It turns out, Dave Reichert isn’t one of your typical House Republicans after all…
Although House Republicans currently face a tough national political environment, most of their vulnerable members enjoy a substantial lead in the money race over their Democratic challengers at this early point in the 2008 election cycle.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) financial filings for the third fiscal quarter of 2007, which ended Sept. 30, reveal that the 22 Republican House members in races ranked by CQ as “No Clear Favorite” or “Leans Republican” lead more than two to one in cumulative cash on hand versus their nearest Democrat opponent.
[…] The Republicans in these two categories that CQPolitics.com regards as competitive reported a total of $12.7 million cash on hand as compared with $5.2 million in total for the nearest challengers.
Of these 22 vulnerable Republican incumbents, only five currently trail their opponents in cash on hand, putting Reichert in such rare company as Ohio’s embattled Jean Schmidt (who trails not one, but three challengers,) and soon to be indicted John Doolittle of California. Reichert’s poor performance is even more remarkable when you consider that he was the only House member last quarter to benefit from a high-profile, high-dollar fundraiser with President Bush. Ouch.
Reichert spokesliar Mike Shields, the man behind the campaign’s Enron-style accounting, attempts to put a ridiculous spin on Reichert’s disappointing results, arguing that he’s just too busy being a congressman to do what congressmen notoriously do… raise money.
“That’s one of our challenges: Dave actually has a job,” Shields said. “He has to come serve the people, and he takes that very seriously.”
Yeah, right… unlike nearly every other member of Congress. But as CQ points out, incumbents are not only expected to hold a money advantage, it is absolutely critical for vulnerable Republicans given the current political environment.
The Republicans’ overall fundraising edge in these competitive districts, though expected for incumbents, is critical given that the party has few other advantages going into the election season. In addition to the weaknesses of individual candidates, Republican members as a whole also are saddled with the party baggage of an unpopular war and president. And they cannot count on a boost from the party’s fundraising committee for the chamber, the National Republican Congressional Committee, which badly trails its Democratic counterpart in money raised and cash on hand.
Shorter CQ: Reichert’s in deep doo-doo. The NRCC has to be putting together its budget with the expectation that Reichert, now a two-term incumbent, starts carrying his own weight. And with party resources scarce, Reichert just can’t rely on the same sort of huge infusion of party cash that put him over the top in 2006.
If Reichert can’t out-raise Darcy Burner in a quarter that included a presidential fundraiser, there can be only two explanations: he either has the wrong message, or he’s just not working hard enough. And in Reichert’s case, it is clearly both.
Total number of rabbits hugged by GOP House Caucus this year: 0
Doolittle in Calif is being contested in the Primary by Eric Egland who has outraised him. The seat will stay in GOP hands with a true conservative like Egland in it!
Reichert is safe as long as Darcy Burnout continues to run against the 2004 calendar.
Republicans are better at mugging than hugging.
@2 How can 8th C.D. voters not vote for this? http://tinyurl.com/opkdy Darcy will be a hug-in in ’08!
Wave goodbye to the nice people, Dave.
Hmmm, New York Times stock at a ten-year low…
#6 — Is that in the estimation of Rupert Murdoch’s Dow-Jones?
#6 — You’re so stupid if you lost one more IQ point, your head would implode. And your mama is rotund and unattractive!
Can you imagine the idiotic graphics Murdoch is going top include on the stock quotations? If a stock is losing ground, there will be a cartoon picture of a man’s head with sweat comming down his brow and big exclamation points surrounding his head like a halo of surprise and consternation.
Which leads me to wonder at times if Reichert is actually going to run in 2008. If they could somehow get Baby Dunn to run (Dunn the Lesser? Done Dunn? Create your own moniker….), would the national party push Dave over the side? Could they be already considering this? Or are they going to just get Cheney out there in a month or two to bolster his sagging fundraising numbers?
Here is a portion of an e-mail letter that I got from Dave Reichert where he conflates an added tax on a hedge fund manager’s income as a tax on the hedge fund itself. You can always depend on Sheriff Dave for slanted and inaccurate statements. The statement is clearly meant to deceive the reader.
“As you know, Congressman Sander Levin (D-MI) introduced H.R. 2834 in June to treat ‘carried interest’ as regular income instead of as capital gains. CARRIED INTEREST IS THE SHARE OF INVESTMENT PROFITS THAT A FUND MANAGER RECEIVES after partners receive returns on their investments. THIS LEGISLATION ESSENTIALLY RAISES THE TAX ON CARRIED INTEREST – AND ACCORDINGLY, THE TAX ON THESE FUNDS AND INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIPS – FROM THE CAPITAL GAINS RATE OF 15% TO THE STANDARD CORPORATE INCOME TAX RATE OF 35%.
I strongly oppose this substantial tax increase, which would unfairly punish investment success while hurting American businesses.”
He should put his false teeth in backwards and bite himself in the neck!!!
The last time Dave “worked hard” was to get the book out blowing his own horn after the GRK was caught. Sure nothing since.
@6 “Hmmm, New York Times stock at a ten-year low… ”
I assume your point is that print media is an old industry that’s losing market share to new media. In this, you are absolutely correct. What’s true of NYT is true of print publishers across the board — not just newspapers, but also books and magazines. Americans are reading less.
This isn’t surprising at all when you realize most Republicans never touch a newspaper, magazine, or book. And it shows in their spelling, grammar, and ignorance.
@7 Murdoch hasn’t added 60% of new value to Dow Jones; only a 60% ego premium.
Someone should send a copy of Shields’s remarks to the 17 Republican House members who clearly aren’t doing their job and are out there irresponsibly raising campaign money.
Dear Dave, for all you’ve done for us, fuck you very much.
No Third Reichert!!!!!