This is why you have a challenger in every Congressional district.

[TheWraith]

Four years ago, in my district, the Republican--Tom Reynolds, as it happens--won by 75 to 25 over the Democratic candidate. In 2004 a local businessman and ex-Republican name Jack Davis went up against Reynolds, and was more narrowly defeated, 56 to 44. This year, Davis is trailing Reynolds 44 to 42, with 8 percent going Green (now kicked off the ballot) and 4 percent up for grabs, according to a SurveyUSA poll funded by a local TV station. And that was before the Foley story broke.

Meanwhile, in Indiana, we're hearing polls suggesting that Congressman Hostettler may be trailing his Democratic challenger Mr. Ellsworth by as much as 15 points. To win the Florida 16th again, Republicans are going to have to get citizens to mark the ballot for a known pedophile. In the Texas 22nd, they have to write-in a seventeen letter name for the Republican candidate who replaced an indicted felon. Dennis Hastert may find himself unemployed as well thanks to his hand in the Foley affair. And all over the country, Republicans that used to be safe are finding their races a bit more difficult than expected. At least two other Republican seats here in New York are in play, and there are plenty more where those came from.

This, boys and girls, is why you put up a candidate for every congressional district. Even if it's a safe seat. Even if it sounds like a lost cause. Because you never know when a candidate, a group, or even an entire political party is going to self-destruct.

[FrenchieCat]

1. Sounds right to me!

cause like they say...."you just never know!--so always be prepared!"

[Tom Rinaldo]

14. And not just run candidates, fight for them also

Wes Clark has been backing a number of long shot Democratic nominees running in districts around the nation that conventional wisdom considers safe for Republicans. Clark was Jim Webb's first backer in Virginia, back before Webb won the Democratic nomination. Everyone said that seat was safe for Allen. Same thing in Congressional districts, Clark has been putting his own boots on the ground, showing up to campaign and attend fund raisers that generate local press and buzz for candidates, not just sending a chech and a good luck card. We have to fight for seats if we want to regain control of Congress. Once upon the time the Democrats had solid control of the House of Representitives and the Republican fought to win "safe Democratic" seats in order to get where they are today. Now we have to fight.

[Carla in Ca]

2. A great point

This Foley folly should be a wake up call. We are in a 'breaking news' world now and we must be prepared for anything. At anytime.

" problem isn't 12-year-old scotch. It's 12-year-old boys."

-Air America's Randi Rhodes on Foley's checking into rehab for alcohol abuse

[JeffR]

3. K & R

Great post!

[FogerRox]

4. effin hey, RIGHT ON TheWraith.... K n R, really good post...

In NJ, we have 7 incumbant DEMs, 2 with no opposition. 5 Republicans, ALL with opposition. The repubs have to play defense in every NJ district, HAHAHahhahahha. Was that Howard Deans idea? LOL ! ! !

WE got them down, now its time to kick 'em in the balls.

[whirlygigspin]

5. I bet Howard feels good today!

http://www.democrats.org/a/party/a_50_state_strategy/50_state_turnout/

[FogerRox]

6. Heres my next event:

http://www.dfalink.com/event.php?id=13316

[ProgressiveEconomist]

7. How are the other Democrats challenging Predatorgate Rs doing? LINKS

These Democratic candidates need money and volunteers so they can ask their opponents such rhetorical questions as, "What did you know, and when did you know it?", and, "Have you given all your hard-drives to the FBI as evidence in a possible criminal conspiracy?".

I went to http://www.fec.gov and http://www.thegreenpapers.com and clicked through to state General Election voter information pages. Here are the incumbent names, states and districts, Democratic challengers, and campaign homepage URLs:

R Incumbent (State-District) ....... Democratic Challenger
Homepage

Mark Foley (FL-16) ..................... Tim Mahoney
http://www.timmahoneyforflorida.com

John Shimkus (IL-19) .................. Danny Stover
http://www.stoverforcongress.us

Thomas Reynolds (NY-26) .......... Jack Davis
http://www.jackdavis.org

Rodney Alexander (LA-05) ......... Gloria Williams Hearn
http://www.hearnforcongress.com

John A. Boehner (OH-08) ............ Mort Meier
http://www.victimsofjohnboehner.org

Denny Hastert (IL-14) ................. John Laesch
http://john06.com

Roy Blunt (MO-07) ..................... Jack Truman
http://trumanforcongress.tripod.com

See http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/9/30/212758/946/426#c426 for more details.

Here's where you can go to help some of these candidates. Most of these Democrats are on their own with very few resources.

IMO, what they need most is help with local media, press releases, photo-ops, etc. IMO, their only hope of gaining office for themselves is to ignite local media feeding frenzies to bloody up and then devour the Republican coverup leadership. You can even find lists of links to their local media at the bottom of General Election webpages for their states at http://www.thegreenpapers.com .

[Lerkfish]

8. and this is ALSO why you don't run a "republican-lite" candidate

When these things happen, people want to vote AGAINST the republicans, and if your "centrist" candidate is not different enough from the republican....

[populistdriven]

11. is it true the Dem running against Foley is a conservative evangelical ?

[Lerkfish]

13. I have no idea.

the OP was more general, referring to all the races. Not sure why you are calling me to task on a specific race.

[formercia]

9. There are more goodies to come.

A lot of people like to play it safe for whatever reason, some are privy to a lot of damaging information and once it's safe to come out, there is going to be a flood of revelations.

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. Gladly K & R!

[Nimrod2005]

12. Another god bless Howard Dean moment....nt

[savemefromdumbya]

15. Still a high vote for GOP though

[bvar22]

16. We can take some of the credit.

Kudos to the Doctor for the implementation of the 50-State Plan.
He weathered the attacks from the Beltway Dems, The Establishment Dem Pundits , the DLC, and the "Centrist Moderate" Dems in the blogosphere (including DU) who insisted that the 50-State strategy was a foolish waste of resources.

Without us ( The Grass Roots Progressive Majority), Dr Dean would not be the chair of the DNC.
WE forced that issue.


The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.