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Predictions 2012: The House

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So it's time for my House projections.  SaoMagnifico already did one, but I'd like to do one anyway.

First, from reapportionment, the Republicans gained 2 seats, if I calculated correctly.  That's assuming a Latham victory in Iowa, which I am.
I'm going to use incumbents, not numbers, since I haven't learned all the new numbering schemes yet and you probably haven't either.  Cook ratings in parentheses.

First, Likely or Safe Pickups.

For the Democrats:
Joe Walsh (Likely Dem):  Tammy Duckworth is a very strong candidate, although I was rooting for Raja Krishnamoorthi here.  She should easily win this, and might even approach 60%.  Walsh has incredible baggage and is far too conservative for this district.

For the Republicans:
Dan Boren's Seat (Lean GOP):  Like many Blue Dog Southern seats, Boren was the last Dem who could feasibly hold this seat, even if he wasn't much of a Democrat.

Mike Ross's Seat (Likely R):  See above.  Except a couple Dems might've been able to be competitive here.  But they didn't enter.

Heath Shuler's Seat (Likely R):  His former CoS is putting up a good effort, but it's not gonna be enough.

Brad Miller's Seat (Likely R):  Redistricting forced his retirement, and it's Likely/Safe GOP now.

Kathy Hochul (Lean R):  I honestly see no path to victory.  Democrats hold no ancestrally Republican seats that are >R+5.  Worse, they didn't even hold them pre-2010.  It's a goner, as sad as it is after her awesome special election victory.

Leaning Democratic:

Jerry McNerney (Lean D):  Ricky Gill is raising a lot of money, but this seat is too blue for an incumbent Democrat to lose.

Elton Gallegly's Seat (Tossup):  I'm assuming that Parks caucuses with the Dems.  If she doesn't, then this is a Tossup.

Gary Miller (Tossup):  There's no way this is a Tossup.  Pete Aguilar is a strong candidate, Gary Miller isn't, and it's like a D+3 seat or so by 2008 numbers.

Open New Riverside County Seat (Lean D):  Mark Takano gets a seat in Congress, 20 years later.  When's the last time someone ran 20 years apart and won the second time ?  Trivia buffs, let me know.  Taviglione's a good GOP get, though.

Open New Nevada Seat (Lean D):  D+2 or better in bluening Nevada, and Horsford is a strong recruit.  Add one more for the Dems here.

Open Northern Arizona Seat (Tossup):  Ann Kirkpatrick didn't lose badly in 2010, and she should take it here.  Tossup or Tilt R if Baldanegro wins this, though.

Open Giffords Seat (Tossup):  Giffords sympathy vote should extend to Ron Barber, which means he should take this, although I'd be worried if Jesse Kelly lost the primary.  

Open New Phoenix Area Seat (Tossup):  Cook's too down on Democrats in Arizona in general, in my opinion.  Republicans really don't have a very good candidate here.  Still waiting for Sinema to apologize for voting for Nader, I guess she could make this lose-able as a liberal caricature, but I don't see a Republican waiting to capitalize.

Open New Washington Seat (Likely D): Maybe I'm just being cautious here, I'm not sure.  But welcome to Congress, Denny Heck.

Bob Dold (Lean D):  This seat's too blue for him, even though he doesn't have a Tea Party voting record.  I wish Schneider weren't guaranteed a lifetime seat, though.  Israel is no excuse to donate to a Republican.

Bobby Schilling (Lean D):  Blue collar, union Dems aren't gonna keep Schilling around.  Bustos seems a lot better than Schneider or Hare.

Judy Biggert (Tossup):  I'm not buying Tossup.  Foster's the best Dem running as a challenger in the state, and the seat is quite blue.

Jerry Costello's Seat (Tossup): Plummer is an abysmal candidate, so I'm much more optimistic about this, even though Brad Harriman is unproven.

Mark Critz or Jason Altmire (Lean D):  I might be too optimistic here, but I think either of them can hold on against a "meh" Republican candidate.

