2012 Elections: Democrats Reveal Top GOP Targets In House Races

Pressing toward its goal of taking back the House this year, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) announced the districts and candidates it will target in 2012. The party will target GOP representatives in key swing states, such as Allen West in Florida, Joe Walsh in Illinois, Martin Heinrich in New Mexico and Roscoe Bartlett in Maryland. The full list is available, on the DCCC website.

The list is divided into three tiers: Red to Blue (priority campaigns), Majority Makers (likely Democratic) and Emerging Races (increasingly competitive). Democratic candidates on the Red to Blue list will receive national support and funds from the party.

The committee will specially target vulnerable GOP freshman incumbents, of which there are many following the Republican sweep during the 2012 midterm elections.

Democrats must win back 25 seats to regain the majority in the House.

Tea Party Group Weighs Who To Support Against Orrin Hatch

A prominent Tea Party organization is looking to throw its support, and major funds, behind a conservative primary challenger to Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch in Utah, but can't decide which candidate to back.

Hatch is being challenged by former state Sen. Dan Liljenquist and state Rep. Chris Herrod. So far, the national conservative group FreedomWorks has said it likes both candidates, but hasn't endorsed either one. It's prepared to spend significant money in the state, the Deseret News reports.

Latinos For Kaine

Tim Kaine's Senate campaign launched its "Latinos for Kaine" campaign Wednesday. The former Virginia governor announced the support of Latino business and community leaders around the state.

Kaine outlined his support for the DREAM Act, and "forward-looking" immigration reform that would allow the most talented immigrants to stay and work while also securing the borders and penalizing illegal immigration.

"The Spanish I learned as a missionary in Honduras has opened many doors during my time as a civil rights attorney, mayor, and governor, and if elected to the Senate I pledge to continue to work closely with the Latino community to secure improved economic opportunities for all Americans," Kaine said in a statement.

Kaine, the party's presumed nominee, is anticipating a down-to-the-wire race against former Gov. George Allen (R).

Virginia's quickly growing Hispanic population is a key voting block in the swing state.

Watch the announcement:

Sean Bielat Is Back For Round Two, Dings Kennedy

Republican Marine Corps reservist Sean Bielat announced he'll make another bid for Congress in Massachusetts' District 4, for the seat being vacated this year by retiring Rep. Barney Frank (D).

Bielat challenged Frank in 2010, but lost by 11 percentage points to the longtime congressman. Now he may find himself up against a member of the famed Kennedy clan. Joseph Kennedy III, the grandson of Robert F. Kennedy, is expected to make a bid for the seat. Without naming names, Bielat jabbed the Democrat in his announcement speech. "Nobody should expect to succeed in this country by virtue of their birth," he told the crowd, to applause.

Jim DeMint Makes Big Ad Buy In Texas

Republican "kingmaker" Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) spent half a million dollars on a TV ad buy in Texas, where former state Solicitor General Ted Cruz is running to be the Republican party's Senate nominee.

The conservative leader endorsed Cruz this fall, on the same day Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst announced his Senate bid. Dewhurst recently picked up an endorsement from former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

A recent PPP poll shows Dewhurst leading Cruz by 18 percentage points, 36 to 18.

DeMint has endorsed conservatives in other primary races in battleground states, such as Rep. Mark Neumann in Wisconsin, Don Stenberg in Nebraska and Josh Mandel in Ohio.

Sen. Bill Nelson Dodges Obama In Florida

@George_LeMieux
George LeMieux

@SenBillNelson's not fooling anyone by skipping Disney w/ @BarackObama http://t.co/BlYjAuok #sayfie #nixnelson #flsen #tcot

January 18, 2012 8:41 pm via web Reply Retweet Favorite

Richard Carmona Launches His Campaign

Richard Carmona, a top recruit for Democrats in 2012, officially launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate in Arizona Tuesday.

