2014 congressional races

Last year, when Justin Amash first ran for reelection to Congress in a west Michigan district centered on Grand Rapids and Battle Creek (MI-03) the Democratic Party put up a corrupt conservative hack, Steve Pestka, who could never heart him.

It's not fair to just blame DCCC Chairman Steve Israel for Jennifer Garrison. The "Sarah Palin of Ohio" is also being heavily backed by Israel's patron, Steny Hoyer. Hoyer was in Columbus yesterday, headlining a fundraiser for the anti-Choice, anti-gay, anti-labor conserva-Dem.

Run off by some goofballs in tri-corner hats?New Jersey's third congressional district, a swath of the south-central part of the state starting between Toms River and Asbury Park and crossing clear to the Philadelphia suburbs through the Pine Barrens, really is a Democratic congressional district-- despite having a Republican congressman, Jon Runyan.

Steve Israel and his latest anti-Choice recruit-- looking for a knock outIndiana's 2nd district-- the north-central part of the state from South Bend, Elkhart, Goshen, and LaPorte down to Wabash and Peru-- used to be a swing district with a PVI of R+4. In recent times it was represented by far right extremist Chris Chocola, current head of Club for Growth, and Blue Dog Joe Donnelly who used it for a springboard to an unlikely Senate win last year.

Sunday we looked at North Carolina Republican congressional candidate Jason Thigpen's switch from the GOP to the Democratic Party. Monday evening Jason went on air with Lawrence O'Donnell to talk about his oddessey (above).When I spoke with him over the weekend, Jason seemed to me to be a very independent-minded, thoughtful, progressive-oriented citizen with a keen understanding of a Constitution he takes very seriously.

Last week DCCC staffers were eager to push out a story by Shira Center and Emily Cahn in Roll Call, House Democrats Pull Pages From The Rahm Playbook.

There are no moderates left in the Republican House Caucus. The "best" you'll get is a mainstream conservative willing to stand up to Tea Party extremism from time to time-- or a libertarian who may be good on an important issue or two but is still, essentially, a raving lunatic on everything else. Walter Jones (R-NC) is kind of a mix of the two.

There are only 9 congressional districts with PVIs of zero. They are neither R+1 nor D+1. They are true 50/50 swing districts. Every single one of them is fiercely contested every election cycle… except one. Obama won all these districts in 2008 and, with one exception (IL-13), he won all of them last year. The 9 districts have 3 GOP incumbents and 6 Democratic incumbents. The DCCC has targeted the 3 Republicans and the NRCC has targeted 5 of the 6 Democrats.

The big news in Florida this morning wasn't exactly a surprise. After Florida's former chief financial officer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Alex Sink, expressed interest in running for the open congressional seat in Pinellas County (FL-13), she became the focus of all Democratic attention.

Sometimes I get confused between the national committees-- the DCCC, DSCC, DNC, RNC, NRSC and NRCC-- and the Beltway pundits that service them, particularly Cook and Rothenberg. Rothenberg's column for Roll Call Monday was a riot. I especially laugh when he and Cook defer to the DCCC and call their ridiculous side-show races "top tier" which fools no one (except, apparently Nancy Pelosi) as the money is flittered away on absurd candidates in absurd races.