DCCC Reserves $51.5 Million of TV Ad Time For Fall Congressional Races

But no funding for Texas

Having a funding advantage over the National Republican Congressional Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has reserved television advertising time for 27 key congressional races throughout the nation.

Funding ranges between $147,000 for an open seat in an Ohio Democratic-partial district to $3.07 million to unseat Republican Congressman Jim Gerlach (PA-06). Click here to see Gerlach’s website where the headline touts his vote to raise the minimum wage. Gerlach’s race is considered a squeaker as his last two wins were by a 2% majority. He is also under fire for accepting, and not returning, $30,000 in campaign contributions from Tom DeLay’s ARMPAC.

Notably absent from the list of campaigns that the DCCC is helping this year, so far, are any of the congressional campaigns in Texas.

Not one.

What? Not even TX-22? No help for Nick Lampson’s bid to unseat Tom “The Hammer” DeLay?

Well, for now, the DCCC is going to sit on the fence and wait to see what happens in TX-22.

“The campaign committee has also avoided reserving airtime in the suburban Houston district of Republican ex-Rep. Tom DeLay, where a federal court will decide if the former majority leader must remain on the ballot despite his resignation from Congress.”

“The Democrat running for his seat, former Rep. Nick Lampson (Texas), had $2.1 million on hand at the end of June, and if DeLay is not on the ballot, his replacement will have fewer than 100 days to boost his name identification among district voters before they go to the polls.”

Interesting, isn’t it? How far we have come in this congressional race.

Earlier this year we had the battle in CD-22 as THE congressional race to watch in the mid-term election. Now, as far as the DCCC is concerned, it’s a ho-hum race that does not deserve as much funding as the 6th congressional district of Ohio where one pollster has placed a 5 point lead on the Democratic candidate. The district is currently represented by Democrat Ted Strickland who is running for governor in this November’s election.

So the DCCC has let down its guard in CD-22. I’m not so sure that is a wise thing to do. Sure the GOP is in disarray, at least in the Fort Bend part of CD-22; but now is not the time to be popping corks. There’s work to do, blocks to walk, votes to win.

And 96 days left to do it.