MEDINA, Ohio — Of all the veins Republicans hope to mine to win seats they need to recapture the House, one may be particularly rich: Democratic seats from districts that picked John McCain over Barack Obama in the last presidential race.
These split districts are scattered across the country, a total of 48 from Alabama to Arizona where Democrats were elected not on the coattails of Mr. Obama, but in spite of opposition to him. Republicans, needing a net gain of 39 for a majority in the House, are redoubling their efforts to win these seats, hoping to link Democrats to the president and his policies.
For 58 years, voters here in Ohio’s 16th Congressional District sent Republicans to Washington, a streak that was interrupted in 2008 when John Boccieri, a state senator who flew cargo planes in Iraq as a member of the Air Force Reserves, was elected.
Full Story: G.O.P. Seeks Democratic Seats on McCain Turf – NYTimes.com