Next to Democratic state representatives from rural, Republican-leaning districts, doves and deer have it easy.
"We feel like we have a bulls-eye on our back 24/7, 365 days a year," says Rep. Allan Ritter, D-Nederland, a member of the WD-40s — White Democrats over 40.
The representatives — Ritter, Rep. Chuck Hopson, D-Jacksonville, Rep. Mark Homer, D-Paris, Rep. David Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, Rep. Robby Cook, D-Eagle Lake, and Rep. Jim McReynolds, D-Lufkin — owe their political survival in part to their ability to appeal to the conservative social values of their constituents and to raise money from business-friendly and traditionally Republican donors, including Republican sugar daddy Bob Perry.
The WD-40shail from dark red districts and have survived well-funded and aggressive efforts by the GOP to unseat them in past elections. Though Republicans have a 81-69 advantage in the House, they're down from 88 seats in 2003 and 87 in 2005. Knocking off a few vulnerable WD-40s would help the GOP shore up its political power and reverse its current trend of losing seats.
"Since redistricting, Republicans have been on roller skates being pushed back, back, back," says one GOP strategist.
But so far this cycle, there's been little visible movement against any of them. Only one has a declared opponent so far (Tim Kleinschmidt, who lost to Cook by only a few hundred votes in 2006, says he's running again).
Why? Democrats are saying the GOP is "dispirited" both nationally and on a state level and can't find recruits to run against the WD-40s.
"The Republicans are in a free fall," says Democratic strategist, Kelly Fero. On a state level, he says, the GOP is currently too preoccupied with the upcoming Republican primary and shoring up support for Speaker Tom Craddick to worry about the WD-40s.
"They cannot see past March 4th," Fero says.
He and other Democrats say the 2004 election was the GOP's best shot of knocking off the WD-40s, when President George W. Bush was on the ballot and had a monster approval rating in Texas. Now with the Democratic Party moving up and the GOP sliding down, the WD-40s look even stronger.
But Republican strategists say regardless of what happens within the party regarding Craddick's future, there's still plenty of time (the filing deadline is Jan 1st) to mount a serious attack on any or all of the WD-40s, who they say are just as vulnerable as ever.
"The campaigns that have been run against those guys [in past elections] have been dumb campaigns," one GOP strategist says.
They also say that having Hilary Clinton potentially at the top of the Democratic ticket could be a real downer for the WD-40s, because she is such unpopular figure in their districts.
Hans Klingler, a spokesman for the Texas GOP, says each one of the WD-40s will face an aggressive push from the Republican Party in 2008.
"They will have their hands full as they always do," Klingler says.
The incumbents are taking Klinger at his word and say they are already raising funds and campaigning "hot and heavy."
They've also extended their numbers and formed a PAC, Texas 20-20, to raise money. The other members are Rep. Juan Garcia, D-Corpus Christi, Rep. Stephen Frost, D-Texarkana, and Rep. Jose Menendez, D-San Antonio. It's widely believed that Garcia, who was law school chums with presidential hopeful Barack Obama, is one of the most vulnerable House Democrats in the 2008 election. He beat Rep. Gene Seaman, R-Corpus Christi, last year in an election that turned more on Seaman's actions in office than on the district itself. In other races, that territory tilts strongly to the GOP; most ballot-top Republicans had better numbers in that House district than they got statewide.
"We're still in a 'scared' mode," says Farabee. "Because I think that's the approach to take — to go everywhere, to be everywhere."
And they add that they aren't too concerned who tops their ticket, whether they are popular or not.
"When it gets down to my level," Hopson says, "it's who do they trust, who do they know, who did they see at the last Christmas party."
by Alan Suderman
[Chart] The partisan mix in the House: