Whenever anyone reports on Congressman Allen West saying something ridiculous, he likes to declare that it makes him "the number-one target of the Democrat Party of the United States of America" because they hate freedom, Abraham Lincoln, and people who tell the truth.
But a Politico story yesterday revealed something quite different -- not only is West not the number-one target of the Democrat Party but he's not even the number-one target of the Democrat Party in Florida.
While West has been listed on the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's "Red to Blue 2012" campaign website for months as a potential target, there are 56 other districts on that list. There hasn't been any definitive way to quantify how much weight the DCCC was giving to each one, and looking at media coverage isn't an indicator like West would have you believe -- he most certainly does that to himself.
The DCCC has reserved more than $32 million in TV time in 23 markets, according to Politico, including $8.3 million in Florida. Of those, the West Palm Beach market at the heart of Florida District 18, where West is running, didn't rank first or second -- West's market is number 17 on the list, behind media buys in Tallahassee/Panama City, Orlando, Tampa, and Miami.
But, though DCCC has reserved $656,000 in airtime in West Palm Beach and Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy has $1 million on hand, West is uniquely equipped to fight back -- he's raised more than $7.6 million in the 2012 cycle, with donations from every state and $3.3 million left in his campaign fund at the end of March.
It's going to be a looong six months.
