House GOP Struggling To Recruit Candidates

With seven months until the 2008 elections and filing deadlines now coming and going, House Republicans face a significant number of recruiting holes.

Some of them can still be filled in the coming months. Others have seen the window of opportunity close.

Already, deadlines have passed without top-tier challengers for at least three of the 30 seats Democrats took over in 2006, including solidly GOP districts held by freshman Democrats Heath Shuler (N.C.), Brad Ellsworth (Ind.) and Zack Space (Ohio). All went at least 57 percent for President Bush in 2004, yet will not feature big-name GOP challengers.

At the same time, the party's recruiting season is not finished, as it approaches a new round of deadlines in several other districts, including the open seats of indicted Rep. Rick Renzi (R-Ariz.) and retiring Rep. Jim McCrery (R-La.), as well as a quartet of New York seats that are still in limbo.

Reviews of the National Republican Congressional Committee's (NRCC) recruiting have been mixed, with some harshly critical and others focusing on individual successes.

Whatever the case, the GOP's less hands-on approach this year, compared with the strategy taken by Democrats, has produced some holes.

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