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Democrats gearing up to go after U.S. Rep. Reichert, again

• Published March 02, 2009

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Only a few months have lapsed since Republican U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert won another election in the Democratic-leaning 8th Congressional District, turning back Darcy Burner for the second time. But already, Democrats are targeting the second-term Republican for defeat, citing his vote against the federal economic stimulus bill.

And it looks like a Democrat, former Microsoft employee Suzan DelBene, is mounting a challenge. You can read about her here.

Reichert, whose district takes in the suburbs east of Seattle, also is on a list of a dozen Republicans targeted across the country for defeat by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The group launched this web site last week to take pokes at Republicans who voted against the stimulus plan.

All three Washington Republicans in Congress voted against it, but the site’s map singles out Reichert, who is deemed easier to beat. Roll a cursor over Washington, and the map says:

The DCCC said in a news release it is "mounting a major grassroots campaign that includes phone calls, e-mails, and text messages directly to targeted Republicans' constituents" with a message about the Obama stimulus plan’s tax cuts for middle class families and its economic stimulus.

Reichert's office did not have an immediate response to a query today. But his office did put out a news release last week that carried an implied tweak of his critics, who tried unsuccessfully to tie him to former President George Bush last year.

The release quotes results of this new National Journal report, the "Congressional Jigsaw," and calls Reichert the “most centrist of the Washington state House delegation.’’

In a nutshell, the Journal ranked lawmakers’ votes and compiled a rating for liberal and conservative tendencies — ranking Reichert as the 181st most conservative and 247th most liberal member of Congress. It gave Reichert a 40.7 percent Liberal rating and 59.3 percent conservative rating. That does appear to be the closest to 50-50 of the state’s nine congressmen.

Reichert's most polarized figures were on foreign affairs, where he had a conservative score of 62.

Locally, Democratic U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, who serves the 3rd district including Olympia, was ranked the 175th most liberal and 252nd most conservative. Democratic Rep. Adam Smith, who serves the 9th district including Lacey, was ranked 135th most liberal and 293rd most conservative.