Posted on 06/16/2005 7:23:37 AM PDT by areafiftyone
Recent Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) polling shows that seven Republican members would be easily defeated if their reelection took place today, the committee’s chairman told House Democrats yesterday at a closed-door meeting.
While Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.) did not name the members, who are from districts “around the country,” he said all polled at 43 percent or less when voters were asked if they would vote today to reelect their congressional representative, sources at the meeting told The Hill.
Emanuel said three of the Republicans polled below 40 percent, including one, from a Western state, at 32 percent and another, a Californian, at 34 percent. The DCCC has targeted three California members: Reps. David Dreier, Richard Pombo and Randy “Duke” Cunningham.
The numbers created a palpable buzz in the room, said one attendee, as the assembled Democrats mulled the prospect of unseating a handful of vulnerable Republicans. Democrats have seized on recent nationwide polls showing high disapproval ratings for Congress and the president.
Carl Forti, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, questioned the validity of the Democrats’ numbers.
“I’m not sure we have any that are polling at 43 percent or below,” he said. “If I’m the Democrats, I’m trying to show momentum any way I can get it. So if I have to commission a poll that is slightly tilted, I would do that.”
Some observers have suggested that Americans’ disaffection with Congress could rub off on Democrats as well as Republicans, leading to depressed poll numbers across the board. Emanuel dismissed that assertion, saying that polling in the districts of Democratic incumbents has not been as low as in the seven GOP districts.
“Let’s just say they [the Democratic poll numbers] are not trading in that band,” he told The Hill.
Emanuel also asserted that the party’s recruiting efforts have been progressing at a fast clip. So far, the DCCC has recruited 19 candidates to challenge incumbents or run for open seats, well ahead of the three candidates the committee had at this time last cycle, he said.
“The political environment has attracted a lot of well-qualified candidates,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), who chairs the DCCC’s recruiting efforts. “We’ve been focused on getting lots of challengers and having them file early so that if there is a mood-swing election, we’re ready for it.”
Democrats are hoping that their efforts to highlight what they regard as “Republican abuse of power” in Congress, in particular the decision to intervene in the Terri Schiavo case and the ongoing impasse over House ethics procedures, will resonate with voters. Democrats also have sought to appeal to voters with their stand against private accounts in Social Security and in favor of stem-cell research. He added, “It was a challenge recruiting in ’03. Now, because of the opposition to Bush, we’re getting candidates to believe in the viability of the district.”
Montana state Rep. Monica Lindeen is expected to announce her candidacy against Rep. Dennis Rehberg (R) next week, Emanuel told the caucus meeting.
Emanuel also said he would closely monitor the political fallout from Cunningham’s sale of his Del Mar, Calif., home to a defense contractor. The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington yesterday called on the House ethics committee to investigate the sale.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll showed that, although Americans have a poor view of Congress as a whole, they still support their own members of Congress. Sixty-one percent of respondents said they approved of the job their elected representatives were doing, while only 41 percent approved of Congress as a whole.
Sarah Feinberg, a DCCC spokeswoman, said those results do not contradict the DCCC polling, which showed a lack of support for members from their own constituents.
“I think that first of all [the high approval rating] is just not the case in these districts,” she said. “What we’re seeing nationally is that Americans are dissatisfied with Republican leadership. Their priorities are out of sync with Americans, and I think these polls show that.”
Ah the benefits of being a "moderate".
Well it wqon't be long before the DUmmies start demanding that those republicans step down because the polls say they can't win.
Yeah, I'd like the Dims to run a poll and come back saying, "You know, it's pretty obvious that we are going to get creamed this next election. Don't bother sending in any donations. . .".
"The DCCC has targeted three California members: Reps. David Dreier, Richard Pombo and Randy “Duke” Cunningham."
It's quite believable that the Dems could unseat these guys. And in the process make CA even more out out step with the rest of the nation than it already is.
Didn't Daschle run to the podium....very certain that the Dems would pick up 20 seats?? I forgot which Dem anti-Bush item preceeded this.
They're on crack. No way will they defeat Cunningham. It's just whistling past the graveyard.
Democrats are delusional if they think they can win back the House on stem cell research, Terri Schiavo, and a few trips by Tom DeLay.
They are delusional. And this "low approval ratings" nonsense is all driven by the media, who work for the Democrat party. Americans took a poll in November '04, and in '02, and in '00 - and soundly reject liberals. I think the RNC needs to dig a little deeper at the nonstop effort by the MSM (men sexing men) to sway public opinion with their bogus reporting. This is hurting us...
Anything that keeps GOP voters from becoming complacent is OK with me.
(steely)
Their "majority" has benefited the country absolutely nothing; Frist is a joke; and the House is leaderless.
We get what we deserve; in this case, in 2006, a democrat majority in both House and Senate.
Let the media fools have their fantasy. They still think Martin Sheen is President. Now I hear it's Geena Davis.
You have to trust what Emmanuel says. He worked for Beelzebubba didn't he?
As opposed to outside the country?
I thought the PEST epidemic had run its course -- guess I was wrong. It is still running rampant in DC!
I wonder if that race is indicative of how honest they're being on this supposed poll? I just read a poll showing Rehberg up by 34 in that race.
http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/05/29/build/state/35-incumbents-lead.inc
A DSCC poll....ROTF!!!!
Correction, a DCCC poll. Still, ROTF!!!
"We get what we deserve; in this case, in 2006, a democrat majority in both House and Senate."
Amazing how so many on here sem to relish a DEM victory in 2006. I guess these are the same "conservatives" who want to see Bush impeached
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