DCCC fires shot at Bartlett
The campaign arm of House Democrats has for months been focused almost exclusively on one person in Maryland: Rep. Andy Harris, the first-term Baltimore County Republican. But on Wednesday the group added a new target – Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett – and the timing is not likely a coincidence.
In a press release Wednesday, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee tried to link the Western Maryland Republican with House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, questioning whether Bartlett would support a health care plan Ryan unveiled this week.
Because the group tends to send out the same release to dozens of districts -- only changing the name of the target -- the issue raised is far less important than the fact that Bartlett’s name appears at all. It is a possible indication the DCCC has started looking at the seat as competitive. And that is almost certainly the result of speculation that the district will be altered when the General Assembly takes up redistricting next month.
Bartlett, first elected in 1992, has won with wide margins in the past, but a new district could change the political landscape, making it harder for virtually any GOP candidate to win. Bartlett, meanwhile, has not been aggressively raising money. He pulled in $28,300 in the second quarter of this year, making his the lowest haul of any member of the state’s delegation. Some inside-the-Beltway observers, including the newspaper Roll Call and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, have labeled him a "possible retirement" this year.
Comments
If the Democrats could run a moderate centrist, they could clean Roscoe's clock. He doesn't even visit half his district (anything east of Westminster). I wrote him the other day about some tobacco legislation, and he wrote me back about the American Jobs Act... its like the man is senile AND stupid, at the same time.
I am hardcore conservative, but I will NOT vote for that man. I didn't vote for him the last two elections, and you couldn't pay me off to vote for him in 2012.
He is an embarrassment.
Posted by: Gunpowder Chronicle | September 28, 2011 10:51 PM
When the Democrats release their redistricting plan today or Monday, it will show that they're chasing after Bartlett. Bare in mind that Democrats picked up state senate seats in both CD1 and CD6, but CD1 race was closer. The bottom line is most of CD1 became redder in the last decade while CD6 stayed the same minus Carroll County. The district is being drawn for Rob Gariagola. The strategy is to let RG become popular in CD6 and then in 2022 you can work to attack Harris.
Posted by: John Walters | September 30, 2011 9:54 AM
for Gunpowder and others--
I underand the frustration anyone would feel when a politician or their aids answer a question by changing the topic to something they know or care about. But it is neither true nor kind to say he is stupid. On the contrary, I have seen him in the eastern part of the state just this past week discussing a wide variety of medical, financial, energy, environmental and military issues with community and state leaders in a way that all respected his opinions and interaction. I only wish that I will be able to do that well when I am 85.
But, for our own sakes, we would gain a lot by trying to learn his perspective and see what wisdom is there that we could gain rather than only trying to get him to support our own point of view.
Posted by: chuck | October 19, 2011 9:16 AM