Carmona is a former U.S. surgeon general who served in George W. Bush's administration, and a Vietnam veteran. He will face former Arizona Democratic Party chair Don Bivens in the primary, and the winner will face the presumed Republican nominee, Rep. Jeff Flake.

From the AP:

Carmona announced his candidacy in early November after months of weighing a bid. He said in an interview with The Associated Press that voters are looking for someone who is willing to work to find common ground with their political opponents. At one point, he said he would try to build a "coalition of the reasonable."

Watch the announcement video:

Earlier on HuffPost:

 

 

Comments

[trissler1971]

12:12 PM on 01/23/2012

Heinrich is a DEMOCRAT. Fact-check, please.

[Phil Clarkson]

01:10 PM on 01/19/2012

After 36 years Senator Hatch is brilliant at swindling people and playing the Political game. He called PIPA a "common sense" bill. Because he's up for re-election a little education makes him look like a fool- he pulls out when resistance is strong. One has to wonder who he really is under that Conservative cloak

[l78lancer]

03:33 PM on 01/19/2012

He may have overplayed his hand with PIPA.

[AZHusker]

12:13 PM on 01/19/2012

I thought it was "not-civil" to use the word or phrase "targets" in a political setting??? That's right!!! It's okay for Democrats to use it, not Republicans.

If the Democrats say they are going after (note I did not say targetting) Alan West seat in Florida; isn't that racist???

[Buhe]

03:13 PM on 01/20/2012

Only if they involve things that are linked to guns.

[sammi 56]

12:29 PM on 01/27/2012

Nothing to do with race --he is a hateful mean Republican target-- means they will zero in on him with a good candidate. Getting sensitive all of a sudden.?

[AZHusker]

01:58 PM on 01/27/2012

No, not at all. After the Giffords shooting we were told about how certain GOP politicians were using words like 'targetting a certain district' and then we were mentioned to be civil in our discussions and not use words like ...'hateful or mean'.

Guess that was only meant for one side of the aisle and not the other.

[Aurical]

07:57 AM on 01/19/2012

The DNC shod spend every dime in the vault for the senate races. No one has a shot to beat the president, and we see that the TRUE power lies in the House and Senate. A filibuster proof majority if LIBERALS, no blue dogs, but liberals would be a dream come true.

[l78lancer]

03:35 PM on 01/19/2012

True, but maybe it should be split 2/3 house, 1/3 senate. After all the house is responsible for appropriations, and we've seen what kind of disaster it was last year.

[OneInEveryFamily]

07:55 AM on 01/19/2012

These guys should not be the democrats targets. They will be part of the reason the dems do well in 2012. They should be kept around as conversation pieces and as an indictment of the GOP.

[HDR]

07:50 AM on 01/19/2012

Prediction: Should these two dangerous clowns lose their respective elections, they will be heard from again when they show up on police blotters.

[l78lancer]

03:37 PM on 01/19/2012

John Walsh on a police blotter? Maybe he could profile himself on his show?...

[HDR]

10:10 AM on 01/20/2012

I think that's a different JW. This one if the $100K deadbeat dad w/ a short fuse, at least in a restaurant.

[fredpa]

07:39 AM on 01/19/2012

Gomert! Where's Gomert in this article? That dillweed ran unopposed. These are simple numbers; every win is a win for us and a loss for them: net two seats.

[Rich914]

07:04 AM on 01/19/2012

When the TEA party targets ultra conservative stalwart Orrin Hatch you have to blink a few times and wonder, just how close to the brink of fascism does this TEA party want to take this country?

[l78lancer]

03:38 PM on 01/19/2012

That is a pretty profound question.

F/F.

[Rich914]

05:39 PM on 01/19/2012

Right? I mean who is more conservative than Orrin Hatch? But then Rick Santorum doesn't think the Pope is Catholic enough.

[RagaMuffin]

06:59 AM on 01/19/2012

Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.)
(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more.)
What you say?
(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.)
(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more.)

