Word: garrette
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Sure, times are tough for Republican incumbents all over the country, but you wouldn't want to be running Scott Garrett's congressional reelection campaign. Sure, he holds a seat in New Jersey's solidly Republican 5th district that has been GOP property for decades, and there are almost twice as many registered Republicans as Democrats in the affluent district. But who'd want to run for the party of an epically unpopular president when the opponent is a blind rabbi...
...John McArdle, a staff writer for Roll Call, disagrees: "He draws you in with the story and then he speaks very well about policies," says McArdle. "He does a very good job of using that to hook people in and then talking about change and making charges against Garrett...
...depend more on the national trends. "Candidate quality matters less and the national climate matters more [in the 2008 election cycle]," says Wasserman. "The political climate for Republicans continues to be so bad that even some of these relatively safe districts are worth keeping an eye on." But the Garrett campaign insists it isn't worried. "In the past we've heard people say this year it's going to be competitive," says campaign advisor Matthew Barnes, "and each year the voters respond by reelecting [Garrett] overwhelmingly...
...Barnes' confidence is based on the district's voting history, but treating this election year as typical could backfire. Nationwide political sentiment is not kind to Republicans, right now, and in Shulman Garrett faces an adversary unlike any he has previously bested. Bolstered by voter dissatisfaction and his compelling life story, Shulman had already raised more money by June 30 than the last Democratic candidate amassed over the entire 2006 campaign - and national party leaders are paying attention...
...check for $2,500, the second such contribution from his political action committee. A few days later, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced that New Jersey's 5th was being targeted as one of 20 "emerging races" the party believes are in play, and paid for a local anti-Garrett radio ad that tied the incumbent to President Bush. With roughly seven times as much cash on hand as its Republican counterpart, the DCCC hopes to open up previously uncompetitive seats in order to force the GOP to dilute its own resources to defend what had once been safe seats...