Monday, November 12, 2007

GOP Has Multiple Strong Candidates Against Harry Mitchell

Congressional Quarterly has the story:

As the latest entrant to the GOP field to challenge first-term Democratic Rep. Harry E. Mitchell , former Arizona legislator and Maricopa County Treasurer David Schweikert argues that 2008 will be an obvious chance for his party to regain the Republican-leaning 5th District, and that he’s the strong candidate to do so.

Schweikert said longstanding political presence in the area — beginning with his first run for the state Legislature at the age of 26 in 1988 — have helped cement his ties in the district. “I’ve been really lucky but I’ve also been in literally this same area for 20 years in politics. .... I have gained a certain benefit by being a known commodity and that’s helped,” he said.

Sean McCaffrey, executive director of the Arizona Republican Party, said there were now “three very positive, very forward-thinking candidates who have big dreams about what could happen” in Schweikert, lobbyist and former congressional aide Jim Ogsbury, and former state legislator Laura Knaperek.
Mitchell is another of the Democratic 'majority makers' -- one that analyst Stu Rothenberg puts in the 'opportunity that will not fall easily' catergory. Charlie Cook calls it a district that 'leans Democratic,' which is pretty much the worst rating an incumbent can get from Cook, until the challenger is leading in money and polls just a few months from election day.

Mitchell's district has a Republican tilt. If in a presidential year, the state returns to its GOP roots, Mitchell is likely to find himself in a real race.

Just another demonstration that the seats are there for the GOP to retake the House in 2008.

I think it's going to be a great shock when the media at large discovers this in August or September.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

There are 3 other strong candidates that will be announcing for the race in January. State Representative Mark Anderson, Corporation Commissioner Jeff Hatchmiller, and lobbyist Susan Bitter-Smith.

The Editor at IP said...

If you know about the race and would be interested in giving a quick summary of how it might play out and who the best candidate is, I'll post it.

Brian

Anonymous said...

I just read that The Club for Growth, a pro-growth and anti-tax group has endorsed Schweikert recently. This group is well known for getting invovled in congressional races and has the ability to throw a large amount of money into a race. Right now, I say advantage goes to Schweikert given this recent information.