House GOP Struggling To Recruit Candidates

The Hill:

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.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[Grannysue]

Gee it must be getting harder to find rich old racist perverted White guys! We should all send a big THANK YOU card to George and Dick!

[ChimpmasterDJ]

Paulie Walnuts is out of work, perhaps he might be interested in a lateral transfer job?

[outnow]

If they are looking for Neanderthals they are extinct. Cavemen still lurk around trying to hide behind white sheets. Attila the Hun said that he could be available for office provided that his district got all the defense contracts. The Duke Cunningham is behind bars (you know - Top Gun). Richard Pombo is still at large. Tom Delay appears on Fox Noise. Newt.Gingr­ich- he's a professor. Oliver North - there you go! He makes more at Fox. There's Genghis Khan but he's too liberal for the GOP. Hitler is already taken. Hmm. those think tanks can come up with an answer.

[WorkingClass]

If you are a potential "attractive" GOP candidate, what good does it do you to get your ass kicked in a congressional race? Better take a pass.

[gcallaghan]

My, oh, my. Where did they go so wrong? And, whatever became of that permanent majority they used to crow about?

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

this problem may well lead to the ultimate collapse of the republican regime in washington

after all, who wants to kiss mccain's butt to be an all-but-guaranteed political loser?

mccain's reputation for being a republican party "maverick" has nothing to do with policy and everything to do with ego on a viagra rage

[mamacat]

Maybe they could talk some of the Republican congressmen who took early retirement so they could get the big bucks as lobbyists, to honor a "higher" calling, and stay in the Congress?

It is shameful that there are so many crooks in this country. Since 1994, when the Republicans took over the House, the crooks have mostly gravitated towards the Republican party. After a few years of a Democratic majority, we can look for the crooks to try to swithch their "allegiance" to that party.

[Gary47]

They should recruit right here from the HuffPo comment pages. I'd volunteer to be a candidate and I'd work for free (well, for free sex anyway). I know many of the rest of you would be happy to oblige and place your nickname (not your real name for godsakes) on the ballot for a spot in GOP wonderland.

Step right up folks, and be a faux candidate for the GOP, collect the fewest possible votes and help defeat the worst political party ever.

[the964kid]

Im surprised that there are not more holes in the contests coming up, after all George Bush (the worst president in american history) is still the leader of the party. The GOP made their bed with Bush, Cheney, Rove, and the rest of the cast of villains, and now they can lay in it - while they forage for political power out in the wilderness for the next many years.

[Thatcher]

I know where you can find a list of senior citizen centers ....

[incontempt]

Look in the endangered species list...oh right, you don't support that. G'luck with your extinction rethugs

[Quaoar]

Have they tried recruiting in Airport restrooms, mental institutions, or prisons? Those would probably be the best places to find potential Republican candidates.

[VOTER]

My thoughts exactly.