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Apr 17, 2008
Wall Street Journal - Freshmen Democrats Pack Strong Cash Cushion
A dozen House Democratic incumbents considered the most vulnerable to defeat in November began the year with their campaigns in a significantly stronger financial position than their likely Republican challengers, federal campaign filings show.
National Democratic leaders need these House members, all in their first terms, to keep healthy campaign bank balances as part of the party's plan for expanding its majority in the chamber.
Nine of these Democratic freshmen, who were first elected in 2006 in Republican-leaning districts, have around $1 million or more in the bank, filings made to the Federal Election Commission this week show.
Another two -- Reps. Nancy Boyda of Kansas and Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire -- have cash balances of $811,000 and $545,000, respectively. But neither faces a primary challenge.
Another vulnerable Democratic freshman, Rep. Steve Kagen of Wisconsin, had $760,000 in the bank compared with his Republican opponent's $427,000 in cash. In 2006 Mr. Kagen, a physician, spent $2.57 million of his own money to win election.
Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand of upstate New York reported raising $3.3 million and having $2.5 million left in the bank. On the Republican side, more than three candidates are vying for the nomination to run against the former Clinton administration housing official.
National party Democrats "have spent a lot of time and effort to shore up their freshman, so they can focus on targeting incumbents," said David Wasserman, an analyst of House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report. "That's why a lot of these Democrats already have a lot of money in the bank."
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which helps to elect Democrats to the House, has helped these candidates collect an early cushion of cash, giving national leaders more room to focus on capturing an additional 29 open seats that retiring Republicans are abandoning.
In this manner, Democrats hope to buck history and expand their current 234-198 House majority in elections in November. Usually a party that wins in a big sweep -- as Democrats did in both the House and Senate in 2006, riding anger over the Iraq war, big government spending and congressional corruption -- don't then go on to win even more seats in the next election, because the public's enthusiasm for them inevitably wanes.
But President Bush remains unpopular, recently scoring his lowest approval rating ever -- 28% -- in a Gallup poll. This has made Democrats confident of increasing their House majority by five or 10 seats, even as public approval in general for Congress also is at a record low.
In March, Democrats got a boost when Bill Foster, a physicist and businessman, won an Illinois seat being vacated by Republican Dennis Hastert, the former speaker of the House. In all, 61 Democratic House incumbents are running for re-election in congressional districts that voted for Mr. Bush in 2004. Of those, 12 candidates that filed campaign finance reports Tuesday night were cited as particularly vulnerable by the Cook Political Report, a Washington newsletter that handicaps congressional races. The analysts considered the dynamics of each race and the strong Republican identities of the districts.
Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson, who is struggling to hold the Houston-area seat once occupied by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, raised $1.4 million and has $1 million left in the bank. He faces Republican Peter Olson in November, who emerged from a hotly contested primary with only $127,000 in the bank. In Florida, Rep. Tim Mahoney, who won the seat of former Rep. Mark Foley after the Republican resigned amid a scandal about his involvement with House pages, had $1 million in the bank. He also paid off part of a $675,000 personal loan he had made to win the seat two years ago.
Rep. Mahoney's opponents include another candidate with enough wealth to fund his own campaign, former city councilman Hal Valeche, who lent his campaign $250,000 this year.
