DEMOCRATS PLAN POLITICAL TRIAGE TO RETAIN HOUSE

insidebayarea.com ^ | September 4, 2010 | Jeff Zeleny and Carl Hulse

[Jet Jaguar]

As Democrats brace for a November wave that threatens their control of the House, party leaders are preparing a brutal triage of their own members in hopes of saving enough seats to keep a slim grip on the majority.

In the next two weeks, Democratic leaders will review new polls and other data that show whether vulnerable incumbents have a path to victory. If not, the party is poised to redirect money to concentrate on trying to protect up to two dozen lawmakers who appear to be in the strongest position to fend off their challengers.

"We are going to have to win these races one by one," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, conceding that the party would ultimately cut loose members who had not gained ground.

With the midterm campaign entering its final two months, Democrats acknowledged that several races could quickly move out of their reach, including re-election bids by Reps. Betsy Markey of Colorado, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Mary Jo Kilroy of Ohio and Frank Kratovil Jr. of Maryland, whose districts were among the 55 Democrats won from Republicans in the last two election cycles.

Reps. John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, chairman of the Budget Committee, and Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota, who is seeking a 10th term, are among senior Democrats who have appeared to gain little ground in the summer months in the toxic political environment. A sputtering

[pillut48]

So, let me get this straight, their strategy is basically—throw’em under the bus is they can’t get the votes??

Oh, this is gonna be good! Bring on the popcorn!!!

[dixiechick2000]

“Firewall”

I’m not sure, but I believe it might be a tad too late for that strategy this time.

At least, I hope so...

[Westbrook]

The *ONLY* “triage” that might work would be for them to cancel their “recess” and initiate the following.

1. Impeach 0bama

2. Repeal 0bamacare

3. Retain Bush tax cuts and introduce new tax cuts

4. Resolution to permanently shelve “cap & trade”.

5. Resolution in support of AZ and aggressive border patrol.

But they won’t do any of that, so they’re done.

[The Raven]

>>This tells us which members to attack...

Exactly....and where to put GOP money

[saganite]

That’s the poll I was referring to. I would like to see something more current but they don’t conduct many polls in individual congressional races.

By the way, I met Miller Friday. He’s a very pleasant guy to talk to. I saw Miller signs all over the place and not one Shuler sign anywhere but I was in and around Hedersonville and that’s Miller’s hometown.

[Seattle Conservative]

In case you haven’t seen these:

here’s where Larry Sabato has the House races as of last week, predicting a GOP pick-up of 47 seats.
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/category/2010-house/

InterceptPoint has its new update on this FR thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2583141/posts

It will be interesting to see changes as it gets closer to Nov 2 and which races the parties start putting $s in.

[The Raven]

The Dems have lots of money for ads....they just have to figure out what to say

[InterceptPoint]

This tells us which members to attack...

Here is the official Freeper list at KeyHouseRaces:

The Master List - Ranking the Races

The middle of this list is where the Dems are going to stage the fight. These are races we need to win to take back the House.

[firebrand]

A Firewall is different from Triage. They are putting a Firewall around their somewhat safer Northeast seats, especially, rather than going for the true tossups. I don’t think this will help them retain the House, with so many races in play. It may limit the damage, however, thus the name Firewall.

[InterceptPoint]

Thanks for the heads-up. See my post #68 above.

[The Raven]

that list is leaning Dem !!!

[InterceptPoint]

Oh, this is gonna be good! Bring on the popcorn!!!

You belong on the KeyHouseRaces Ping List. We've been watching the House of Representatives 'Preview of Coming Attractions' since April and it just gets better every week.

[InterceptPoint]

that list is leaning Dem !!!

The total list is actually rated as "Toss-Up with a very slight and diminishing bias to the Dems". The reason you might see our list as leaning Dem is because there are 81 Dem Incumbent or Open seats on the list compared to only 12 for the Republicans. And most of those Republican seats are bunched near the top of our list in the Likely R or Safe R category. And simulations based on this list yield a Republican pickup of 38 seats. We need 39. Sabato predicts 47. Election Projection predicts 41. Things are looking good.

Stay tuned. This list is looking more Republican every week.

[scrabblehack]

If they’re trying to save 218 seats, I’d say it’s a firewall.
If they’re trying to save 146 (prevent 2/3 majority), I’d say it’s triage.

I don’t see the R’s getting 67 Senate votes though.

[FunkyZero]

well Ok, scuze the hell outta me. I’ll be sure to make a note about responding to your posts

[Question Liberal Authority]

if Shuler is defeated the Republicans will have buried the Democrats.

Or that he threw 5 interceptions against the Arizona Cardinals and was replaced with Gus Frerotte.

[fightinJAG]

To hold the line against Republicans, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, issued an urgent plea for members in safe districts to help their endangered colleagues by contributing money. She called out to Democrats who were delinquent on paying their party dues and instructed members with no re-election worries to tap into a combined $218 million from their campaign accounts to help save their majority.

"We need to know your commitment," Pelosi wrote to lawmakers last week in a private letter, demanding that they call her within 72 hours to explain how they plan to help.

As seen in passage of Obamacare, Pelosi has a great deal of power over the Rats on her plantation. She literally holds their political life in her hands -- not only as to their stint in the House, but, even more importantly, as to their POST-HOUSE life and livelihood.

Those who give in to her arm-twisting will be taken care of with cushy, lucrative appointments and jobs in the bureaucracy or party apparatus. Those who don't are likely told "you'll never work in this town or in Dem politics again."

This firewall plan should not be underestimated. One of the biggest things tht has kept the Rats in power anyway has been the tendency of voters to think, well, MY guy is okay even if the rest of the party stinks.

[fightinJAG]

Yes, but we must oppose them where they show themselves.

[fightinJAG]

I think they’ll be plenty cooperative.

Pelosi is telling them “so, okay, you’re going to lose your seat, but if you do what I say until your term is up, you’ll find yourself in a very nice, secure and lucrative appointment or job that I and the party bigs will make sure is all yours.”

There will be even more incentive to give Pelosi everything she wants! Those who are losing their congressional seats (jobs) will be very keen to avoid Nancy’s “you’ll never work in this town again” list and to get in line for her post-House “soft landing” list.

[fightinJAG]

Exactly.

And you can bet Pelosi & Gang are telling members there is a fate worse than losing your congressional seat. It’s getting on Nancy’s “you’ll never work in this town or in Dem politics again” list.

These people don’t care whether they are Representatives or not. At this point, they will be happy with a nice cushy job in Washington — and even feel relieved that they don’t even have to run for reelection again.

Queen Nancy holds all the cards in this game.