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Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the affable chairman of the House Democrats’ campaign committee, has not hesitated to use fear tactics to scare off would-be Republican candidates.
Time and again this cycle, negative information about GOP candidates has been pushed early on in the race or even before they enter the race, with the purpose of keeping them from even making the effort to run.
In an interview with The Hill on Monday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) chairman credited the expansive effort with sending some of the 29 incumbent Republicans into retirement and, more recently, discouraging non-incumbents.
“There are two pieces to that: One is putting pressure on incumbent Republican members to make the decision to retire, and the other is to put pressure on candidates that they’re trying to recruit and convince them that it’s not a good idea to run against one of our incumbents,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen doesn’t give the initiative complete credit but says it has played a major role in setting the table for potentially expanding the Democratic majority in the 111th Congress, which is generally a tall task just two years after a big swing to take the majority.
He pointed to candidates like state Rep. Don Cazayoux (D) in Louisiana and state Sen. John Adler (D) in New Jersey, who jumped in previously noncompetitive races where incumbents would later retire, as well as early advertising the committee did on issues like the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.
With just more than six months to go, though, Van Hollen’s focus has shifted to non-incumbents.
On Monday, former Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett turned down GOP entreaties to run for Congress. It was the second time he said no to the race, and he joined a long list of public figures who have come to the same conclusion.
Democrats had been circulating a 2006 assault plea by Bennett’s son that involved sodomizing boys with broomsticks. Bennett denied the effort had anything to do with his decision, but he’s hardly been the only one on the receiving end of Democrats’ hardball politics.
A local blog, PolitickerAZ.com, posted a DCCC memo detailing Bennett’s alleged vulnerabilities, including his son’s assault plea, and Bennett later spoke to the blog about the incident. Local media also reported that the DCCC requested records on the case to see if Bennett unduly influenced an outcome of which the victims’ families didn’t approve.
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