Peter King is listed on the DCCC 2008 target list.  Although he won by a big margin (+12%) in 2006, he spent much of his war chest and may be vulnerable.  So what has the DCCC done since they released their list in March to unseat the last remaining GOP congressman on Long Island?

Wrapping up this series.... states with very late filing dates - after mid-July

The numbers after each are a) Cook PVI and b) A rating of the district based on a model I created details here - basically a logistic model based on a lot of demographics; the number is the predicted probability of being Republican, based solely on the demographics (details here.  I also have a model that includes Cook PVI, but, well....I give you the Cook number too.

NY has 29 congressional districts: 23 Democrats and 6 Republicans
VT has 1 district, with a Democrat
HI has 2 districts, both Democrats
DE has 1 district, with a Republican

This diary is partly inspired by the great work done by BENAWU.

cross posted to docudharma

Last night, in Congressional district trivia we had some fun with trivia.

Today, though, I have the first in a bunch of analytic diaries based on the same information.  For each congressional district, I have:
%Urban
Median Income
% in poverty
% veterans
% nonHispanic White
% nonHispanic Black
% Hispanic
Cook PVI

Below the fold, I look at Republican Reps in Democratic districts, based on Cook PVI

Republican Congressman Peter King, jackass:  

Rep. Peter King: There are "too many mosques in this country"
New York Rep. Peter King, a prominent House Republican, said there are "too many mosques in this country" in a recent interview with Politico.

"There are too many people sympathetic to radical Islam," King said. "We should be looking at them more carefully and finding out how we can infiltrate them."
[...]

When asked to clarify his statement, King did not revise his answer, saying "I think there has been a lack of full cooperation from too many people in the Muslim community."

Congressman King appears to be selective in his desire for the federal government to invade the sanctity of religious worship, as he doesn’t appear to be equally concerned with "infiltrating" non-Muslims'communities and places of worship.  If Peter King were concerned about all religious communities that might be harboring terrorists or fomenting crime and violence, he’d be concerned about the Christian Identity movement and the violent organizations it's inspired, such as the Army of God, whose organizational manual is a "how to for abortion-clinic violence".  There are other groups like the Phineas Priesthood and even small rural churches in the Ozarks like the one that may have influenced Christian extremist terrorist Eric Rudolph.  The Christian ideology of Dominionism is part of a stew of radical ideas that’s helped power the Christian Patriot movement, in which Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and plenty of other lethal terrorists have been deeply involved.  So, if Peter King is really concerned about all forms of religious terrorism, he better call for government "infiltration" of churches.

If we’re going to start "infiltrating" mosques and churches, we shouldn’t leave out adherents to the original of the great monotheistic religions.  Let’s not forget, one of the most toxic influences on Israel politics was radical Jewish cleric Meir Kahane.  Born in New York City, in 1968 Kahane founded a domestic terrorist group known as the Jewish Defense League (JDL), which was still active as recently as 2001, when members tried to blow up a mosque and the office of Arab-American Congressman Darrel Issa.  Kahane moved to Israel in 1971, founded a racist party, became a national figure, and was assassinated in 1991.  (His killer went on to participate in the first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.)  The seeds of hate he planted inspired terrorism after his death.  In 1994, a JDL member and emigrant to Israel named Baruch Goldstein shot close to 200 Muslims at the Cave of the Patriarchs in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.  Israel officially outlawed Kahane's political party long ago, but his followers continue to present a serious threat of Jewish terrorism in Israel, and much like the Irish Republican Army, they receive significant funding from supporters in the United States.
 
So, if Peter King were truly worried about religious terrorism growing here in the US, he would be calling for "infiltration" of not just mosques, but also churches and even synagogues.  But based on his record, it appears that Peter King, well, he just has a thing about Muslims.  As Think Progress points out, this isn’t the first time King has made outrageous accusations about Muslim communities in the US.  Furthermore, from a policy standpoint, King’s prescriptions aren't even sound.  In Europe and the UK, mosques have often become hotbeds of anti-Americanism and fertile recruiting grounds for terrorists.  But in Europe, Muslims are much more marginalized and discriminated against, and thus much less integrated in to society than in the US.  American Muslims are more likely to be economically successful than Muslims in the UK, more likely to be afforded full citizenship rights than in Germany or Spain, less likely to be targets of xenophobic political parties than in Denmark or The Netherlands, and far less likely to be residentially segregated and separated from non-Muslims in the society, as is true in most of Europe but especially in France.

