Based on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's (DCCC) latest decision
to add the 13th Congressional District contest to its list of "emerging
races," it appears that party leaders are increasingly confident that
they have a shot at winning the Republican-controlled seat this fall.
Congressional Quarterly hinted that Democratic candidate Scott Harper was looking viable when it changed the 13th's status from "Safe Republican" to "Leans Republican" in July. "This a race to keep an eye on for signs of increased competitiveness," CQ reported.
Biggert seemed to be feeling the heat at the time. Days later, she released internal polling numbers to The Hill as evidence of her popularity among the district's voters.
An ability to raise some serious campaign cash -- $375,000 as of the end of June (plus $146,000 of his own money) -- is what put Harper on the radar of Democratic party leaders. Last spring the DCCC added IL-13 to it's list of targeted races, which showed that the party was serious about giving organizational and research support to Harper's campaign. The Herald News reported on this "national nod," noting that the DCCC hadn't ruled out naming Harper to its high-profile "Red-To-Blue" list later in the year. With the bump up to the "emerging races" category, the campaign moved one step closer.
Harper's campaign isn't releasing their most recent fundraising figures, but spokesman Max Flessner said today that they're expecting to post another record-breaking quarter." (The filing deadline for the third quarter is October 15.) Harper kept pace with Biggert during the second quarter, but at the end of June had about half as much cash-on-hand as the incumbent.
You can watch our July interview with Harper here, as well as read an earlier conversation from May.
(H/T Swing State Project)
UPDATE: DCCC Midwest press secretary Ryan Rudominer released the following statement on Harper's addition to the list:
"Congresswoman Biggert has ignored the economic needs of middle-class families and she's going to be held accountable for rubber stamping President Bush's failed agenda. In stark contrast, Scott's running an aggressive grassroots campaign and like Democratic Presidential nominee and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, Scott represents much needed change in Washington."
markg8 on Sun, 09/14/2008 - 16:30
I posted this last night at 6 blogs that let readers post their own diaries so with your indulgence I'll post it here too.
This week Scott Harpers's campaign in IL-13 was one of only five races nationally and the only one in Illinois to be upgraded to the Red to Blue Emerging Races list by the DCCC.
All the smart, hard work Scott, his campaign manager Sarah Topy, her staff and the volunteers flocking to the campaign are putting in to elect this great candidate to the House is really paying off.
On top of that this week Harper was also endorsed by DAPAC (Democratic Advancement Political Action Committee). From their website:"DAPAC is a unique progressive political action committee that targets Republican held seats in the U.S. House and helps “new progressive” Democratic candidates run and win in those districts." They only support progressives: "All of our elected members of Congress from the last cycle have voted progressively on the issues (http://dapac.org/dpc/component/option,com_wrapper/Itemid,40/). No other Democratic organization comes close to having a record as progressive as ours."
Scott is the first serious candidate Bush loving, do nothing, 10 year incumbent Judy Biggert has ever faced. On primary day, Super Tuesday he got 25,000 more votes in the district than Biggert and her wingnut primary challenger combined.
We're seeing a sea change folks, in the former Republican stronghold DuPage County which makes up about a third of the district, where Markos Moulitos cut his eye teeth canvassing in his misspent youth, almost 133,000 voters took Democratic ballots to 109,000 Republicant. I've been here for most of my life and I can tell you that's never happened before. And it's not like Repubs had nothing to vote for, this was long before Limbaugh's "Operation Chaos", Biggert had her challenger, and there were several other contested primary races on their ballot. And let's remember it was the last chance they had to vote for anyone but McCain to be their nominee. Romney dropped out two days later. I'm a precinct committeeman here and spent all day at my polling place. I know my voters and I know the Repubs. There were a lot of angry, fed up Republicans who felt betrayed crossing over. My Repub counterpart was a convention delegate for Romney and desperately tried to get them to vote for Mittens but he didn't come close.
Keep in mind back in February hardly anyone knew who Scott was. He's not a longtime politico, he's never run for office before and if you googled his name last year chances are you'd come up with a reporter in Georgetown or a swimmer from Australia. He was just a name on the ballot with a "D" next to it. Now, thanks to Scott's hard work, a lot of nights and weekends spent by volunteers, the grueling hours his staff puts in, and the money supporters have dug deep to contribute, a whole lot more of them not only know him but are excited about his candidacy. The same can't be said of Judy Biggert. Her re-elect number stands at only 43%.
Scott's forced her to open a campaign HQ and for the first time ever she's mounting a field campaign. She had to skip the Republican convention and the opportunity to hobnob with all those big money donors to march in Labor Day parades where Scott's contingent more than doubled hers in all but one parade thanks to the Giant Ice Cream Cone disaster of 2008 in Naperville that kept many supporters from getting to Lemont in time.
By the end of the 2nd quarter June 30 Harper outraised all four of Biggert's previous challengers combined for their entire races. As a matter of fact he's outraised her since the beginning of the year. But unfortunately that's not enough. Biggert has had a 10 year head start. She started with a huge warchest and can count on big banks she "oversees" (I use that term loosely) as the ranking member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. BTW she got that plum assignment, the only subcommittee or committee she's ever risen to chair or been ranking member of in her illustrious career in the House when her Republican predecessor dropped dead. You'd think with her district being right next door to Denny Hastert's all those years she'd be a brighter star in the wingnut firmament by now, but not Judy Biggert.
But I digress, She not only has big bank bucks backing her, (say that 5 times fast), she joined the rest of those fools on the House floor this summer spouting "drill baby drill!". Hilariously the only wingnut I found that wrote anything on the net about her speech into the darkness said without a mic she couldn't hear a word she said even though the writer was in the third row! It'll come as no surprise that while she gives lip service to alternative energy and actually votes sometimes for it's R&D funding she fights tooth and nail to make sure the fossil fuel industry stays on top. And why wouldn't she? She's got hundreds of thousands invested in them and has taken almost $88,000 of their campaign cash at last count, and probably a lot more since her grandstand play in the darkened House last month.
Her daughter is a pharmaceutical lobbyist in DC so what's her take from healthcare interests? A cool $230,000.
I could go on and on but you get the picture. Scott Harper is up against an old fashioned money con backed by the fattest of cats who want her to keep fighting for their privileged position, the future be damned.
We're on the verge of winning this race but we need people like you and me and our small donations to help make up that cash difference. The money will go toward the advertising blitz in the last few weeks that'll help us reach those who don't know enough about Harper yet and put us over the top.
Please give what you can to Scott's campaign through the Emerging Races ActBlue page, $50, $100 bucks, even $5 would be a big help.
George (not verified) on Sun, 09/14/2008 - 23:07
Considering that Harper has not lived in this district in clsoe to 20 years until he decided to run for Congress, plus the fact that most of his fundraising has been from outside of IL CD-13, how is he such a great candidate? Tha's before we even consider whether or not he has the first clue about how the legislative branch operates. He doesn't.
I am no fan of Judy Biggert, but this guy is just freaking incompetent. He makes us Democrats in the district look like complete idiots.
Can we please get someone to run against Biggert in 2010 who is not a carpetbagger with zero experience?
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