Tim Holden's Seat (Safe D): I'm expecting Holden to lose the primary, but the vastly preferable Matt Cartwright should hold it for us pretty easily anyway.

Open New Orlando District (Tossup):  If Grayson wins the primary, it goes to Tossup, but I'm still praying someone else jumps in and beats him.  Otherwise I'll have to support a Republican, and I really don't want to do that.

Ben Chandler (Lean D):  One of the few Dem seats that could fall in 2012.  But I doubt it will.  Redistricting was helpful here.

Roscoe Bartlett (Lean D):  John Delaney (ugh) should pick this up for us.

Tim Bishop (Lean D):  Another seat that will be very problematic when open, but should be okay this year.

Carolyn McCarthy (Likely D):  She has an actual opponent, it's not that blue, but she should do fine as well.

Bill Owens (Lean D):  Doheny's had a bad month, and Owens barely survived 2010.  Similar to Bishop, should be like an eight point win.

Ann Buerkle (Lean D):  Thankfully, she's doomed, and we can welcome Dan Maffei back.

Chris Murphy's Seat (Likely D):  Roraback would make it Lean D, otherwise I guess Likely is fine as well.

John Tierney (Likely D): I'm moderately worried here, since Tisei is gay, socially liberal, and Tierney's wife has issues (which is fair game, since unlike a child, he chose to marry her).  

Charlie Bass (Tossup):  I'm doing the rare move the incumbent in a similar seat into Lean already thing because Bass was sooo close to losing last cycle, and it's a rematch.

Mike Michaud (Likely D):  Kevin Raye is very strong and nearly won in 2002.  But Michaud is entrenched and a strong fit.

David Ciccilline (Lean D): Hopefully he loses the primary.

Leaning Republican:

From now on, I will only put Cook's rating in if it differs from mine.  Anyways, here we go.  In a Dem wave, we could win many of these, and we'll need a few to take back the House.

Open Central Valley Seat:  I know many (Sao) are high on Blong Xiong, but I don't see it.  He's got a very weak profile for the district: he's not from a city in the district, for one, and he's also Asian in a heavily Hispanic and Portugese district while his opponent, David Valadao, is Portugese.  He does speak Spanish, which is a plus, but I don't see a path to victory.  Major recruiting failure.

Jeff Denham: Jose Hernandez is a decent B list recruit, and Denham's not so great himself (remember that fundraiser that netted under $100?)  He's widely seen as kind of a schmuck.  But it's a light red seat, so he's got the advantage.

Mark Amodei (Safe R):  I'm not sure who we're running here, but he's a half-termer and Obama should win or come close in this district.  I think it's underrated, even though we won't win it.

Scott Tipton:  Another schmuck.  But this seat is R+4, which is a very tough climb even when open, but especially against an incumbent.

Jaime Herrera Beutler (Safe R):  Our other West Coast recruiting fail against another member who doesn't seem all that smart.  I'm still hoping someone better enters.

Open Montana Seat (Likely R):  I know nothing about any candidate on either side, but Montana when open is generally a Lean R state.  So I'm putting it here.

Lee Terry (Likely R): Terry was close to getting beaten in 2008, and we appear to have two strong candidates.  He's not well liked on a personal level, so there's definitely an opening.

Michele Bachmann (Safe R):  This seat will stay Lean R all decade as long as she's around, since it's not red enough for her to ever be safe, but it's too red for a Democrat to ever actually knock her off.

John Kline (Safe R):  Minnesotans, am I too optimistic here?

Reid Ribble:  Ribble's been a backbencher and his opponent seems decent, but I think Ribble's backbencherness will help him.  He's no Joe Walsh.

Paul Ryan (Safe R):  I think at this point, he's too polarizing to ever be safe in a swing district.  But, like Bachmann, I doubt he'll ever lose.

Steve King:  Strong opponent, purpler district.  But it's still too red.

