The Blue Wave Rises

With the success of Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania, Democrats are now going for broke trying to put as many House districts in play, and that includes the one across the river here in Cincy as the race between Democrat Aftab Pureval and GOP Rep. Steve Chabot in OH-1 is now a prime pickup opportunity for Team Blue. The Enquirer's Jason Williams:

Washington Democrats have officially signaled they view Cincinnati's Aftab Pureval as a top-tier congressional candidate. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced Thursday it has made Pureval's battle against long-time incumbent Steve Chabot in Ohio's 1st Congressional District the organization's top targeted race in the Buckeye State – and one of its highest priorities nationally. 

The DCCC has decided to make 33 races nationwide its top priority, with Pureval's being the only one targeted in Ohio. 

“Aftab Pureval has already proven he can win tough races when he became the first Democratic Hamilton County Clerk of Courts in more than 100 years," DCCC Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, a Congressman from New Mexico, said in a statement. "With a strong base of local support, innovative ideas and a dedication to working for the people of Southwest Ohio, Aftab is poised to defeat yet another establishment Republican incumbent.” 

What it means: The DCCC will deploy resources to help Pureval, the former Procter & Gamble attorney running his first congressional campaign. That means Washington will provide fundraising support and assist the campaign in recruiting staff and volunteers. The DCCC will determine in the fall whether it will ratchet up its support for Pureval by pouring in its own money and deploying staffers to Ohio. 

Why this happened: Pureval had to raise a certain amount of money to trigger the DCCC's full involvement. His campaign has not disclosed what he's raised overall since jumping into the race in late January. But he quickly showed in his 2016 race against longtime Clerk of Courts Tracy Winkler that Pureval can raise big money.

In the first 24 hours after launching his congressional campaign, Pureval raised $130,000 – more than Chabot brought in during the entire fourth quarter of 2017.

And I know I trash the DCCC regularly because they have this terrible habit of picking garbage primary candidates to back and then leaving races entirely to the GOP when those garbage candidates can't even get past the primary. 

And yeah, eight years ago they left Democrat Steve Dreihaus out to dry in 2010 and surrendered the district to the GOP.  Now they come crawling back for the opportunity to knock off Chabot.  Ben Ray Lujan is even a bigger meathead than the previous DCCC chairs, Steve Israel and Chris Van Hollen.

But if the stars have aligned here for the DCCC to back Pureval against Chabot, then I'll take it.  Pureval, so far, seems like a pretty solid guy, certainly better than the anti-choice dipstick Chabot.

We'll see if the blue wave comes through Cincy or not, but the DCCC at least is putting down the money that it will.