Stay On Offense/Challenge a quater of their Caucus

It is nice to be the Majority again. One of the main reasons Democrats are back in the Majority is that they were able to put a lot more races into contention then were the Republicans. It is vitally important that we keep this playing field imbalance, so that we can continue to be in and expand our Majority. It is my contention, that at least one quarter of House Republicans remain vulnerable today. This statement is even truer if the Republicans were to nominate a true social conservative for President in 2008. Democrats need to compete as if we were behind rather than ahead 15 seats. Being in the Majority makes everything easier for us, and everything harder for them. We also may see a large group of retirements, none of which should catch us off guard. Which is why the advantage must be pressed. It is also important to note that challengers help force legislators to vote with their constituencies on the hopefully popular Democratic legislation we put forward. Rather than having to water down our legislation for Bipartisanship, we can threaten defeat to those members who go against popular sentiment in their districts. Here is my comprehensive list of seats Democrats could still gain as well, as the criteria by which the decisions were reached. Also the currently uncalled races are omitted.


Under 55
All Republican members of Congress who received 55% or of their vote must be consider vulnerable they are listed by How Democratic the District voted in 2004 Presidential race. Those that were not targeted this time receive a *
CT 4 Chris Shays
IL 10 Mark Kirk
PA 6 Jim Gerlach
NY 25 Jim Walsh
PA 15 Charlie Dent *
VA 11 Tom Davis*
OH 1 Steve Chabot
MI 9 Joe Knollenberg *
NV 3 Jon Porter
PA 3 Phil English*
MI 11 Thaddeus McCotter *
NJ 7 Mike Ferguson
IL 6 Peter Roskam
AZ 1 Rick Renzi
MI 8 Mike Rogers
MI 7 Tim Walberg*
IL 11 Jerry Weller *
CA 50 Brain Bilbray
NY 26 Tom Reynolds
NY 29 Randy Kuhl
NJ 5 Scott Garrett *
MN 6 Michelle Bachmann
NV 2 Dean Heller
VA 2 Thelma Drake
CO 4 Marilyn Musgrave
NE 2 Lee Terry *
CA 4 John Doolittle
KY 4 Geoff Davis
KY 2 Ron Lewis
IN 3 Mark Souder
ID 1 Bill Sali
NE 3 Adrian Smith

All Republicans from district Where John Kerry got 45% of the vote or More [listed by State excluding those were a Democrat held the Republican to less than 55%] Their Re-election Percent next to name
DE AL Mike Castle 57%
FL 10 Bill Young 66%
FL 18 Ileana Ros-Lehtinen 62%
FL 24 Tom Feeney 58%
IA 4 Tom Latham 57%
MI 6 Fred Upton 61%
MN 3 Jim Ramstad 65%
NJ 2 Frank LoBiondo 65 %
NJ 3 Jim Saxton 59%
NY 3 Peter King 56%
NY 13 Vito Fossella 57%
NY 23 Bob McHugh 63%
OH 3 Mike Turner 59%
OH 12 Pat Tiberi 58%
OH 14 Steve LaTourette
OH 16 Ralph Regula 59%
PA 18 Tim Murphy 58%
WI 1 Paul Ryan 63%

Others, The members of Congress who are potentially vulnerable for other reasons:

AK AL Don Young
MT AL Dennis Rehberg
CO 6 Tom Tancredo
VA 10 Frank Wolf [ possible retirement]
IL 14 Dennis Hastert[Possible retirement]
CA 26 David Dreier