Tom Latham vs. Leonard Boswell (Tossup):  I've been pessimistic about this one from the start.  Boswell sucked in 2006; Latham's never drawn a serious challenger despite a swingy district because he's so non-controversial.

Open Northern Indiana Seat:  Brendan Mullen has a chance, and he's got a good profile for the district, but I don't think he's a star, and we need a star to win this one.  Likely victory in a Dem wave, though.

Larry Bucshon (Likely R):  He can't fundraise, faces an insurrection on the right from Kristi Risk, and has a strong moderate opponent.  We'll see.

Betty Sutton vs. Jim Renacci (Tossup):  It's R+4 and she's a liberal.  Enough said.

Bill Johnson:  Another total backbencher.

Steve Southerland (Likely R):  If Lawson wins the primary, it's probably Safe R.

Larry Kissell:  His internal gave me a little bit of hope, but I see zero path to victory.  Or even 47%.

Scott Rigell (Likely R):  A decent opponent.  Maybe I should've moved this to Likely.

Scott DesJarlais (Safe R): I would love to beat this doofus.  Eric Stewart's the guy to do it.  But in 2006, not 2012.

Vicki Hartzler (Safe R):  Birtherism never helps, but R+ double digits sure does.

Scott Garrett (Likely R):  Bachmann situation.

Jon Runyan:  We haven't seen Adler campaign yet.  If she's good on the stump, she's got a very good shot.

Chris Gibson (Tossup):  One of the most moderate voting records among House Republicans should help him.

Frank Guinta (Likely R):  Never count out someone who's won the district before.

Rick Crawford (Likely R): He's running scared, embracing a millionaire's tax.  However, that also takes away a potential line of attack.

Open Central Illinois Seat:  Tim Johnson's surprise retirement makes me really wish Gill hadn't won the primary.

Now on to the Tossups, which I've rated as either Tilt D or Tilt R.

Tilt R

Brian Bilbray:  San Diego is very Republican down the ballot, and it's basically a tossup district.  So that gives him a slight advantage.

Mike Coffman (Lean R):  He's very popular in Colorado despite being hard right.

Quico Canseco: Gallego is a very good recruit.  We'll see.

Justin Amash (Likely R):  I do think a lot of Republicans will undervote, and plenty of Ford/Ehlers types will vote for the moderate Pestka.

Michael Grimm (Lean R):  Ethics should doom him, but NYC is so unpredictable, and it's hard for a Murphy to run on ethics.

Nan Hayworth: Hayworth would easily go down in a Hurricane Irene-bad year for Republicans, but it'll be a fight this time around.

Tilt D

Dan Lungren: I really like Ami Bera, and this district is the fastest trending one in the state, in my opinion.  

Jim Matheson:  As polling showed, this one will be a nail-biter.  Romney's coattails could doom Matheson, but Utah is already very used to ticket-splitting for him.

Joe Heck:  Backbench conservative in a swing district.

Open WA seat (Lean D):  Darcy makes it a tossup.  Dennis would make it Lean R.

Chip Cravaack: Despite recruitment woes, I do think we pull this one out.

Sean Duffy (Lean R):  He's a complete doofus, almost a parody, really.  Our recruit is strong, but I've heard nothing recently about this race.

Dan Benishek: Tea Party in a poor, white, ancestrally D district is a recipe for success in the South.  But this is Michigan against a top recruit.

Mike Fitzpatrick (Lean R): I think Bockvaar takes this in an upset.

John Barrow (Lean R):  R+10 with a conservaDem incumbent against weak challengers is very do-able.

Vern Buchanan (Likely R):  Ethics, ethics, ethics.  Fitzgerald needs to attack him relentlessly.  I think he can do it.

David Rivera (Lean R):  See above.

Mike McIntyre:  I think he holds on, especially against war criminal Pantano, who seems poised to score a primary upset.

Allen West: Speaking of war criminals...I would love to see this fucker's ass in jail.

So what do we have?

GOP wins all tossups: D+2
Dems win all tossups: D+21
Average: D+9

Not enough, but it's a start.


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