Occupy the Super PAC: Credo Targets Tea Party Freshmen

Here’s an idea for turning the Citizens United lemons into progressive lemonade, via The Hill:

A new liberal super-PAC called Credo has announced its first six targets of the 2012 campaign: GOP Reps. Joe Walsh (Ill.), Steve King (Iowa), Allen West (Fla.)*, Sean Duffy (Wis.), Chip Cravaack (Minn.) and Frank Guinta (N.H.).

All six are vulnerable: Walsh and West face uphill battles for reelection, while Duffy, Cravack, King and Guinta are all top Democratic targets.

A group spokesperson said it will release the names of its donors, and that it already had more than 13,000 individuals backing it. The group plans to eventually get involved in 10 House races and spend at least $3 million, with campaign offices open in each member’s district.

Matthew Arnold, the group’s spokesperson, said that the organization will focus on the members their liberal supporters personally dislike the most.

“We’re picking 10 of the most odious members of Congress, the guys who make us look bad by virtue of being there,” he said. “The freshmen in Congress have all taken extremely hard-line positions, things far outside the mainstream… so if you’re going to pick based on vote criteria you’d have to include all of them. These are people we”ve chosen because they’re personally odious.”

One target Credo members are likely to suggest is House Tea Party Caucus Chair Rep. Michele Bachmann, whose failed campaign has left her with low approval ratings in her home state of Minnesota.

* Update: Florida’s Allen West, who is best known as a war criminal who was forced to retire as a lieutenant colonel in the Army after pleading guilty to assaulting a prisoner in Iraq, announced yesterday that he has decided to run in a newly created, Republican-friendly district in order to avoid an aggressive campaign being mounted against him by Democrats, including Fort Lauderdale businessman Patrick Murphy and former West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel.

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