Does anyone have a good feeling for an upset in this one? Last thing I saw was that Wulsin was making some progress in closing the gap, but this is still considered crazy Jean's to lose. This is a very conservative part of a generally conservative state; I grew up in OH-3 (Dayton), which districtwide is fairly conservative itself, but nothing like further south and southwest in the state.
Wulsin has been leaving fundraising messages on my answering machine (and I'm in Maryland), so she's still definitely fighting. Despite her absence on the OLBD list of candidates, I'm considering sending her a few dollars, but if OH-2 is as red-down-to-its-roots as I think it is (like Tom DeLay's old TX district), I could see a successful Wulsin meeting the same fate in 2010 that probably awaits Nick Lampson in Texas this Tuesday. And if Wulsin manages to win this time, might she go hard right/Blue Dog after taking office, to keep her new job? If she were likely to do such a Chris Carney move, I'd rather not waste money trying to dislodge the crazy incumbent (maybe some grass roots organizational build-up in OH-2 would be worth considering instead).
A bit rambling (apologies), but I'm having a heckuva time reading the situation there. Any better informed analysis would be welcome.
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.
In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms. But so far, it's been all over the map. I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.
First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill. They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.
Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.
Democrats Work and WesPAC have launched a contest to determine which Congressional district General Wes Clark is going to visit this summer.
This won't be an ordinary visit. General Clark will travel to one Congressional district where a Democratic challenger is fighting to change the direction of our country to work side-by-side with area Democrats to make a positive impact through community service. We want you to tell us where we should put our values into action.
Following the break is a complete roundup and ranking of Ohio races for the U.S. House of Representatives. I have separated them into Republican-held and Democratic-held seats and divided each into tiers. Within each tier they are ranked in order of likelihood of changing parties.
Democrats were very successful in 2006 in winning a U.S. Senate seat, four out of five statewide offices, and a net gain of seven seats in the Ohio House of Representatives, but the U.S. House races were a relative disappointment. The party gained only one seat and watched two promising races end in narrow losses after recounts. In this cycle Ohio has three open GOP seats and perhaps four or five races altogether that already look very promising, with another two or three that could be added to that list. The DCCC has already added three races to their "Red to Blue" program and is likely to take an interest in at least two more. In other words, Ohio is once again a critical congressional battleground.
I'm the New Media Director for Barack Obama's campaign.
Within minutes of the send there was a diary up with the email that Barack Obama sent to supporters in Ohio today, so I won't paste that here.
But I did want to make a note about why this race is significant, and why Obama supporters (and supporters of the other presidential candidates) should do what they can to help.
I was on the ground for the special election in OH-02 back in 2005, when an unexpectedly strong showing by a Democrat in a deep red district presaged the sweeping Democratic gains the following year.
