Obviously polls do not mean much this far out. But Rybak has shown he is a tough campaigner, good debater and can effectively communicate a clear and effective message to the public. He can bring that statewide, he’s already campaigned around the state for Barack Obama and other DFL candidates. He is the strongest candidate on our side running for governor. He can win. And he should win beacuse he’s great on the issues.  

He Should Win:

Rybak has a clear record standing up and doing the right thing on the issues that matter the most. A clear record that stands in stark contrast to the failed Pawlenty Era.

Leading the creation of a new green economy:

This is personally the issue that matters most to me. Rybak has been very active in pushing for investments in the new green economy to spur sustainable growth in our country and in our state. Here are some of the most notable efforts he’s been involved in.

-Promoting Renewable Energy: The city has installed solar panels on three of it’s buildings and Rybak has been working with state leaders who have more authority on the issue to promoting renewable energy with great results already. The ambition of state polices put in place over the next few years is going to determine which states become the leaders in the America’s green economy (as will the federal polices in determining if America is a leader in the world’s green economy). If Minnesota acts now and acts boldly it can be the economic engine that keeps our state great and produces thousands of living wage jobs. Minnesota is already forth in the nation in wind power installed and we have one of the highest potentials in the nation. We should aim to be number one in the nation. And although Minnesota is not seen as a prime location for solar we have better solar potential than Germany which has more solar than any other country.

-A new vision for transit: Rybak presided over the opening of Minnesota’s first light rail line and has been working hard to expand light rail to connect with St Cloud and St Paul. He was one of the first mayors to sign onto Transportation for America’s visionary campaign. He’s also developed a plan to begin development of a new streetcar system and his efforts to make biking easier has resulted in Minneapolis being named one of the best places to bike in the world, only Portland has a higher percentage of citizens who bike to work.

–Homegrown Minneapolis: A initiative to help promote local food which boosts the local economy in addition to reducing emissions.

In short, Minnesota has the environmental attitude, the spirit of innovation and potential to lead the new energy economy. But we need a leader who provides strong leadership to get us there with bold action. He’s already made Minneapolis one of the greenest cities in the country, we need him to help transform Minnesota.

Minneapolis Promise:



2006 Mayor Rybak made a commitment to Minneapolis students – the Minneapolis Promise – which says to our youth that if they stay in school and focus on where they want to go Minneapolis will help them get there. To achieve that he’s focused on three areas.

-Achieve! Career and College Initiative: Through this initiative Minneapolis has opened AchieveMpls Career and College Centers in all of Minneapolis’s schools. It helps ensure that the youth can transition from high school to higher education and work.

–STEP-UP, a summer job program for youth to help them find employment and train them so they have the skills in life to find a job and earn a living. The best way to combat poverty, crime and save the government money in the long term is by giving youth education and the skills to have a good job. This is a extremely important program that should be expanded statewide.

–The Power of YOU provides financial assistance to pay for up to two years at Metro State or MCTC if you’ve graduated from highschool in Minneapolis. It’s hard to find a long term job unless you have a degree. This program helps many of those who couldn’t afford it otherwise get that degree and get that upward mobility in life.

Public Safety:

Juvenile crime in Minneapolis has dropped 42% over the last two years exactly beacuse of investments like that in our youth. That is part of a overall record on public safety that again shows what R.T.’s leadership can do. In every precinct in Minneapolis crime has decreased over his tenure. He’s shown a better model for public safety, investing in our youth, investing in our people, that’s what will really reduce crime in the long term.  

Fiscal Responsibility:

Minneapolis has successfully balanced it’s budget without cruel cuts to basic human services despite Pawlenty’s destruction of LGA. As Mayor Rybak says

I put Minneapolis’ fiscal prudence up against the State’s any day

The budget problem is not going away in 2011. We need someone who can make the tough and responsible choices as governor, not someone who uses gimmicks and lies to hide his failed fiscal leadership beacuse he’s sworn loyalty to the extremist anti-tax teabaggers.

