Vetting Congressional Candidates

Both parties are lining up potential candidates for Congress in ‘08.
Do you know anything about these folks to indicate if they have a moderate temperament?
Are they deal makers or ideologues?
Are they pawns of special interests or independent thinkers?
To whom would a moderate voter want to give a donation?

Official Senate candidates:

Colorado — Open Seat
• Sen. Wayne Allard (R), retiring
Former Rep. Scott McInnis (R)
Rep. Mark Udall (D), below
Idaho
• Sen. Larry Craig (R)
Robert Vasquez (R)

Illinois
• Sen. Dick Durbin (D)
Andy Martin (R)

Iowa
• Sen. Tom Harkin (D)
Steve Rathje (R)
Minnesota
• Sen. Norm Coleman (R), above
Mike Ciresi (D)
Al Franken (D)

New Hampshire
• Sen. John Sununu (R)
Steve Marchand (D)
Katrina Swett (D)

Oklahoma
• Sen. James Inhofe (R)
Stephen Wallace (R)

Oregon
• Sen. Gordon Smith (R)
Ty Pettit (D)

Official House candidates:

California-4
• Rep. John Doolittle (R)
Charlie Brown (D)

Florida-8
• Rep. Ric Keller (R)
Todd Long (R)

Florida-9
• Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R)
Bill Mitchell (D)

Florida-15
• Rep. Dave Weldon (R)
Bob Bowman (D)

Florida-16
• Rep. Tim Mahoney (D)
Gayle Harrell (R)
Tom Rooney (R)
Hal Valeche (R)
Georgia-10 — Open Seat
(Special election June 19 for seat held by the late Rep. Charlie Norwood [R] )
Bill Greene (R)
Terry Holley (D)
Ralph Hudgens (R)
Jim Whitehead (R)

Kansas-2
• Rep. Nancy Boyda (D)
Former Rep. Jim Ryun (R)

Minnesota-1
• Rep. Tim Walz (D)
Dick Day (R)
Mark Meyer (R)
New Hampshire-1
• Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D)
Former Rep. Jeb Bradley (R), above

North Carolina-8
• Rep. Robin Hayes (R)
Larry Kissell (D)

Pennsylvania-4
• Rep. Jason Altmire (D)
Ron Francis (R)

Texas-23
• Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D)
Jim McGrody (R)