Democrats tout strategy to retake House from Republicans in 2012

Chris Moody
·Political Reporter

After losing more than 60 House seats in 2010, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Thursday a list of dozens of candidates lined up to challenge Republicans in November, in the hopes of recapturing the party's lost majority.

The DCCC, responsible for electing Democrats to the House, has recruited candidates to run in 60 Republican-held districts, the committee said in a release. The party needs a net gain of 25 to regain the majority.

The Republicans are looking to harness anti-incumbent anger to elect a Republican president, and the Democrats plan to use the same strategy in their effort to regain the Republican-held House. Democrats point to two recent polls that suggest voters may be leaning toward their side when it comes to how they will choose their representatives. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that of those polled, 48 percent said they would vote Democratic in the congressional election to 40 percent who said they would vote Republican. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released Wednesday showed that Democrats have a slight edge over the Republicans, with 45 percent saying they prefer a Democratic Congress and 41 percent saying they prefer Republican control.

The Democrats intend to attack House Republicans for their voting record, focusing primarily on entitlement reform and taxes. Since the Republicans took the majority in January, the party's congressional leadership has encouraged its members to take several politically risky votes--knowing they would never pass the Democrat-controlled Senate. Most notably, House Republicans voted overhaul the nation's Medicare program. Other votes showed a Republican refusal to raise taxes on high-income earners.

By focusing on these votes, while targeting independents, Democrats think they can raise enough support to win the House back.

"Buyer's remorse has set in with independent voters across the country," said DCCC Chairman Steve Israel, a representative from New York. "[They] reject the Republican agenda that ends Medicare and fails to create jobs while protecting special interests and the ultra wealthy at the expense of the middle class and seniors."

The DCCC highlighted more than 20 districts where Democrats plan to spent a lot of money, including three represented by freshman Republicans: Allen West of Florida, Jeff Denham of California and Nan Hayworth of New York.

Update: National Republican Congressional Committee responded to reports of the Democrats' list of candidates, calling it "embarrassing."

"It's embarrassing for any candidate to be grouped with someone as crazy as Alan Grayson," said NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos, "but the biggest vulnerability for everyone on this list is that they all fully support President Obama's job-destroying agenda."