DCCC Video Seizes on Boehner Prediction

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is trying to raise money and whip up more grassroots activity by seizing on Speaker John Boehner’s own comments that Republicans have a 1-in-3 chance of losing the House majority this fall.

“Thanks to you, the House is in play. And even Speaker Boehner says so,” DCCC Chairman Steve Israel, D-N.Y., tells viewers in a Web video released on Tuesday.

The video is a response to Boehner’s prediction of GOP vulnerability during a sit-down interview last week with Fox News. Whether Boehner’s move was itself more of a ploy to energize the Republican voting base is unclear.

But in doing so, Boehner pointed to what he suggests are as many as 50 members in his conference who are vulnerable this fall. He noted that 89 Republican freshmen are running for reelection and that “we have 32 districts that are in states where there is not a [competitive] presidential campaign going to be run, no big Senate race, and we call these orphan districts.” Boehner especially pointed to California, New York, and Illinois, states “where we are not likely to do well at the top of the ticket, and those districts are frankly pretty vulnerable.”

In the DCCC video released on Tuesday, Israel thanks Democrats for their support and underscores, “We need 25 seats to win the speakers’ gavel from Boehner and the Republicans.”

“Every dollar and every volunteer hour brings us closer to the majority,” he notes.