The DCCC's Tighty Whities

Good target?

This is a list of the closest House races from last November. We list the races where Democrats won first and then where Republicans won. The dollar figure next to each name is the amount put into outside spending by the DCCC and their SuperPAC, the House Majority PAC.

DEMOCRATS

• Mike McIntyre (Blue Dog/New Dem-NC)- 654 $2,005,888
• Jim Matheson (Blue Dog-UT)- 768 $1,269,713
• Patrick Murphy (New Dem-FL)- 1,904 $2,924,208
• Ron Barber (New Dem-AZ)- 2,454 $1,768,506
• Brad Schneider (New Dem-IL)- 3,326 $1,442,177
• John Tierney (D-MA)- 4,330 $861,652
• Bill Owens (New Dem-NY)- 4,985 $1,215,498
• Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)- 6,992 $2,962,357
• Elizabeth Esty (New Dem-CT)- 7,461 $2,170,479

REPUBLICANS

• Rodney Davis- 1,002 $3,000,927
• Dan Benishek- 1,881 $1,282,979
• Jackie Walorski- 3,920 $483,721
• Lee Terry- 4,197 $164,736
• Michele Bachmann- 4,296 $0
• Chris Collins- 5,001 $2,968,142
• Mike Coffman- 7,001 $2,968,142

You have probably noticed one glaring exception to the massive amounts of money the DCCC poured into these races-- an average of $1,710,159. In the 10th closest race, in Minnesota's 6th CD, first-time candidate Jim Graves came within 4,197 votes of longtime incumbent and right-wing icon, Michele Bachmann... and it is the only race the DCCC refused to spend any money on. Graves is a very indepedent-minded Democrat and, unlike almost all the other candidates the DCCC spent big on, he refused to join the reactionary and corrupt New Dems that Steve Israel and Steny Hoyer are determined to flood the House Democratic caucus with-- even to the point of losing races.

Not counting outside money, Bachmann spent $11,946,232 on her reelection campaign, an incredible $66.65 for every vote. Graves spent $2,279,384 or $13.03 per vote. Just as an exercise, had the DCCC spent on Graves the average of what they spent on these close races, it seems inconceivable that he wouldn't have won by a very substantial margin. Just sayin'.

But the good news is that Steve Israel has changed his mind this cycle. The DCCC announced that MN-06 is a priority target and that Jim Graves is now a blue chip candidate. He's one of eight in their "Jumpstart" program in key districts:

• CA-31- Pete Aguilar
• CA-10- Michael Eggman
• IL-13- Ann Callis
• FL-02- Gwen Graham
• MN-06- Jim Graves
• NY-11- Domenic Recchia
• CO-06- Andrew Romanoff
• PA-08- Kevin Strouse

I'm not sure how Jumpstart differs from Red to Blue but the DCCC says its selections for the program were based on the quality of the candidate and the competitiveness of the district. Obama tied Romney 49-49% in two of the districts, IL-13 and PA-08, beat Romney in 4 others (CA-31 by a whopping 17 points, CA-10 by 4 points, CO-06 by 5 points, and NY-11 by 4 points), lost to Romney in FL-02 by 6 and in MN-06 by 5. MN-06 is a pretty red district, Bachmann's unmitigated Tea Party extremism and tendency to embarrass her constituents with her bizarre pronouncements, making it competitive.

The DCCC's new Executive Director, Kelly Ward, explained it to top donors: “Since the beginning of the cycle, we have said that we will win in 2014 because of the success of our recruitment efforts in 2013. To that end we are excited to announce the Jumpstart program, the next phase in our recruitment efforts which are already ahead of schedule. The newly-created Jumpstart program provides early financial, communications, operational and strategic support to help top-tier candidates get a head start in these highly-targeted races."