I cross-referenced my list of Republican Incumbents in Obama-friendly districts with the Swing State Project's competitive fundraising table to find five races where there's a credible candidate who need a financial boost. The five are:
- OH-12: David Robinson, challenging Pat Tiberi
- NC-08: Larry Kissell, challenging Robin Hayes
- AL-03: Josh Segall, challenging Mike Rogers
- PA-06: Bob Roggio, challenging Jim Gerlach
- NJ-04: Josh Zeitz, challenging Chris Smith
You can throw these gentlemen (and I did look for races with female candidates, but women who run tend to be either not viable or already well funded ... there are few women who are on the cusp of viability) some coin through my act blue page. Let's set a goal of one contribution to each candidate by the end of the day.
Update: to motivate you all, there's now a thermometer plus a webform for easy giving.
I just contributed to Josh Zeitz. Chris Smith is a demented anti-choicer and there is no way that someone as right wing as he is should be representing that district.
Posted by: Sir Charles | June 17, 2008 at 02:58 PM
political action < tactical espionage action
get your priorities straight
Posted by: Max Kingsbury | June 17, 2008 at 03:33 PM
Dude, I'll stop by Best Buy before the weekend.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | June 17, 2008 at 04:25 PM
Bob Roggio is *great*; we held a fundraiser at our house for him even though my wife was 8 days from her due date (to give birth to our daughter). He's the real thing, and he can win here. Gerlach has never won by even 2%; last election 1501 votes switching would have swung it.
I'd give here, but I'm maxed out after the fundraiser. This district voted for both Gore and Kerry, so it's definitely winnable, and for the first time, democrats outnumber republicans after the primary.
Posted by: Randell | June 17, 2008 at 09:06 PM
Do we have a sense of how expensive these districts are to run in? Roggio's district, I think, is among the more expensive ones -- running in the Philly burbs costs money.
Posted by: Neil the Ethical Werewolf | June 18, 2008 at 07:05 AM
Neil,
You're right about the Philly suburbs not being cheap, but I am very familiar with that area -- it's right near to where my wife went to high school and her parents lived for many years and it strikes me as a place that is really ripe to move into the Democratic column. Nick would know the particulars better than I, but it surrounds the areas where we had great success in 2006.
Posted by: Sir Charles | June 18, 2008 at 09:58 AM
I actually voted in that district in 2006 -- my parents lived there at the time. And I agree with you that those are very promising districts -- we won a bunch of nice North Atlantic suburbs last time out.
But Lois Murphy was a perfectly good challenger with $3 million to throw at Gerlach, and we still lost.
Posted by: Neil the Ethical Werewolf | June 18, 2008 at 10:18 AM
It was pretty close as I recall. One assumes that the boost in turnout associated with a presidential race in which we will hopefully do well may put this one over the top.
Posted by: Sir Charles | June 18, 2008 at 01:22 PM
Murphy lost by like 1500 votes. It was razor close.
Only Zeitz and Roggio are in expensive markets. And Roggio is already on DCCC's radar in an emerging race (Kissell is already in RTB, and Segall's on the emerging list as well).
If I were to make a list of candidates not on D-trip's radar, it would be Zeitz, Jan Mitakides in OH-03, Stephen O'Donnell in PA-18, Becky Greenwald in IA-04, and William O'Neill in OH-14. At that point only Zeitz's race is really expensive.
Posted by: Nicholas Beaudrot | June 18, 2008 at 03:34 PM