Courage: Democrats Abandon Their Own

While the campaigner-in-chief was busy being heckled and lying through his teeth in Boston today, Democrats elsewhere were being left to sink by their own party.

Democratic strategists acknowledged they are abandoning a dozen House seats the party now holds, as they try to salvage their majority in the chamber by shoring up candidates with better chances.

With Republicans expanding their advertising to broaden the field of competitive races, Democrats are shifting resources to help such senior lawmakers as House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D., S.C.), and to head off Republicans in usually safe Massachusetts, where a southeast district that includes Cape Cod is competitive for the first time in decades.

The emerging battlefield, two weeks before Election Day, is almost entirely in districts now held by Democrats. It includes about 40 districts where both the Republican and Democratic House campaign arms are running television ads or have reserved TV time.

Beyond those, Republicans are on the air in a dozen additional districts, while Democrats are running ads in two. Republicans need a net gain of 39 seats to win a majority in the House.

"The field is essentially expanding by the day," said Ken Spain, spokesman for the GOP's House campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee.

A survey of voters in competitive House districts released Friday reinforced the point that Democrats face a tough road. The poll, for National Public Radio, found that in 58 Democratic-held battleground districts, 47% of likely voters preferred the Republican for Congress in their district, while 44% preferred the Democrat, a three percentage-point gap. The Republican lead was larger among voters with high levels of interest in the election. The GOP edge had been eight points in June.

New fund-raising numbers for the July-to-September period, due to federal officials at midnight Friday, could set the stage for the final dash to the Nov. 2 election.

The Democrats' House committee on Friday reported $41.6 million in the bank, more than twice that of its GOP counterpart. Spending by non-party groups, such as labor unions and independent organizations, are backing up many candidates whose own bank accounts have run low.

For all the whining about spending by outside groups and the smears against the Chamber of Commerce (which Obama repeated again today), it sure doesn't seem like the Democrats have any problem raising money?