RNC Targeting 122 House Seats

The RNC is keeping an eye on a huge number of House seats in advance of the pending midterm elections, and believes that at least 122 seats held by Democrats are valid targets.

RNC political director Gentry Collins told Hotline On Call that the party has a list of 130 House seats, including 122 that Democrats hold, that could be targets by the end of the year. Collins said the party is likely to be able to compete across a broad playing field.

"I'm making no claim that we're going to pick up 130 House seats," Collins told reporters today. Pointing to the retirement of Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., Collins added: "I've been expecting [the list] to shrink, to be candid with you. It's been growing."

The RNC is putting each race in one of five categories, from those leaning Republican to those leaning strongly Democrat.

The party re-scores each race on a weekly basis. The RNC is not going to sacrifice any seats, Collins stressed, and plans to spend money in all 50 states.

"We did not win control of Congress in 1994 because we put more precinct captains out on the field than the Democrats did. We did not win in '94 because of infrastructure. We won in '94 because we had a nationalized election with a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress that had vastly overreached," California GOP chair Ron Nehring said. "We're looking at a nationalized election already."