First Politico now this MYDD mention…
House 2010: Dems May Have Strong Challenger for Castle in DE
Josh Kraushaar, reporting on the developments that may lead to Beau Biden becoming the next Senator from Delaware, makes what seems from this vantage an even more important catch: The Democrats may finally have a viable challenger for Republican Congressman Mike Castle.
[Beau Biden’s] biggest rival for the Democratic nomination, former Delaware lieutenant governor John Carney, appears to instead be looking at the state’s House race against Republican congressman Mike Castle.
“It’s been difficult to get people to step up to the plate and run against Congressman Castle. I’ve got to tell you, that’s something I’m looking at right now,” Carney told a Delaware radio station earlier this week.
Carney was passed over for the Delaware Senate appointment in favor of longtime Biden adviser Ted Kaufman, who is only holding the seat before the special election occurs in two years.
After winning his first term in the House back in 1992 by a 55 percent to 43 percent margin, Castle has never won by fewer than 18 points, with no Democrat even crossing the 40 percent threshold. But with John Carney potentially in this race — probably the strongest opponent Castle has ever faced, including his successful runs for Governor in the 1980s — Castle’s path to reelection is far from assured. Throw on top the fact that the Obama-Biden ticket received 62 percent of the vote in the state last November, and all of the sudden this could be a real contest.
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This attention demostrates how easily a top tier challenger could raise money to knock off Mike Castle.
As a commenter points out in the MyDD comments, Delaeware has no business being represented in Congress by an “R”
Fewer than ten House Republicans now represent districts with a partisan voting index in the D range:
http://www.swingstateproject.com/showDia ry.do?diaryId=3882
Castle’s is the most Democratic (D+6.5). That’s the old PVI–the PVIs for all the districts haven’t been recalculated since the 2008 election.
This is a Dem pickup in two years. Book it, stamp it, shrink wrap it and store it on a shelf.