This late in the day, you’ve probably already seen it, but over on the home page, I have a roundup of House races to watch in 2010, a mere 28 or so. There are a few other candidates I just didn’t have space to get to . . .
Texas-17: Rep. Chet Edwards had his high-profile town-hall meeting, which began the Democrats’ miserable August; Republicans in Washington are watching Texas state senator Steve Ogden closely; Ogden’s already ruled out running for another term in the State Senate. Any Democrat who can survive in a district with a Cook Partisan Index of R+20 is a skilled campaigner, and Edwards is no exception, but if Ogden jumps in, look out.
New Mexico-1: Entrepreneur and former assistant state attorney general Jon Barela is probably the highest-profile Hispanic House candidate the GOP has recruited this cycle; the DNC is running ads defending incumbent Martin Heinrich, a rare non–Blue Dog Democrat they feel the need to defend at this moment.
New York-24: Richard Hanna came within four percentage points of Rep. Mike Arcuri; the turnout was 50,000 higher than in 2006. Hanna hasn’t made another campaign official, but Republicans in Washington think another run, in this much improved environment for Republicans, is near-certain.
New York-29: Rep. Eric Massa is another New York Democrat who won by a narrow margin, 2 percent, and he’s been feeling the heat at his town-hall meetings. Corning mayor Tom Reed is his expected opponent, and has been hammering away on the perception that the stimulus is an expensive failure in a region with lingering economic troubles . . .