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DCCC releases 2008 target list
Brownsox at Daily Kos posts the DCCC's 2008 target list in its entirety here; the DCCC, of course, is the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the party body charged with electing Democrats to the House.
The list for New York is long, grand, a thing of beauty.
NY-03 Peter King
NY-13 Vito Fossella
NY-25 Jim Walsh*# (Dan Maffei opposing)
NY-26 Tom Reynolds*
NY-29 Randy Kuhl# (Eric Massa opposing)
We're going to be very busy this year, because there's no reason why we shouldn't win all of those races. Get busy raising money, candidates.
http://dailygotham.com/blog/bouldin/dccc_releases_2008_target_list
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Details are important
The first question that comes to mind is why they're letting John McHugh (NY-23) off the hook. The answer to that is revealing.
Jim Walsh and Tom Reynolds are retiring, and were seriously challenged in 2006. They are natural targets.
Vito Fossella and Randy Kuhl we know about -- Steve Harrison and Eric Massa, respectively, are going at them bigtime. It's nice that the DCCC is paying attention this time.
The second question is, why is Peter King on the list (I mean, aside from the fact that he's a right-wing, lying jerk)? Who's challenging him? Not Dave Mejias again (at least, my sources say he's not running). So why is he on the list?
Which leaves McHugh, who is off the list only because they can't include all 200+ districts. And that's it -- kind of a no-brainer.
The List
Is a good one and I'm glad to see CD-13 getting some attention from the DCCC (although I still won't donate to them).
I would guess King is on the list because of his voting record and maybe the DCCC thinks he's beatable this time around based on their fine tuned cookie cutter way of looking at districts.
You're right Dan, Harrison and Massa are going to take down Fossella and Kuhl but the problem is when is a candidate going to emerge to defeat King? Since Mejias isn't going to run, then why isn't another candidate stepping up to the plate. Unless a candadite for this seat is self financed (and I really doubt that) then there is precious little time for them to raise the necessary funds it will take to defeat Pete King.