Darcy Burner Disappoints in November Election Preview

The Hill is portraying Darcy Burner's second-place showing in today 8th congressional district open primary as a strong effort, raising concerns for the incumbent, Republican Dave Reichert.

But considering Burner, a Democratic challenger who sought Reichert's seat in 2006, is running a 3-to-1 advantage in fundraising totals for this quarter, and who had $600,000 more cash on hand than Reichert at the end of July, her inability to out-poll the incumbent looks troubling. Particularly so, considering all the big talk of 2008 being a Democratic year, a trend that has seen some support in Democratic special election victories earlier this year.

Burner has the name recognition and campaign organization necessary for the 50 percent-plus showing necessary to put away doubts of her electoral weeknesses. Indeed, The Hill cites the agreement of the National Republican Campaign Committee:

The NRCC sought to undercut Burner for not outpolling Reichert, despite the Burner campaign's receiving heavy assistance from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The district is part of the Democrats' Red-to-Blue program.

“The DCCC must be reconsidering the $1 million television buy they placed for Burner and looking at other, more viable races,” the NRCC’s release said.

See also, the Primary's Message: Here We Go Again

Burner is the golden child of the progressive netroots antiwar movement. She is a co-author of "A Responible Plan to End the War in Iraq," a manifesto that appears not only out to touch with the realities of war on the ground in the theater, but with public opinion as well. In fact, the plan is irresponsible, which may have contributed to her failure in today's Washington State primary.