[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

When the National Republican Congressional Committee turned to longtime Stockton developer Dean Andal to challenge incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney this fall, the GOP probably figured Andal if anything would be able to build a sizeable fundraising advantage thanks to his network of wealthy developer friends. Apparently, they overestimated Andal’s ability to tap into the GOP money machine.
 
According to today’s FEC filings, Andal raised only $90,313.45 in the first quarter of 2008. And of that amount, Andal spent more than $42,000 – almost half.
 
In comparison, the McNerney campaign raised more than three times Andal’s amount – more than $329,000 – adding to the Congressman’s substantial cash-on-hand advantage. Of that amount, more than $51,000 was raised from small, grassroots donors in amounts of $200 or less.

There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Poor Karen Hanretty. She takes a job as the chief flack for the Congressional Republicans (that's bad enough). Her first major role is trying to defend the historic turnover of ex-Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat to a Democrat. And now there's grumbling in the ranks about her first week on the job from fellow Republicans.
 
Gee, it sounds just like the California Republican Party she left.
 
Roll Call, the newspaper of Capitol Hill, has the story: 

Republicans took a big hit on Saturday, when a Democrat won the seat that had once belonged to former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), in a special election. And as if there wasn’t enough for GOPers to grumble about, now some are grousing that Karen Hanretty, the new communications guru for the National Republican Congressional Committee, was out mixing and mingling with Washington’s glitterati at the annual Gridiron dinner on Saturday, while her staff was back at NRCC headquarters working the phones.

There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Dixon, Illinois, the birthplace of Ronald Reagan and heretofore solidly Republican territory, just voted to replace former Speaker Denny Hastert with Democrat Bill Foster. And, it wasn't even close.
 
Apparently, not enjoying his new status as a rank and file Member, Hastert resigned his seat in late-2007. Thus, on Saturday Illinois held a special election to fill the remainder of Hastert's term. Democrat Bill Foster beat Republican Jim Oberweiss by a margin of approximately 53% - 47%. Oberweiss is well known and was well funded. In addition to his own substantial wallet, the cash strapped National Republican Congressional Committee pumped $1 million into the race. With three open seats in Illinois to defend, the GOP pulled out all stops to retain what should have been an easy win.

There's more...

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Can't say we didn't know this was going to be ugly, but I didn't think the mud from the National Republican Congressional Committee would be flying so early.
 
The Contra Costa Times blog is reporting that the GOP has kicked off some nasty radio spots and telephone calling into McNerney's district on immigration and other issues.
 
“We are hitting the airwaves and the phone lines, making sure the people in California’s 11th congressional district know how Washington has changed Jerry McNerney," NRCC communications chief Jessica Boulanger told the Times. "With his growing list of broken promises, McNerney will have to answer to his voters why he is marching in lock-step with Nancy Pelosi, and out-of-step with the views and values he was elected to represent."
 
Poor Miss Boulanger. Perhaps if she knew anything about the district, she'd understand that McNerney is voting just the way his district leans. So much so that it's pissed off some in the progressive wing of the party who expected him to march in lockstep with their agenda.