House races

Some Democratic incumbents ignored warnings from the party leadership about the tough political climate and didn't "fully prepare" for the campaign season, according to the party's House campaign chief.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), said Thursday that his party has been preparing for months for a difficult reelection year for incumbents.

"There are a few members who we approached many, many, many months ago to tell them to get their act together, who did not take that advice," Van Hollen said at a breakfast sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor. "We're obviously working very closely now to try and protect even those who did not fully prepare themselves."

Normally safe members such as Reps. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Phil Hare (D-Ill.) and Jim Oberstar (D-Minn.) are locked in tight reelection contests this year. All of them hold Democratic-leaning districts; the DCCC has spent money to support Grijalva and Hare.

Van Hollen wouldn’t name the members he thought were caught napping. But he did say Rep. Ike Skelton (D-Mo.) was one example of a member who took the committee's advice and prepared for a tough environment.

Some members, he said, are in tough races because of spending by outside groups.

"What has obviously shuffled the deck in some of these districts is the outside money," Van Hollen said.

He estimated Republican-allied groups were outspending their Democratic counterparts by about a five-to-one ratio.

"It's pouring in. That is something that obviously in some of the races people are having to contend with."

Van Hollen pointed to Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), who was elected in 2006 and serves as a vice chairman of the DCCC.

"He's a member of Congress who understands campaigns, he fought a hard campaign and yet he’s seeing now $2 million" being spent against him in the district, the Maryland Democrat said. "So we’re going to war in that district's race, despite the fact that I’m confident he's going to win."

Van Hollen noted that the committee was in its strongest position ever to help struggling incumbents.

"I believe the DCCC in 2006 and 2008, today [are] the strongest DCCCs in the history of the organization," he said. "We demonstrated very clearly in the special elections in the past that we know how to win races."

More Republicans than Democrats have cast early ballots in Colorado and Nevada, two states with close Senate races.

Read more...

Rep. Michael Arcuri is one incumbent who appears to be in good position to survive next month's expected GOP wave.

Read more...

Kristi Noem, a top GOP recruit running against Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.), on Wednesday would not commit to voting for House Republican leader John Boehner (Ohio) should she be elected to Congress.

If Republicans take control of the House in the Nov. 2 midterm elections, Boehner is widely seen as the likely candidate to be the next Speaker.

"There could be several people running,” Noem told the editorial board of the Argus Leader when asked about Boehner. "If there was another person that was running that represented South Dakota better, and more with South Dakota’s industries and interests and values, I certainly would support them, too."

Noem isn't alone in being noncommittal about Boehner as the potential leader of a Republican majority — Texas's Bill Flores and Virginia's Scott Rigell both have to declined support the Ohio Republican outright. 

A growing number of Democratic incumbents and candidates have also said they will not back House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for another term if they are elected.

Herseth Sandlin has distanced herself from the Speaker during her campaign. In an interview Wednesday with the Argus Leader, she would not commit to voting for Pelosi in the next Congress if she is reelected.

The race for South Dakota's only House seat has been one of the most highly watched in the country. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report considers the race a toss-up.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said the "dramatic contrast" over Medicare and Social Security "is absolutely going to be critical."

Read more...

Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) attacked his Republican challenger Dan Webster as "Taliban Dan" in a recent campaign ad.

Read more...

Congressional candidate Jeff Perry’s bid for the U.S. House was rocked Wednesday by a 19-year-old allegation that he was present during an illegal strip-search of a Massachusetts child.

Perry, a Republican, was a police sergeant in 1991 when 14-year-old Lisa Allen was strip-searched by a police officer under Perry’s watch in Wareham. The incident occurred in a cranberry bog. 

The woman had not come forward publicly until Wednesday, when she issued a statement.

Perry issued a statement to the Boston Globe that did not directly deny the changes, but said that “what happened to Lisa Allen was wrong and should never happen to anyone.” He also denied being at the scene when asked about the case by the Globe earlier this year.

The officer who searched Allen, Scott Flanagan, confessed to the incident and was convicted in 1993 of indecent assault on a child and of civil-rights violations.

Perry is a state representative from Sandwich. He is the Republican nominee for the seat held by the retiring Rep. Bill Delahunt (D).

Democratic strategists have complained recently that GOP House candidates are trying to run out the clock. Many Republican challengers hold slender leads in the polls and don't want to put themselves in situations — exchanges with reporters, debates — where that could be jeopardized.

In Arizona, freshman Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick trails her Republican opponent, dentist Paul Gosar, by seven points, according to The Hill's recent 2010 Midterm Election Poll.

Gosar recently withdrew from the only debate scheduled between himself and Kirkpatrick, which was supposed to occur Oct. 21. His decision prompted the Kirkpatrick camp to accuse Gosar of running scared.

"Paul Gosar is dodging debates because he realizes that the more people learn about his frightening views, the more they will unite behind Ann Kirkpatrick," Carmen Gallus, Kirkpatrick's campaign manager, said in a statement.

Gosar's camp said it was a matter of logistics. The debate was set to happen at KAET TV, the PBS affiliate, in Phoenix.

"Dr. Gosar has said he will debate anytime, anywhere in Arizona's 1st congressional district — whereas liberal Kirkpatrick continues to walk out on her constituents and instead caters to people outside of the district in Phoenix," said J.P. Twist in an e-mail. "Our requests for debates in the district have gone unanswered."

The Kirkpatrick camp said it proposed four in-district debates but never heard back from Gosar. The Kirkpatrick camp also pointed to comments Gosar made to reporters about debating in an "isolated area."

"We don't need to debate somewhere in an isolated area where Ms. Kirkpatrick can define the questions, isolate herself and not have to be accountable to her constituents," he told ABC News.

Arizona's 1st district is roughly the size of Pennsylvania and is largely rural.

The Susan B. Anthony List is launching a wide-scale direct-mail campaign targeting Democrats in 42 competitive congressional districts ahead of Election Day. 

The effort begins this week and is aimed at motivating pro-life voters to get to the polls on Election Day. The group says it will reach more than 2.3 million voters.

The mailers hit Democrats who voted in favor of the healthcare law, claiming a vote for healthcare was a vote in support of "taxpayer-funded abortion."

“Poll after poll shows that Americans do not want their tax dollars funding abortions, yet the Obama administration and its allies in Congress have expanded taxpayer funding of abortion both here and abroad in unprecedented ways,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser in a statement announcing the effort. “These representatives can’t hide from their positions, though many of them are trying to.” 

The targets include Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (Ariz.), Debbie Halvorson (Ill.), Phil Hare (Ill.), Mark Schauer (Mich.) and John Spratt (S.C.). The group has already run TV and radio ads targeting vulnerable Democrats this fall.  

Facing one of his most difficult reelection battles in years, Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) loaned his campaign $200,000 this week, according to media outlets. 

The Boston Herald reported that campaign finance documents show he raised $316,000 and had more than $1 million cash on hand. Frank's Republican opponent Sean Bielat, a former Marine, has $364,000 left to spend. 

Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has come under fire from Bielat for heading the committee during the 2008 financial collapse. Republicans have long made Frank a target, arguing he failed to crack down on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's home lending policies. 

His loan is a sign that he is taking Bielat's campaign seriously amid a Republican wave some predict could cost Democrats their majorities in Congress.

National Republicans have invested in the race and Bielat, a member of the GOP's "Young Gun" program, outraised Frank in September, $379,000 to $317,000.

The 15-term congressman, however, still has a 3-to-1 advantage over Bielat in cash on hand.