House Race Update: Cabin Fever Edition
By Tim Sahd
HRH is snowed in, but while we dig out a new parking spot because someone stole the space we took hours to dig out, here are a few tidbits on the House front:
-- Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) is the latest Dem to deny retirement rumors and say he's running for re-election, at least this year. He added he's considering a '12 GOV bid, and could retire then.
As Hotline OnCall reported earlier this month, GOPers have an unofficial list of 17 Dems they hope to coax to retire. So far, five have confirmed they're staying, and two more are expected to stay. At this early stage, one (TN's Bart Gordon) has opted for retirement.
The GOP effort is a mixed blessing for Dems. It's helpful in that it's forced these vulnerable Dems to go on the record and state their re-election intentions. That helps leadership get a more accurate accounting of what to expect. But it's also led to increased questions about the intentions of those who haven't commented, especially longtime Rep. John Spratt (D-SC). But Spratt, too, was forced to declare today that he's running for re-election. The pressure's been ratcheted up by GOPers, and Dems are holding their own, for now.
-- It's interesting to hear that ex-U.S. Atty Tom Marino (R) is again considering a run against Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA). Besides the fact that he'd be a top-rate challenger to Carney (the GOP has yet to find any high-profile takers), he'd also be the third Bush-era U.S. Atty to consider a Cong. bid in PA this cycle.
Pat Meehan (R), who had been a GOV candidate, dropped out of that race earlier this year and opted to run for Rep. Joe Sestak's (D) open seat. Meanwhile, Mary Beth Buchanan (R) was reported to have been considering a bid against Rep. Jason Altmire (D), but that talk has died down as of late.
Those law-and-order credentials were very beneficial to GOPers in the '09 election, as ex-VA AG Bob McDonnell (R) and ex-U.S. Atty Chris Christie (R) won GOV bids in VA and NJ, respectively. But, if Marino and Buchanan do run, they'll be forced to defend the record of their offices, and Buchanan appears to have been a lightning rod during her tenure.
But all of these candidates would be formidable challengers, and with AG Tom Corbett (R) the early leading GOP GOV contender, '10 could be a very law-and-order contest up-and-down the ballot in PA.