First District Congress Race Gets National Attention
The 1st District race for Congress, between Democrat Frank Kratovil and Republican Andy Harris, has been getting more attention, and treated as more of a contest, by national non-partisan analysts. Stuart Rothenberg rates the 1st as a “Republican favored” race as of September 30. But Rothenberg had to eat his words of just a few months ago when he predicted that there was no way Democrats could pick up as many as 30 seats in the House. Now he admits Democrats are likely to gain 20 seats and a 30 seat gain is entirely possible.
(Read his latest post here: http://www.rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/
Charlie Cook, who publishes the influential non-partisan Cook Political Report, recently upgraded the 1st to a ‘leans Republican’ rating from a Republican favored status.
The Politicker political website rates the contest as the 52nd most competitive House race in the country while the independent Real Clear Politics website, which has become a bible for political junkies and pundits nationwide, lists the 1st District as number 45 on its list of the 50 most competitive House contests.
( Read their report here: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/09/top_house_races_continued.html
Kratovil has some well-connected Marylanders in his corner, including Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Montgomery County, who also heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. (DCCC) The DCCC has pledged up to $1 million to support Kratovil and has bought $250,000 in TV air time for a new ad running on Baltimore and Salisbury stations.
Read about the ad here:
http://www.politickermd.com/danielreiter/3832/dccc-ad-harriss-friends-arent-your-friends
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