Campaign Battlefield May Grow. Liberals activists want Democrats to storm congressional races

LA Times ^ | 8/10/05 | Ronald Brownstein

[Crackingham]

Few places in America are more reliably Republican than the southeast Pennsylvania congressional district centered in Amish country and Lancaster County. So it's little surprise that Republican Rep. Joe Pitts has faced only token opposition since he was first elected in 1996. In 2002, Democrats didn't even field an opponent to run against him.

Last year, Lois Herr, a former corporate executive, entered the race against Pitts just before the filing deadline. She drew one-third of the vote.

But this year, Herr is seeking a rematch, and her uphill bid against Pitts could mark a crucial test for liberal activists pressuring Democrats to radically revise their strategy for recapturing the House of Representatives.

An array of liberal Internet activists is urging Democrats to vastly expand the 2006 congressional battlefield by recruiting and funding challengers in dozens of districts that have been virtually conceded to the GOP, like the one represented by Pitts.

Those calls are drawing new energy from Democrat Paul Hackett's narrow defeat this month in a special election in an Ohio district where Republicans usually romp. Hackett's showing "proved that you could build the party if you pay attention to every race," said Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, founder of the popular liberal website the Daily Kos.

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has responded to the pressure from liberal activists by saying he intends next year to fund Democratic challengers for 50 Republican-held seats, about double the number the campaign committee backed in 2004.

But the committee, and many leading Democratic strategists, say that funding a wider circle of challengers in heavily Republican areas would divert money better spent on districts more closely balanced between the parties.

[Rosemont]

Can you imagine how Liberal a democratic activist is? They must be to the Left of Lenin

[horse_doc]

You could put a turnip on the ballot, and it would get 1/3 of the vote.

[hershey]

Howie Dean is speaking at a fundraiser in NH, and Edwards was there last week. Things are getting interesting.

[Mo1]

Rep. Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has responded to the pressure from liberal activists by saying he intends next year to fund Democratic challengers for 50 Republican-held seats, about double the number the campaign committee backed in 2004

Gee Rahm ... who's gonna be laundering the money to you?

[shamusotoole]

O Chaos, thy name is Democrat!

[knightshadow]

To the left of Stalin.

- knightshadow.

[Let's Roll]

It's all about the money. These people are professional fund raisers and campaign organizers - they have an extremely vested interest in making sure ALL elections have a ton of money spent on them.

Fortunately for these "pros", their constituents tend to be from the bottom of the IQ pool.

[randog]

You could put a turnip on the ballot, and it would get 1/3 of the vote.

True. I've seen local joke campaigns turn out extremely well for the joker, much to their horror (they never intended to do the job).

I'm all for spreading dem campaign dollars across the board. It weakens "sure bet" campaigns and puts dollars into "no win" campaigns.

[Doug Loss]

Let's hope they keep throwing resources into unwinnable races. The last thing we need is for the "Reality-based Community" to start seeing the world as it is!

[imskylark]

"Let's hope they keep throwing resources into unwinnable races. "


All they have to do is have the candidate pretend to be a republican. That's what Hackett did.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Democrats may lose every race next year in Pennsylvania, after their minions in the state legislature gave themselves a pay raise in the middle of the night and in contravention of the state constitution. Even Fast Eddie finally came out yesterday complaining about it, even though he signed the bill!

Mr. Emanuel also needs to be a tad concerned about that little federal investigation in Chicago that has already resulted in 22 convictions of Democrat city officials and their fixers. He's been part of that Daley machine too long to escape scrutiny himself.

Mark my words, Republicans are going to gain seats in this election, in both houses of Congress and in the states.

[philsfan24]

alot of republicans signed on for that pay raise as well. it wasnt just the dems. there was no excuse for that and any republican who voted for it should be ashamed.

[telebob]

This just goes to show how terminally stupid these rat activists' are.

One third of voters will always vote against the incumbent if they have the chance. Every decent political strategists knows this by heart.

[MNJohnnie]

array of liberal Internet activists is urging Democrats to vastly expand the 2006 congressional battlefield by recruiting and funding challengers in dozens of districts that have been virtually conceded to the GOP, like the one represented by Pitts

Ah yes!!! Spend your money EVERYWHERE rather then where you ACTUALLY have a chance to win. Boy they sure are clever these Hysteric Leftist.

Note to Leftists, it is YOUR MESSAGE the voters hate. Your anti-American, Anti-Captialist, anti-morality foaming at the mouth with hate MESSAGE!