Frank's Own Battle Erodes Help for Fellow Dems
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It's the kind of political year in which even Rep. Barney Frank is being forced to break a sweat.
The Massachusetts Democrat, one of Congress's most well-known members, usually wins re-election by steamrolling his opponents. This year, he's campaigning aggressively to beat back Sean Bielat, an upstart Republican challenger who was five years old when Frank first won a House seat in 1980.
It remains highly unlikely Frank will lose. He remains popular in his Boston-area district. From his perch as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, he has surpassed his own fund-raising record. Internal polls show him with a 24-point lead with less than a month left; his opponent says the gap is closer to 10. Last time, Frank won by 43 points.
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But the national mood is hostile, and conservative groups would consider his defeat a trophy for their wall. Frank is now spending more time on his re-election instead of pumping money into the campaigns of vulnerable Democratic lawmakers, the traditional role of a party grandee. As a result, Frank's focus on his own district will have reverberations in races across the country.
So far this election, Frank has dipped into his personal re-election account to donate just $35,000 to 12 Democratic candidates, according to campaign-finance figures compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a fraction of his largesse two years ago, when he gave $248,000 to 86 candidates. This year, he has given $250,000 to the campaign arm of House Democrats, compared with $650,000 in 2008.
Frank's opponent is a 35-year-old U.S. Marine Reserve officer and a business consultant from the Boston suburb of Brookline. His campaign has been focused on jump-starting the economy, taking on the political establishment in Washington and removing regulations he says hurt growth.
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"People here are tired of Barney Frank," said Bielat. "He's been here for 30 years. He's gained a reputation for being arrogant to constituents, to the press, to whomever."
Bielat shocked many by raising $400,000 in September, a large number for a neophyte, and he said money has poured in this month as well.