From the House Race Hotline for Monday, June 1, 2009

Take Me To Your Leader

Monday, June 1, 2009


While the DCCC unveiled a new campaign today against six House GOPers who opposed the stimulus, the cmte's bigger target seems to be higher on the GOP food chain. -- The DCCC's radio ads hits GOPers for an issue Dems feel will aid them in the future: the stimulus. But none of the targets (including Reps. Don Young (AK-AL), Thaddeus McCotter (MI-11) and Brian Bilbray (CA-50)) currently have major opposition. These ads, just like the NRCC's last week, will attempt to soften up potentially vulnerable incumbents in hopes they'll help lure a top-line challenger. -- But you get the feeling the cmte is eager to return fire from the NRCC's attacks on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA-08). Playing off ex-Speaker Newt Gingrich's (R-GA) tweet calling SCOTUS nominee Sonia Sotomayor a "racist," the DCCC asks whether NRCC chair Pete Sessions (TX-32) will agree with NRSC chair John Cornyn that those comments are out-of-bounds. Expect Dem criticism to wratchet up as next Monday's NRCC/NRSC dinner (featuring Gingrich) approaches. With George W. Bush out of the picture, we're sure the DCCC was happy to find its old bogeyman ready to lend a helping hand. -- With polls showing Pelosi's popularity slipping and Sotomayor enjoying a nice honeymoon, the cmtes are toiling on fairly easy soil. Still, you have to wonder if the news out of Peter Visclosky's (D-IN 01) CD, and the constant drip from John Murtha's (D-PA 12), will have a bigger impact.

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