We are fortunate that mosques in the U.S. are not the fertile recruiting stations for Jihadis that they are in Europe.  But more braying from jackasses like Peter King and Virgil Goode could create an environment where American Muslims feel more alienated and less invested in the safety and security of all Americans.  If America is not committed to protecting the liberties of all Americans, not all Americans will remain committed to America.
 
Like so many Republicans who prattle on about keeping us safe from terrorism (as they do little to catch Osama bin Laden or protect our ports and continue to support the war in Iraq, which is the best recruitment tool the terrorists have), Peter King is playing on fear.  Shortly after the attack on the U.S. by Al Qaeda, George W. Bush and the Republicans began invoking memories of 9-11 and fears of terrorism to intimidate opposition, silence dissent and garner votes, an approach they've continued right up to today.  Peter King’s cravenness is somewhat more imaginative, since his fear-mongering may lead to a few more sales of his novel Vale of Tears, about a Congressman from Long Island fighting terrorism by...sitting in on meetings or something.  It’s apparently not as compelling as Richard Perle’s Hard Line, with such scintillating prose as "[n]ow, he looked at his marriage in much the same way he had examined the intermediate-range missile question."  It doesn’t appear to tap in to conservatives’ long tradition of bad writing about sex, like Scooter Libby’s The Apprentice, which includes examples of healthy sexual desire such as scenes about a necrophillic "stag" party or training a girl for prostitution by arranging for her to be raped by a bear.  [Man, those Straussians and their weird sexual proclivities!]  It doesn’t even appear to have the kitschy raunchiness of Lynne Cheney’s lesbian novel Sisters.  No, according to one of the reviews on Amazon, it’s a book about meetings.  But King’s novel appears to take a page from the GOP playbook, to th invoke 9-11 and provoke fear.  As one of the local newspapers in his district put it, King "brings the fear of terrorism right to Nassau County in his book, as he describes not only what occurred in New York and Washington during September 11 and after, but the possibility of future terrorism not just in New York City, but that terrorists have come out to the Island."

Peter King is doing the same thing with his calls to "infiltrate" mosques: he’s creating and exploiting fear.  Fear of terrorists, fear of tolerance, fear of protecting Americans’ First Amendment rights.  It’s the basis of Rudy Giuliani’s presidential campaign, for which King is a prominent advisor.  It’s the basis of the GOP’s entire strategy toward the electorate; toss some of them aside (like Muslims), rely on the dead-enders in the Republican base, and try to fool voters not tied closely to the Democrats by scaring the hell out of them.  That worked for a while, and it will always be a cynical but effective approach with some voters.  But lets hope the fear-mongering is losing its potency, and bigoted jackasses like Peter King are tossed out of office so they can spend more time writing their books.

By the way, if you want a copy of Vale of Tears, prices on Amazon start at the laughably low $1.86.  

This is to be the second of 20 diaries looking at the House districts which look most likely to be in play in 2008.  This is supposed to be a weekly feature but I missed last week.  The next two paragraphs are the intro which will appear at the top of each, so feel free to skip.

The goal is to put up one a week, which will finish the series before the holidays.  These are largely districts that I mentioned in my overview diary here: http://www.dailykos.com/...  In addition, I decided to add 19 "50 State Strategy" districts.  These are districts which would not otherwise make my list but where the Democratic nominee in 2006 a) improved by at least 5 percentage points on 2004 performance and b) held the incumbent under 60%.  Finally, recent developments have added a couple of seats.  I will look at the seats regionally, and look at both GOP-held and Dem-held seats together.  Of the 20 groupings I came up with, there are two which contain only GOP seats to target.  The rest are a mix.  Each profiles between 5 and 9 races.

Cross-posted at Nasty Letters

President Bush has come out in opposition to a plan that would raise the gas tax to help fund infrastructure repair.  Just a week after the bridge collapse in Minnesota, Bush is concerned that members of the Transportation Committee might not be able to put the public's interests above their own personal priorities, saying "I would strongly urge the Congress to examine how they set priorities."  Really?  Those pesky Democrats are the ones that are struggling with spending priorities?

Since there are so many, let's go through Republicans with questionable spending habits alphabetically by state:

Whoa, I was watching WNBC yesterday morning at approx 6:30 AM and I saw an interview with Peter King (R) and Anthony Weiner (D), two Congressmen from NY.  You can find the interview at http://www.wnbc.com/... .

I am writing because I was surprised how hard King, a moderate Republican, went after Joe Wilson with intense vitriol.  This is obviously what we can expect from the entire Republican caucus.  

