Things aren’t looking good for House Republicans these days:
An internal document circulating among House Republicans warns of an impending congressional bloodbath, listing 58 Republican-held House seats being at risk, and 11 already considered as good as gone. As many as 34 GOP-held seats are in serious jeopardy of swinging to Democrats, the assessment shows.
The state-of-the-race update, first reported on by U.S. News’ Paul Bedard, shows the GOP already writing off the seats of Reps. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.), John R. Kuhl (R-N.Y.), Don Young (R-Alaska) and Tim Walberg (R-Mich.). It also expects losses in the seats of retiring GOP Reps. Rick Renzi of Arizona, Jerry Weller of Illinois, Jim Saxton of New Jersey, Mike Ferguson of New Jersey, Vito Fossella of New York, James Walsh of New York and Tom Davis of Virginia.
Drafted by a Republican consultant, the document ranks seats on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the most likely for a Democratic takeover. Eleven members received a 5, meaning the seat is gone unless “a significant turn of events” changes things in the final two weeks. An additional seven seats are ranked as a 4, in the leaning Democratic category, and 16 seats are in the tossup category.
One well-connected Republican operative told Politico that the list, if anything, understated the number of members needing a political lifeline. The operative also said the GOP is all but writing off the seats of Reps. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.), Joseph Knollenberg (R-Mich.), Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Phil English (R-Pa.), and the open New Mexico House seat of retiring Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), who is running for the Senate.
(…)
With as many as 34 seats considered tossups or expected to flip, the National Republican Congressional Committee is being forced to make painful decisions about resource allocation.
At this point, the priority should be to save every seat that can be saved even if it means distancing the candidate from the party’s Presidential candidate — which, in states like New Jersey where Obama is coasting to an easy victory, wouldn’t be a bad thing at all.
Even with the best of last-minute efforts, though, it’s looking pretty bad for Republicans in the House.
October 25th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Sad thing is, Michele Bachman shot her self in the head with her idiotic TV appearance where she called for investigating well, every Democrat for “anti-American” beliefs. She would’ve been safe if she had kept her mouth shut.