House

GOP Outside Money Hits the House

September 30, 2010
House Editor David Wasserman takes a look at outside group commitments to House races and party committee spending thus far. In 2008, the rumor was that outside organizations like Freedom's Watch would parachute into House races with limitless contributions and rescue the cash-strapped NRCC, becoming the de facto GOP House committee. That never materialized. And for most of this cycle, the buzz had Republican-leaning outside groups spending their millions on Senate races and forgoing House contests. But the past week's FEC independent expenditure reports show why House Democrats are expressing outrage over outside GOP groups "operating in the shadows:" they're finally for real.
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Five More Solid House Democrats Move to Likely Democratic Column

September 27, 2010
House Editor David Wasserman explains why five more Democratic incumbents are moving from the Solid Democratic column to the Likely Democratic column. In a sign of just how daunting this midterm election has become for anyone in conservative territory with a D next to their name, we are adding 20-year Democratic Rep. Gene Taylor, a conservative folk hero in his southern Mississippi seat, to our chart. New polling conducted by the Tarrance Group (R) for GOP state Rep. Steven Palazzo’s campaign shows Palazzo trailing Taylor by just four points, 45 percent to 41 percent. GOP insiders claim that at the end of last year, Palazzo trailed Taylor by over 40 points.
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Reevaluating Democratic Open Seats: 7 Ratings Changes

September 23, 2010
House Editor David Wasserman reevaluates Democrats' prospects of holding onto their competitive open seats. In 1994, 22 of Democrats' 25 marginal open seats fell to the GOP, and early this summer, Democrats set an ambitious goal of holding onto eight of their 16 less-than-safe opens. But today, the chances of Democrats batting .500 in these districts looks awfully bleak. With seven ratings changes today, ten Democratic open seats are poised to fall to Republicans, four are Toss Ups, and just two sit in the Lean Democratic column.
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