Before the fall Governor's races occupy our attention, two special elections for congressional seats loom on the horizon this summer. Both seats were vacated by Republican incumbents after they received administration appointments. The first special election s in Ohio's 2nd congressional district, vacated by Rob Portman after becoming the Unites States trade representative, and will the held on August 2nd, 2005. This is a super-safe Republican seat which went to Bush by a margin of nearly 2 to 1. The primary election for the seat will be held on June 14th, with eleven Republicans, including DeWine's son, and five Democrats on the ballot.

While winning this seat is an extreme longshot, it still deserves a full challenge and backing from the netroots and blogosphere. For one, the Republicans might nominate a total wanker that the public hates, or there might be a scandal, or who knows what, and the Democrat could actually win. Secondly, even if we can't win, this is Ohio after all, and any inroads we make anywhere in the state, no matter how small, will give us a significant boast in both 2006 and 2008. With a gerrymandered map skewing the congressional delegation 12-6 in favor of Republicans, with Republicans in control of both Senate seats, the Governorship, and the operation of Presidential elections in this utterly crucial swing state, anything we accomplish in Ohio's 2nd, even in a losing effort, will have national repercussions.

In shades of the West Wing and Sam Seaborn, the second special election is to be found in the O.C. and the California 48th, after Christopher Cox was appointed commissioner of the SEC. While still seemingly a safe Republican seat, as Kerry only managed 40% here, Boxer only 43%, and with nearly 50% Republican voter registration, thee numbers are not as bad as the Ohio 2nd. In fact, these numbers look a lot like SD-AL or the KY-06 special elections that we won in 2004. Actually, they look a little bit better than those two seats, which we won. Provided we have the right candidate (as we did in those two elections), this is actually a winnable seat.

The best part about these two seats is that they are too small for the national media to pay attention, and thus will be spared by the Republican Noise Machine. In special elections, we are evenly matched against Republicans, which we proved last year by going 3-0 and taking two seats (both of which we held come November). After the primary elections in both cases, it will be necessary for the blogosphere to bring the full weight of its support to these two districts. Hopefully, Americans coming together will get involved as well. I am already excited.