August 20, 2007

BLOGGERS VS BELTWAY: Another Battle In IA?

Netroots anger of Dem capitulation on FISA may be moving into concrete action. Open Left's Chris Bowers uses "the two biggest defeats for House Democrats so far in 2007" (supplemental Iraq funding and FISA) to identify 38 'Bush Dogs' who "voted in favor of both bills, and thus are the most likely to capitulate on important fights in the future." Bowers then uses Cook Political report Partisan Voting Index data to identify which of the 38 are most ripe for a primary challenge from the left. From Bowers:

The most egregious offenders are [Reps.] Daniel Lipinski (IL 03), Jim Cooper (TN 05) and Jim Costa (CA 20), who come from solidly Democratic districts. [Reps.] Leonard Boswell (IA 03), Mike Ross (AR 04), John Tanner (TN 08) and Charles Wilson (OH 06) come from districts that, as of 2004, leaned slightly Democratic, and probably lean even more so now. [Reps.] Jason Altmire (PA 04), John Barrow (GA 12), Allen Boyd (FL 02), Henry Cuellar (TX 28), Lincoln Davis (TN 04), Bob Etheridge (NC 02), Mike McIntyre (NC 07), Vic Synder (AR 02) and Tim Walz (MN 01) all come from districts with partisan voting indexes that lean Republican ... Those are the 16 districts where it strikes me that the most pressure, including both potential and real primary challenges, can be successfully applied.

Later Bowers adds: "Considering that Leonard Boswell's district is both in Iowa and lean Democratic, that might be a nice high visibility location to run a primary challenge. It wouldn't even be a waste of money, either, considering that the DCCC is constantly forced to spends money to defend Boswell."

Posted by Conn Carroll at August 20, 2007 12:54 PM