As the lone Republican congressman from Western Washington, Rep. Dave Reichert finds himself back on familiar if dangerous ground: He’s in the cross hairs of a “massive advertising blitz” by liberal groups.
Reichert is one of 21 lawmakers on Capitol Hill – 18 House members and three Senators – targeted in a “Second Chance” campaign being funded by Americans United for Change and AFSCME, the public employees union.
Along with all his Republican colleagues, Reichert voted against the stimulus plan when it first came before the House. The GOP claimed it was cut out when the legislation was drafted, and that all of its proposed amendments were rejected.
“Haven’t you ever wished you had a second chance to do the right thing?” asks a radio ad set to run in the Seattle market.
The radio ad goes on to say that Reichert “voted against President Obama’s jobs plan,” and urges the congressman “to change his mind” when the revised package comes back to the House for a final vote.
“Call Congressman Reichert . . . Tell him we can’t let partisan wrangling stand in the way of creating the jobs we desperately need. Tell Reichert to vote yes on the Obama plan,” the ad concludes.
Reichert is on a target list that includes Republicans who see themselves in the political center, such as Reps. Fred Upton, R-Mich., Mike Castle, R-Delaware, and Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio. House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, R-Virginia, is on the list.
AFSCME and Americans United are also targeting a prominent conservative Democrat, Rep. Jim Cooper of Tennessee.
Three Republicans in Congress’ upper chamber, Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, John Ensign, R-Nevada, and George Voinovich, R-Ohio, are also being asked to change their No votes on final passage.
“The partisan bickering has got to stop: This is a time of national crisis and ‘no’ is not an option,” said AFSCME President Gerald McEntee.
Reichert is used to out-of-election-season radio ads. He was just a few months in office in 2005 when the liberal group Moveon.org first urged him to oppose Bush administration policies.
The congressman has responded that he tunes out pressure from both left and right. “My job is to represent the people of the 8th District,” Reichert said in an interview last week.
Reichert does have kind words for President Obama, but not the Democrats who run the House. Obama carried the 8th District, which includes much of eastern King County and eastern Pierce County.
“I think the President is trying to reach out, but the Democratic leadership is trying to operate with the same ‘modus operandi’ as they did in the 110th Congress (2007-8),” he said last week.
Reichert was targeted for defeat in 2006 and 2008 by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared in Seattle last fall to boost his Democratic challenger Darcy Burner.
Reichert was reelected by a 20,000 vote margin. Two weeks ago, however, the liberal dailykos.com – which boosted Burner last fall – published a list of Republican lawmakers considered vulnerable by the DCCC. Reichert’s name was about halfway down the list.