Steve Israel Lets His Slip Show On Which Republican Banditos He'll Be Targeting In 2014

Last cycle, Israel and his incompetent DCCC stumbled and fumbled their way through the election with disastrous, narrow targeting, wasting Democratic resources on red districts with unelectable Blue Dogs and leaving at least a dozen winnable seats on the table because the conservative and self-serving Israel, a "former" member of the Blue Dog reactionaries himself, hates progressives. He adamantly refused to go after any senior Republican policy-makers or committee chairs in charge of the Republican policy agenda. But not only did he not commit ritual seppuku after his failure, he boisterously claimed to have done as well as the DSCC-- which had an amazing cycle-- and persuaded Nancy Pelosi to reappoint him DCCC chair. The Republicans can breathe easy about retaining the House in 2014.

Yesterday, Israel gave a strong indication about which GOP incumbents the DCCC would be targeting in 2014. It's a better list than last year, not that much better-- and definitely not a list that spells Democratic victory. The DCCC is running ads-- not TV ads, but web ads (that's one up-top)-- against 27 Republicans based on Sequestration. Theoretically, there is no Republican who would be safe from those ads, since, basically, they all support it. So the 27 Israel and his team picked tell you something about who their targets will be this cycle. Here's the list:

·         Andy Barr (KY-06)
·         Dan Benishek (MI-01)
·         Tom Cotton (AR-04
·         Rick Crawford (AR-01)
·         Mike Coffman (CO-06)
·         Steve Daines (MT-AL)
·         Rodney Davis (IL-13)
·         Jeff Denham (CA-10)
·         Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08)
·         Chris Gibson (NY-19)
·         Tim Griffin (AR-02)
·         Michael Grimm (NY-11)
·         Joe Heck (NV-03)
·         Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03)
·         David Joyce (OH-14)
·         John Kline (MN-02)
·         Tom Latham (IA-03)
·         Gary Miller (CA-31)
·         Erik Paulsen (MN-03)
·         Tom Reed (NY-23)
·         Scott Rigell (VA-02)
·         Jon Runyan (NJ-03)
·         Steve Southerland (FL-02)
·         David Valadao (CA-21)
·         Jackie Walorski (IN-02)
·         Dan Webster (FL-10)
·         Bill Young (FL-13)

Although there is one putrid committee chairman on the list, John Kline (Education and Workforce), there is no Eric Cantor, no Paul Ryan (Budget), no Darrell Issa (Oversight), no Ed Royce (Foreign Affairs), no Dave Camp (Ways and Means), no Buck McKeon (Armed Services), no Mike Rogers (Intelligence), no Fred Upton (Energy and Commerce), no Mike McCaul (Homeland Security)... looks like a lot of free passes are being handed out again-- Steve Israel's signature in bold letters. Yes, it's great that Israel has woken up to the idea of Nate Shinagawa replacing medical bad debut collector Tom Reed-- congratulations Chairman Israel!-- but some of these senior Republicans are more vulnerable than some of his targets... if the DCCC seriously goes after them. And that includes Ryan, McKeon and Upton.

Here's how Obama did in each of the congressional districts Israel has selected and how Obama did in each congressional district Israel is ignoring:

·         Andy Barr (KY-06)- 42.2%
·         Dan Benishek (MI-01)- 45.3%
·         Dave Camp (MI-04)- 45.5%
·         Eric Cantor (VA-07)- 41.7%
·         Tom Cotton (AR-04)- 35.9%
·         Rick Crawford (AR-01)- 36.3%
·         Mike Coffman (CO-06)- 51.6%
·         Steve Daines (MT-AL)- 41.7%
·         Rodney Davis (IL-13)- 48.6%
·         Jeff Denham (CA-10)- 50.6%
·         Mike Fitzpatrick (PA-08)- 49.3%
·         Chris Gibson (NY-19)- 52.1%
·         Tim Griffin (AR-02)- 42.9%
·         Michael Grimm (NY-11)- 51.6%
·         Joe Heck (NV-03)- 49.5%
·         Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA-03)- 47.9%
·         Darrell Issa (CA-49)- 45.7%
·         David Joyce (OH-14)- 47.6%
·         John Kline (MN-02)- 49.1%
·         Tom Latham (IA-03)- 51.4%
·         Mike McCaul (TX-10)- 38.8%
·         Buck McKeon (CA-25)- 47.8%
·         Gary Miller (CA-31)- 57.2%
·         Erik Paulsen (MN-03)- 49.6%
·         Tom Reed (NY-23)- 48.4%
·         Scott Rigell (VA-02)- 50.1%
·         Mike Rogers (MI-08)- 48.0%
·         Ed Royce (CA-)- 47.1%
·         Jon Runyan (NJ-03)- 51.8%
·         Paul Ryan (WI-01)- 47.4%
·         Steve Southerland (FL-02)- 46.5%
·         Fred Upton (MI-06)- 48.8
·         David Valadao (CA-21)- 54.6%
·         Jackie Walorski (IN-02)- 42.1%
·         Dan Webster (FL-10)- 45.7%
·         Bill Young (FL-13)- 50.1%

Based on the numbers, Israel's targets are not more likely to win that the highest ranking Republicans in the House. But don't try to tell Israel that. He gets the cash for nurturing his political career from the same shady crooks who just happen to be nurturing the Republican committee chairs.