House leaders picking their primary favorites

With two of their colleagues falling in primary battles in recent weeks, a number of incumbent members of Congress facing their own primaries have received little support from leadership and colleagues when they might be more vulnerable than ever.

Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Don Young (R-Alaska), Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Chris Cannon (R-Utah) have all received $5,000 or less from their leadership and negligible support from fellow members.

{mosads}At the same time, others including Reps. Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and Dan Burton (R-Ind.) have banked tens of thousands from leaders and members.

An expanded playing field that could include 80 seats in 2008 makes it harder for parties to spend resources on these primaries, and both campaign committees have policies of focusing on the general election and letting primaries play out.

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said early in the cycle that the committee was more likely to support incumbents than other candidates facing primaries, whereas the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) rule is more hard and fast.

Republicans, in particular, face more primaries and have less money, while Democrats have generally been more generous to their members engaged in primary battles.

But with influential outside groups willing to go after incumbents in primaries and an anti-incumbent sentiment marked by record low congressional approval ratings, this has left some members largely to their own devices with their careers on the line.

Kucinich and two other members, Reps. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) and Ralph Hall (R-Texas), are both facing contested primaries next week.

Kucinich, who appears especially vulnerable in a race against Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman, has received no party help to this point — be it financial or through appearances — and campaign spokesman Andy Juniewicz said there is nothing planned for the week before the Tuesday primary.

Some of those with the least help, like Cannon, Jones and Kucinich, have had strained relations with their leadership and colleagues over the years. Cannon’s position on immigration reform has attracted criticism from conservatives, and Jones has bucked his party on several major issues including the Iraq war, while Kucinich has repeatedly criticized Democratic leaders in Congress.

Others are newer members or won’t face primaries for several months. One, Young, is the subject of a federal investigation into his ties to the Veco Corporation and is a risky person with whom to appear. Young is also known as the author of the widely criticized “Bridge to Nowhere” earmark.

These lawmakers will hope to avoid the fate of two congressmen from Maryland who lost reelection earlier this month.

Rep. Albert Wynn (D), who was upended by activist Donna Edwards, wasn’t blaming the party for his loss.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) gave Wynn $12,000 from his campaign committee and political action committee (PAC), hosted several events and was with him on Election Day.

“I am very pleased and appreciative of the strong support I received from the Democratic leadership during my primary election this year,” Wynn said Friday.

Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), who also lost his primary, received less than $10,000 from his party’s leadership, had a fundraiser with Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and was endorsed by President Bush. But while Hoyer and other members contributed more than $30,000 to Wynn’s campaign in the last couple weeks, Gilchrest got little assistance.{mospagebreak}

Gilchrest campaign manager Tony Caligiuri said individual members of leadership were generous but said the party as a whole wasn’t helpful.

“There are positive relationships and positive feelings with those individual guys, but as far as what the party could have done, there’s nothing there,” Caligiuri said.

{mosads}Boehner has been very active raising money for members with primaries, holding events for Burton, Lamborn, Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.), Gilchrest and contributing to those and several other members. He also had two events scheduled with Schmidt in the run-up to Tuesday’s primary.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), like the NRCC, is placing more emphasis on the general election.

“Congressman Blunt’s main political focus for this year is retaking the majority,” spokesman Nick Simpson said. “He is going to support every Republican that is on the ballot in November.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has done events for three Democrats facing tough primaries, including Wynn and Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), who easily survived a spirited race early this month. She is the only leader to give to Cohen, and she has also given to Boswell, who could also face a stiff general election race and has raised lots of money as a member of the DCCC’s Frontline program.

Former state Rep. Ed Fallon (D), who ran for governor in 2006, recently launched a campaign against Boswell and is running to his left.

Hoyer has given to and campaigned for Boswell, Lipinski and Wynn, and a Hoyer spokeswoman said he is looking at helping others.

House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) has contributed to Wynn and Boswell but not the others. Clyburn spokeswoman Hope Derrick said the others simply haven’t asked for help.

All three top Democrats emphasized that they help when their schedules allow.

Support from the party leadership might be more important than ever this year, especially on the Democratic side, with several big-spending organizations like MoveOn.org and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) actively going after incumbent Democrats.

For SEIU, its successful work against Wynn was the first time in a long time that it has opposed an incumbent Democrat in a primary. The union was also part of a coalition that early this cycle formed They Work For Us, a PAC aimed at lassoing incumbents who stray from the Democratic line.

“We believe this is the wave of the future,” SEIU Vice President Anna Burger said. “So you’ll see us in more [primaries], but we just haven’t picked which candidates and which races they’ll be yet.”