DCCC pegs Rep.-elect Stivers as early target

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) revealed an early 2012 target Friday, hitting Rep.-elect Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), who defeated Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy (D) last month.

In a release, the committee targeted the elevation of Stivers to the House Financial Services Committee, hitting his past as a bank lobbyist. 

"Banking lobbyist Steve Stivers has made a career out of protecting Wall Street’s recklessness and greed, and now House Republicans want him to put this special-interest expertise to work for them,” said DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer. "House Republicans have made clear they want to give the keys to our economy back to Wall Street bankers and CEOs to keep their big bailouts and high-paid bonuses for years to come."

It's an early sign Democrats think the anti-Wall Street message could prove more effective in the state in 2012, motivating the party's base in a year when President Obama's name will be back atop the ballot. 

It's a message that didn't quite work as advertised against Stivers this past cycle, though, or against Republican candidates in the races for Senate and governor. 

Gov. Ted Strickland (D) hit John Kasich over his past at Lehman Brothers, while Democrat Lee Fisher pegged former President George W. Bush's OMB Director Rob Portman as the architect of that administration's economic policies. Both Democrats lost in a wave year for the GOP. 

There's at least some talk that Kilroy could run again in 2012, but she lost decisively last month and beat Stivers in 2008 by just over 2,000 votes in a great year for Democrats.