Rep. King dismisses Democrats’ attacks as ‘waste of money’

…The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is running radio ads in King’s Long Island district that criticize him for his vote against President Obama’s stimulus package…

King, in his usual blunt style, dismissed the radio ads as a “waste of money.”

“I assume they are playing some kind of game,” he told The Hill. “And I’m not being overly macho.”

King said that according to independent polls that he’s studied, his “numbers have never been higher.”

“People love me, believe it or not,” he quipped…

Taking down King in his House district could prove difficult. King has won by large margins in his previous reelection bids and benefits from a 46,000 GOP voter registration advantage in the district.

And, as he likes to point out, in 2006 King faced a serious challenger and then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D) and former Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) were on the top of the ballot. He won that year with 56 percent of the vote.

“I could probably find 50 Republicans who are more vulnerable than I am,” King said.

King, who now has $1.1 million in his war chest, has been outspent in four races that he went on to win.

“If they are spending money against me, it’s money that they are not spending against vulnerable Republicans,” he said. “I’m taking a bullet for the team, and it’s a blank.”

King’s record has helped him defy recent Democratic gains in the Northeast, said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.

“Peter King has always been seen as a strong and consistent voice on behalf of all New Yorkers,” Lindsay said. “He has a history of taking on strong challenges in difficult political environments, and 2010 will be no different.”

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