DCCC Targets Putnam's (Safe?) Seat

The Democratic Congressional Committee (DCCC) released its new list of targets today, and among them is Rep. Adam Putnam (R-Fla.), a former member of the House GOP leadership who hails from a Republican stronghold district--and who won't be seeking reelection in 2010. Putnam's working-class Central Florida district has voted Republican (namely, for him) by at least 57 percent in the last three elections, but growing numbers of Hispanics and African Americans have been credited with making it slightly friendlier to Dems of late. Consequently, Putnam's soon-to-be-ex-constituents will start receiving DCCC robocalls slamming his vote against the stimulus. Despite the drubbings they've received there in previous years (in 2004, Democrat Bob Hagenmaier collected only 35 percent of the vote), and despite no superstar candidate having emerged to challenge the GOP in 2010, Democrats are projecting confidence and, evidently, think the seat is worth time and money at this early stage.

Update: As noted by a reader (see below), Obama ran a close race in Putnam's district, drawing 48 percent of the vote to McCain's 51--much better than the president finished in several other districts that Democrats snatched from GOP hands in 2008.