DCCC wastes paper and bandwidth on Steve Stivers

Believe it or not, the first attacks for the Congressional elections of 2012 have already begun.

And it was the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that threw one of the first stones at a Ohio Congressman-elect.

Fortunately, they throw like Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory.

In the release, the DCCC spokesman unleashes a barrage of generic attacks focused primarily on the exact same message we've heard against Stivers for the past two cycles in Ohio's 15th congressional district.

So why the attack now? Well, for some ridiculous reason, they believe he's vulnerable.

Yes, we're talking about the same guy who just won by 14% against an incumbent Congresswoman.

The same guy who lost in 2008 by 0.76% in the same district where Obama won by 9%.

Now, it's totally fair to assume 2012 won't be as friendly to Republicans as 2010 was. But it's also just as fair to assume 2012 won't be as friendly to Democrats as we saw in 2008.

The fact is, the chambers in the DCCC's guns are empty. They've used the same attacks over and over again. And yet they think they're suddenly going to start working now?

Um, I don't think so.

Until the year of Obama, the 15th had been a Republican seat since 1967. And even with the largest of Democratic waves in 2008, Stivers still only lost by just 2000 votes. Now the district will be redrawn by Republicans. Anyone think Stivers' district will somehow be more vulnerable? Not so much.

Last week Charlie Cook identified Ohio's 15th as a "Likely Republican" district in 2012 while naming Ohio Democrat Betty Sutton's seat as a "Toss-up". Fortunately for us, he's a lot smarter than the DCCC.

All that said, I do welcome the DCCC decision to target the 15th this early. Stivers has proven to be a fundraising machine and building his profile as a Dem target in two years can only enhance his ability to raise the money necessary to defend the seat.

The DCCC should be worried about protecting their own. Clearly, they aren't.