RNC political director says as many as 130 House races in play this November

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RNC: 130 House seats in play

OXON HILL, Md. — Talk about optimism.

House Republican leader John Boehner recently said the GOP could pick up 100 seats this November. Now, the Republican National Committee’s political director says the party has its eye on 130.

“Our scoring as of today has us looking at about 130 House seats as potentially competitive,” Gentry Collins said Tuesday. He hastened to add: “Just to be clear, I’m making no claim that we are going to pick up 130 House seats.”

Republicans see the potential for significant gains this November as support for President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats slide. The GOP needs to win 40 seats to reclaim control of the House. Currently, Democrats hold 254 seats and Republicans 177 with four vacancies.

Asked when the GOP will start to focus on races and cull the list to those most likely to produce Republican victories, Collins said it hasn’t yet started.

“I’ve been expecting (the list) to shrink, to be candid with you. It’s been growing,” he said.

The bravado was pervasive as Republican state party chairs gathered outside Washington. They compared the political climate to 1994 when Republicans captured control of the House and Senate in President Bill Clinton’s first midterm elections.

“We did not win control of Congress in 1994 because we put more precinct captains out on the field than the Democrats did,” said California chairman Ron Nehring. “We did not win in ‘94 because of infrastructure. We won in ‘94 because we had a nationalized election because a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress had vastly overreached in terms of their governing agenda. And there was a dramatic backlash.”

Tampa, Phoenix or Salt Lake City?

The RNC site selection committee will pick one on Wednesday to host the 2012 Republican National Convention. Although the entire RNC must vote on the recommendation in August, it’s assumed that vote would be a formality.

The choice will be watched closely as it comes just weeks after Arizona adopted a law to crack down on illegal immigrants. Some civil rights groups and lawmakers have called for a boycott of the state.

On Monday, Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., urged the Major League Baseball Players Association to boycott next year’s All-Star Game in Phoenix over the recently passed Arizona law.

Expect phone lines in one city to be clogged as political operatives, interest groups and reporters try to book hotels for the 2012 GOP presidential convention.

Pickup trucks are the new must-have campaign prop?

State Sen. Vincent Sheheen broadcast his first television campaign for South Carolina governor. In it, his pickup truck appears four times as he introduces himself to voters.

Sen. Scott Brown made his pickup truck a key piece of his campaign to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts. The working class appeal helped him defeat Martha Coakley — and quickly became a political punch line.

Sheheen faces Jim Rex, the state superintendent, and state Sen. Robert Ford in the Democratic primary.

The ad is running in Columbia, Myrtle Beach and Charleston media markets.

The “Bridge to Nowhere” and the Wall Street bailout are stars of the first negative ad in the Michigan Republican primary contest for governor.

Attorney General Mike Cox on Tuesday began airing an ad that criticizes Rep. Pete Hoekstra’s votes in Congress, including for the now-abandoned Alaskan bridge project that would have connected Ketchikan to an island with about 50 residents and an airport. Hoekstra is leading recent polls, but Cox is taking aim at tying the nine-term congressman with what voters despise in Washington.

The ad said Cox is “tough,” which could help challenge ads by GOP candidate Rick Snyder that say the businessman is “one tough nerd.”

But starting with an attack ad before voters know much about Cox — who has never held legislative office — could be risky and make it harder for him to be seen in a positive light by voters. It’s an aggressive move that could be cast as a smart attempt to damage Hoekstra’s conservative reputation — or simply an act of desperation.

The ad is running statewide on broadcast and cable stations except in the Detroit area.

Associated Press writer Kathy Barks Hoffman contributed to this report from Lansing, Mich.