None of you asked for Maryland, but I wanted to redraw a state in which I couldn't use townships and incorporated municipalities as a crutch. Four of Maryland's five largest communities are unincorporated - Columbia, Silver Spring, Ellicott City and Germantown.
Plus, having lived in Maryland for quite awhile, I wanted to do a state that I actually had a local feel for. Lastly, Democrats control both the General Assembly and the Governorship, so no quips about this map being "unrealistic"!
I apologize for the title ahead of time - I've seen tourist gear with that slogan one too many times flying out of BWI....
My goals:
Strengthen Kratovil (1st)
Pack Republicans into Bartlett (6th)
Keep all other Democrats at their previous levels or 65%, whichever is lower.
(When you have this many Democrats to protect....)
Anyways, here's the map (click for full-size version):
Update: I realized I mis-merged some shapes in my GIS and this lead to a misrepresentation of the 1st and 5th in Anne Arundel County. Fixed.
The debt has reportedly been reduced to $13 million, with the help of a $3.5 million transfer from Barack Obama's presidential campaign. But that is still a large debt, especially since Democrats have a lot of one-term and two-term representatives to defend in 2010, which will probably be a less favorable political environment for the party.
Democrats are gearing up for a tougher, more defensive cycle. While Democrats want to take advantage of Obama's bank account, party officials are anxious about getting out of the red and are telling members and donors to pay up - quickly.
Democratic leaders put the squeeze on last month, asking each member in a memo for $35,000 before Christmas. The memo also listed, by name, those who had paid their committee dues and those who hadn't.
Shortly before the election, Chris Bowers spearheaded an effort to put grassroots pressure on safe Democratic incumbents who had not paid their DCCC dues. We all have a lot on our plate this year, and Bowers is recovering from a broken arm, but the netroots need to assist the DCCC vice chair for member participation once that person has been named. We should not wait until a few weeks before the 2010 election to start pressuring incumbents who are delinquent on DCCC dues. The sooner the DCCC retires its debt, the easier it will be to recruit strong challengers and build a healthy bank balance for the next campaign.
If you are willing to help with this effort in any way (such as compiling a spreadsheet showing who has not paid and how to contact those representatives), please post a comment in this thread.
Bruce Braley was elected to Congress in 2006 with the support of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue" program. In 2008 he helped manage the DCCC's Red to Blue efforts. For the next election cycle, he's been promoted again.
Ineffective Republican Rep. Shelley Moore Capito came in to office with her good friend George W. Bush and she needs to leave with him. For the past 7 and a half years what has she accomplished for WV-02? Nothing. She has little to show for her four terms in office for the WV-02 District.
As Clem pointed out the right wing bloggers don't even write anything positive about her because there's nothing there.
For the past 21 years, Anne Barth has worked with Sen. Robert C. Byrd to serve West Virginians. There's been no one better at constituent service in Congress than Senator Byrd and he doesn't do it alone. He's relied on staffers like Anne Barth.
Like her political idol George W. Bush, Shelley Moore Capito grew up as the child of privilege. Her father former Gov. Arch Moore made sure when she wanted to run for office she was elected. She was born on 3rd base and acts like she hit a triple. And throughout her long years in Congress, she's voted consistently on issues that have helped people like her - wealthy and born into privilege - over people who know what it's like to earn a paycheck through the sweat of our brows. She's voted against bills supported by the unions and she's voted on bills that put a greater burden on the middleclass to give bigger tax cuts to the rich.
Anne Barth was born the daughter of a minister, who served different parishes throughout the state. Then she served as the right hand of Senator Byrd as he served the people of the state.
The spat between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama shows no sign of ending anytime soon. McCain is going to win this election, likely by 6-10%. Obama is damaged goods and Hillary's negative are simply too high. I believe voters are in the process of rejecting both candidates.
And I don't think there's a realistic way of getting through McCain's huge teflon coating and getting swing voters to doudt his :maverick" image.
So how does this impact the Congressional elections? Right now, not yet. But it's important that this long battle between Obama and Clinton could weaken the Democratic brand. And I actually think Barack Obama would more of a drag on downballot races than Clinton would be.
I know that's contrary to the CW, but I just don't think Hillary Clinton is as radioactive to other Democrats.
So the leaders of the DSCC and DCCC have to make a decision. How and when to separate from the presidential race? And waht about the 527s who are about to pour millions in to a likely hopeless presidential election? Will they save enough for House and Senate races?
