Protecting GOP seats a task given to Rogers
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WASHINGTON — As Republicans try to pick up the 40 seats they need to take control of the House this fall, the job of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, is to make sure Republicans don’t lose any seats they already have.
Rogers is in charge of his party’s incumbent-retention program. That’s an easier task now than it looked to be a year ago, before the political tide turned in the Republicans’ favor. “When I started this, you couldn’t even utter the word ‘Republican’ … right after the president got sworn in,” Rogers said. “Every political pundit in the world had the Republican Party as dead and gone.” Now pundits are predicting Republicans will pick up a significant number of seats, although not quite enough to win the majority.
Five times as many Democratic-held House seats as GOP-held seats are viewed as competitive at this stage, according to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which handicaps congressional races. Officials with the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, said one reason they’re in such good shape is because of Rogers’ efforts. “So many members got put in position where Democrats really wanted to go hunting there and they couldn’t,” said Mike Shields, director of special projects for the NRCC. The GOP incumbents without tough challenges at this point include 13 who needed $9.5 million in help from the party to keep their seats in the 2008 elections, according to the NRCC. That’s money the party hopes it can spend going after Democrats this fall. Ryan Rudominor, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said that while Democrats may have more seats to defend because of their gains in recent elections, that doesn’t mean that Republican incumbents are safe. “There’s a reason why Republicans put their members on this endangered list,” Rudominor said. “It’s in many ways because of the strong candidates that we’ve been able to run in key races around the country.” Democrats have had their own incumbent-retention program in place for a few election cycles, and Rudominor said the GOP version is like making a copy of a copy.
“The quality isn’t as good, and it’s a bad imitation of our very successful Frontline Program,” he said.
Rogers said he didn’t volunteer for the incumbent-retention job, but was asked by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, to create an accountability program that makes sure GOP incumbents are “functioning to maximum capacity.” The Patriot Program identifies incumbents who might be particularly vulnerable because they just got elected, their districts are politically competitive, they underperform, or for other reasons. Those incumbents get fundraising and other help from the party, but only if they’re meeting the targets set for them in such areas as fundraising, volunteer recruitment and communication. Rogers, a former FBI agent, is the enforcer. “You have to be well-liked and respected by your colleagues to have the kind of conversations that he’s had — to sit down with a member of Congress and … say, ‘You’re not doing your job,’ ” Shields said. Rogers uses not just the stick, but also the carrot. Make that the bobblehead. He gives a Colonial soldier bobblehead doll to the “patriot of the week” who has worked hard to meet his or her goals. “It’s a huge success,” Rogers said. “I get members now going, ‘Hey, man, when am I getting my bobblehead?’ I love that thing.” This is not the first time Rogers has helped the party. He was the NRCC finance chairman for the 2004 elections, helping House Republicans raise $186 million. Rogers has also raised money for the party through his own re-election fund and through his political action committee. For the 2008 elections, for example, Rogers gave the Michigan GOP $465,000 from his campaign fund and $98,250 to the NRCC. His PAC has given more than $1.27 million to GOP federal candidates since 2001, according Rogers proved he could raise money when he took in more than $2 million to run in the 8th District in 2000. After winning by only 111 votes, Rogers has not had a significant challenge since, despite the fact that the district has been carried by both Republican George W. Bush and by Democrat Barack Obama. |