GOP wants early start for House bids

House Republican leaders had a blunt message for members in a closed door party meeting this morning: Get your campaigns started up now or you won’t get help later…

… “We’re going to have to make some very tough decisions,” Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, who is heading up incumbent retention efforts for the National Republican Congressional Committee, told members, according to a person in the meeting. “We lost members who fell away from the flock.”

For 2010, GOP leaders have launched the “Patriot Program,” in which members are being asked to sign contracts laying out campaign fundraising goalposts. If they don’t sign the contract, their campaign won’t receive funding from the NRCC down the stretch run.

“If you do not participate you will not get help,” Rogers told members.

“I’m gonna sign this contract,” House Minority Leader John Boehner said in the meeting. “We all need to sign it. When Mike Rogers comes to see you, I’m coming to see you.”
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