Democrats, must be ready for this and beat these bastards into the ground.  Anthony Weiner, a Hillary suck up, was a huge disappointment in the debate as his answer to the Libby Pardon (yes I know what they call it) and the fierce attacks on Wilson was, "Sometimes pardons are a good thing."

Read more below:

One of Bush's favorite lines is that anyone who tries to cut off funding for the war is "playing politics with the troops." Well, looks who's playing politics with the troops now.

House conservatives warn Bush of immigration's cost

Cross-posted from Nasty Letters

This is a month old by now, but I just came across a good interview of '06 NY-03 Democratic challenger, Dave Mejias. No mention of plans for a rematch unfortunately, but some solid progressive wisdom from Mejias. Why did he enter politics? To paraphrase, "because not everyone can afford to attend a high-priced fund raiser, and those people should be heard too".

Are you getting this, Peter King?

It's strong progressive vision like this that makes me hope we'll see more of Dave Mejias in the future. Check out the video:

Crossposted at Nasty Letters

Recently got this email from Pandora.com , a great site that lets you stream your favorite artists and bands along the same lines. Great way to hear new music. Only thing is, internet radio like this is under attack from the recording industry. These giant corporations are bleeding dollars fast, and in their greed, they're now going after great resources like Pandora.com . Call Peter King and tell him you're against this power grab from the RIAA. Go to www.savenetradio.org for more info.

Crossposted at Nasty Letters.

In the crucial test of political fund-raising, Peter King flunked out this quarter. He reports
a low $99,005 in receipts, with $115,700 spent, for a grand ANEMIC total of -$16,695.

That's right, he LOST MONEY this quarter!

(Cross-posted at Nasty Letters)

You know how Don Imus called the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team "nappy-headed hoes"? Peter King's not certain there's anything wrong with that. At least, that's how it appears:

Month 3 of Tracking the Top 50 House Pick up Chances

With the Presidential race gearing up at a its fastest pace ever, it is extremely important to remember that 2008 is still a chance to strength our majority in the House and as importantly, punish the Republicans who stood with Bush every step of the way until it was politically inconvenient. So this is Month Three.

Dear friends:

With your help, we waged a tremendous campaign for change. We held the Republicans accountable and showed Peter King that he cannot take re-election for granted.

While we came up short in the 3rd Congressional District, the Democrats have taken back both the House and Senate! This means the issues that we were fighting for - a new direction in Iraq, raising the minimum wage, ending the culture of corruption in Washington, protecting the environment - will finally take top priority in Congress.

An incredible fourth wave has been added by the DCCC. Who are these lucky candidates?

Jason Altmire (PA-04)
Charlie Brown (CA-04)
Francine Busby (CA-50)
Mike Callaghan (WV-02)
Jack Davis (NY-26)
Jay Fawcett (CO-05)
Judy Feder (VA-10)
Peter Goldmark (WA-05)
Larry Grant (ID-01)
John Hall (NY-19)
Larry Kissell (NC-08)
Eric Massa (NY-29)
Jerry McNerney (CA-11)
Dave Mejias (NY-03)
Ellen Simon (AZ-01)
Tim Walz (MN-01)
Victoria Wulsin (OH-02)
John Yarmuth (KY-03)

Look for GOTV help and other late race resources contributions to put these campaigns over the top!!

This diary is part of the 11/07/2006 Elections Day Live Blogging project and covers results for the following elections:

Race	Democratic	Republican	comments
NY-03	Dave Mejias	Peter King *
NY-13	Stephen Harrison	Vito Fossella *
NY-19	John Hall	Sue Kelly *	Kelly conceded, final tally forthcoming (11/16)
NY-20	Kirsten Gillibrand	John Sweeney *
NY-29	Eric Massa	Randy Kuhl, Jr. *	Massa conceded, final tally forthcoming (11/16)
NY-Gov	Eliot Spitzer	John Faso

NOTE: * = incumbent, bold name = called winner

Polls in New York were open 6:00AM - 9:00PM ET.

Detailed results are available below the fold.

Whew! You know you are getting close to the Big Dance when just typing the freaking tags takes you ten minutes...

Yes, folks, welcome to the biggest FTP editions yet, a total of 60 individual races polled. Much of that comes from the third wave of Majority Watch surveys, which I will highlight in a slightly different fashion than you have become accustomed to around here. There is also a raft of non-MW polling data, as well as one national poll for us to chew on.

So, without further hype on my part, head below the fold for all the numerical goodness....