Currently Democrats seem poised to pick up 12 to 18 seats in the House and five to six Senate seats. If we are on the verge of a wave, Democrats could win more than that, including a few districts where the Republican incumbent never saw it coming.
This is a thread for discussing House districts and Senate seats that may seem likely Republican holds today, but which could shock us on November 4. Join me after the jump for more.
Maybe someone out there who knows the inner workings of EMILY's List can explain to me why this group has not put money behind Becky Greenwald, the Democrat challenging loyal Republican foot-soldier Tom Latham in Iowa's fourth Congressional district.
I have been going over the list of Democratic women running for Congress whom EMILY's List is supporting, with a particular focus on the six challengers most recently added to this group in early August. I do not mean to knock any of those candidates, and I recognize that every race has its own dynamic.
However, after comparing Greenwald's race to those of other candidates, I remain puzzled that EMILY's list is not more involved in IA-04.
The battle of words rages on in Iowa's 3rd District, with the campaign for incumbent U.S. Rep. Leonard Boswell issuing a letter to Democratic primary challenger Ed Fallon railing on contributions from Democracy for America, a national progressive political action committee founded in 2004 by current Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.
"In light of your criticism of Leonard Boswell for accepting support from Political Action Committees (PACs), I was rather dismayed to see you accepting support and soliciting money for your candidacy from a PAC," wrote JoDee Winterhof, a senior adviser for the Boswell campaign.
Her words in the letter were echoed by one of Iowa's state lawmakers.
"You can't bash PACs and then enlist their support in your campaign," said Des Moines State Rep. Bruce Hunter. "It's like having your cake and eating it too. By keeping the money, Ed is being disingenuous."
Democracy for America sent an email asking for individual contributions, it's unlikely they made a PAC contribution. This is below par journalism from Lynda Waddington at the normally quality Iowa Independent. It's easy to verify whether DFA made a PAC contribution. She should have.
Boswell's dishonest entitled attitude is a bit unexpected considering people tell me he's a nice guy, but it certainly fits in nicely with the Blue Dog caucus he reveres. And it's lovely that he, like Al Wynn and Dan Lipinski, is trying to wound progressive organizations like DFA.
... In the comments I'm reminded that Howard Dean sent an email out to his list to give to Boswell back in 2004 as a way to signal to the establishment he could be a good nominee, and raised around $50k for him. I wasn't a Dean supporter at the time, but I gave to Boswell because it was such a cool ask. Boswell is the first non-Presidential candidate I ever contributed to. And I'm no PAC.
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