May 24, 2011 05:11 PM UTC

Polis To Lead DCCC's "Red to Blue" Program

•  
• by: Colorado Pols

A big job for Colorado Rep. Jared Polis going into 2012, as Politico’s Alex Isenstadt reports:

[DCCC Chairman Steve] Israel has…tapped Maryland Rep. Donna Edwards and Colorado Rep. Jared Polis to lead the DCCC’s Red to Blue program, which provides a support network for Democratic candidates running in GOP-held districts. Democrats, who are looking to pick up 25 seats to retake control of the House, have launched a “Drive to 25” campaign designed to highlight their effort.

“The DCCC has the best, most aggressive leadership team in the business. Reps. Allyson Schwartz, Jim Himes, Donna Edwards and Jared Polis [have the] perfect combination of drive, experience, political know-how and leadership savvy to make this the shortest Republican majority in history,” Israel said in a statement. “I’m thrilled they will be working with us this cycle to ensure Democratic members and candidates have the tools and resources they need to win.”

It’s a tall order for Democrats to recapture the House of Representatives in 2012–but one of their prime targets, and the #1 Democratic pickup opportunity in this state next year, as we’ve discussed in this space many times is Rep. Scott Tipton, embattled freshman from Cortez. We’re thinking Tipton would prefer, if he got to pick, that someone on the ground in Colorado not be in charge of the Democrats’ “Red to Blue” program…

This job is also a sign of Rep. Polis’ continued upward mobility–you might remember that “Red to Blue” is the brainchild of one Rahm Emanuel, whose career has done pretty well since he first instituted the program prior to the 2004 elections. The previous co-chairs of this program, Chris Van Hollen and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have both moved on to the upper echelons of House and Democratic National Committee leadership respectively.