Let's get ready to run

Foxnews.com ^ | Sept 12 2005 | Martin Frost

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Memo: Let's Get Ready to Run Monday, September 12, 2005 By Martin Frost I am writing you in your capacities as chairman of the Democratic Party’s top three national political committees: The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). It’s time to throw out the traditional playbook and be bold as you plan for the 2006 elections. There is a real possibility that next year’s contest will be a landslide for Democrats and you need to be prepared to win. Specifically, Emanuel and Schumer should file candidates for every single Congressional seat and ever single Senatorial seat in the country, even those that have traditionally been Republican.

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This is my first "post topic," so I hope I'm doing it right. When I read this, I thought I knew better than this in freshman Poli Sci. The reason that the parties don't contest every race in the nation is that contested races draw heavier turnout than uncontested ones -- fielding a candidate in every House race could lower the chances of winning a Senate seat.

So said one of my profs anyway. I've not analyzed the data -- but that has always sounded reasonable to me.

One possible argument against it is that if there are *no* contested races in a particular jurisdiction, and that jurisdiction is dominated by one party, it opens the door for vote fraud.

In this day and age of gerrymandering, there are few House seats that figure to be truly competitive. This is not to say that the Dems can't win the House, but neither is it clear that the optimal strategy is to field a candidate for every seat.