Woah GOP, oh GOP, don't treat me so mean,
You're the meanest old GOP that I've ever seen.
I guess if you say so
You have to pack your things and go. (That's right)

(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.)
(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more.)
What you say?
(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.)
(Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more.)

well baby, listen baby, don't ya treat me this-a way
Cause I'll be back on my feet some day.
(Don't care if you do 'cause it's understood)
(you ain't got no money you just ain't no good.)
Well, I guess if you say so
I'd have to pack my things and go. (That's right)

[l78lancer]

03:39 PM on 01/19/2012

LOL...so when does the CD drop?

[tucoeyes2]

06:27 AM on 01/19/2012

Allen West is probably their biggest target....... the DNC can not afford to have black leaders wander off their plant.ation. They paid for the black ( vote ) and they believe they own it ......like property.

Scott Brown is the other big target...... It doesn't sit well with Libs that anyone but a democrat hold Teddy's seat. They should have picked a viable candidate.

[notakochdealer]

07:03 AM on 01/19/2012

Tuceyes..............everything you said is backwards. Are there many like you?

[tucoeyes2]

07:22 AM on 01/19/2012

???? Yes, we are called the majority......I thought we explained it in 2010. We'll explain it again in a few months.

Everything I say is "backwards"? Is that the rubber / glue argument?

[l78lancer]

03:41 PM on 01/19/2012

Shhh! If you ignore it, it will go away.

[lisalulu]

07:08 AM on 01/19/2012

Allen West is a bully - nasty man. The fact that he is black is irrelevant. Nice try though,

Joe Walsh is, well, we all know, a mean bully too and a total hypocrite.

Scotty - is Scotty. But Elizabeth Warren will win and hopefully be our 1st Female President.

Toodle loo bullies!

[l78lancer]

03:46 PM on 01/19/2012

Joe Walsh is to congress and police forces what Joe Pesci was to all the Lethal weapon movies...

...an annoying sidekick and hazardous distraction.

By the time Warren finishes beating Brown he'll be thinking she's sexy and calling her Mami Chula.

Things are looking up a bit.

[dmsdzinr]

05:42 AM on 01/19/2012

It would be much simpler to just list the few of the TP/GOP who DON'T need to be replaced!!!!

[gaydood]

05:15 AM on 01/19/2012

we must must vote out these gopeeeers !

[mrshep]

03:07 AM on 01/19/2012

West and Walsh both have to go, it is hard to determine who is the worst.

[l78lancer]

03:48 PM on 01/19/2012

They are twin brothers from different mothers. No choice needed.

[hs2938]

02:49 AM on 01/19/2012

A world without Walsh and West....ah Heaven!

[dmsdzinr]

05:43 AM on 01/19/2012

I'll settle for just an American Government without these two!

[justanoldhippie]

02:23 AM on 01/19/2012

Oh please... get rid of Rep. Joe Walsh... the man who handed his home back to the bank in foreclosure, not because he couldn't make the payments, but because he couldn't sell it at a profit (as though real estate is a free market slam dunk at any other time?).

He didn't care about his neighbors or community when he turned the keys over to the bank. He could have rented it out and held on to the property until he broke even, or even, got the profit he was looking for. There are NO guarantees in the "free market".

And, after allowing his home to go to foreclosure, he was able to "qualify" for a loan on a much larger, more expensive home? Huh?

So, he didn't "need" the profit from the first to get into the second?

So, he could have held onto the first, rented it out, and then bought the other, instead of contributing to the foreclosure crisis and property value decline in his own neighborhood.

He has to go. He is a terrible example of fiscal responsibility.

Nobody gets a guaranteed ROI when it comes to real estate... and allowing a home to purposely go to foreclosure when one has the ability to pay (as he clearly is paying the mortgage on the new home), shows that he is all talk when it comes to showing the fiscal and social responsibility that we should expect from a congress man.

[marta76]

07:29 AM on 01/19/2012

He's also a deadbeat dad and a general idiot.

[l78lancer]

03:52 PM on 01/19/2012

Guess he was promoted. He was a major idiot.