Judgment:



R.T. has also shown exceptional judgment. He opposed the Iraq War from the start, he was involved in the “Draft Obama” movement and was the first mayor to endorse Obama when he announced and while John Kerry was campaigning against gay marriage, Rybak was standing up for equal rights for ALL Americans.

Those are just a few of the reasons why I am for R.T. Rybak running for governor. And to get him to run for governor we need to Draft Rybak. If we are going to Draft Rybak we need your help. Go to our site and sign up to get involved. Follow us on Twitter, join our Facebook group. And if you want to get involved or learn more we’ve got our first organizational meeting tomorow. On Facebook you can check out the details and RSVP, it will be a great event.

We are just getting started. We need a governor who will provide bold leadership after years of failed conservative polices. We need RT Rybak to run for governor in 2010.

Join us.  

We had a lot of fun last year at the expense of the GOP’s Young Guns (a group of 30 and 40-something House “up and comers”). Other than raising a few dineros for their colleagues, their crowning electoral achievement was sending a small battalion of hapless, bluetooth-equipped and frappuccino-powered DC staffers on a wild goose chase in rural northeast Mississippi last year, trying to rustle up votes for South Memphis Southaven Mayor Greg Davis.

It seems that Pete Sessions has bigger and better plans for the Young Guns brand this cycle, and the NRCC is appropriating the name for its new program designed to lend assistance to candidates hoping to topple Democrats (or retain open seats). Call it Blue to Red, if you will. The full list:

Despite including their names in the program, the NRCC is actually only formally endorsing two candidates from this list — Iraq vet Adam Kinzinger (IL-11) and state Sen. Dennis Ross (FL-12). Others “Young Guns” facing competitive primaries are Vaughn Ward (ID-01) and quite probably Andy Harris (MD-01). I’m sure their would-be primary competitors are chafing at this early stamp of approval from Sessions.

And let’s leave aside the issue of calling 62 year-old Steve Pearce and 56 year-old Steve Chabot “Young Guns” for the moment…

The Albany Times-Union got its mitts on a list of candidates who have submitted their resumés to the Democratic county chairs in New York’s 23rd District. Here’s the rundown:

• Andy Bisselle (Essex County): A local YMCA executive director who was recently rebuffed by GOP leaders after he sought the Republican nomination.
• Stu Brody (Essex County): Attorney, former Essex Co. Democratic Chair, and head of the Democratic Rural Conference from 2002 to 2008. He played a round of golf with Bill Clinton in 2000.
• Steve Burke (St. Lawrence County): A new name; not much information about him is publicly available right now. Presumably, he is the same Stephen Burke who is the town Democratic chairman of Macomb.
• Danny Francis (Jefferson County): Vietnam veteran, ’94 nominee against McHugh.
• Bob Johnson (Jefferson County): Surgeon, ’06 nominee against McHugh.
• Rudolph Johnson (Franklin County): Some dude.
• Brian McGrath (Lewis County): NYC attorney, willing to “drop six figures” on a campaign. He’s put $200K into his campaign already and says that he can raise $700K more through his contacts. Sounds like he wants to present himself as the next Scott Murphy.
• David Ryan (Franklin County): Another dude.
• John Sullivan, Jr. (Oswego County): The former head of the state Attorney General’s Watertown office and ex-Oswego mayor.
• Michael Oot (Madison County): Attorney, ’08 nominee against McHugh.
• Bill Owens (Clinton County): A Plattsburgh attorney and registered independent. A “national Democratic source” recently told the New York Daily News’ Elizabeth Benjamin that “everybody is talking about this guy Owens, saying he’s the best of what’s left”.

One of the few remaining Democratic state legislators in the district who had yet to declare her intentions, Assemblywoman Addie J. Russell, announced yesterday that she won’t be a candidate. (Understandably, being eight months pregnant, a special election would be awkwardly-timed for her.) Former US Attorney and Dan Moynihan aide Dan French has also pulled his name from consideration.

We’re definitely left with a dog’s breakfast here. The 11 Democratic chairs will interview each candidate at Syracuse University on August 10th, and will announce their selection that evening.

RaceTracker Wiki: NY-23