GOP going after Giffords in 2010

The National Republican Congressional Committee says it’s planning to go after U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Gifford’s seat in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District.

“Giffords is a target,” NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos said earlier this month.

Giffords, who is on an August recess from Congress, said being a Democrat automatically makes her a GOP target, so she’s not surprised.

Although the two-term congresswoman was not on a “target list” of 70 House Democrats put out by the committee, Burgos said that group mostly consisted of freshmen or those who had won races by 5 or fewer percentage points. Giffords won her last race by 12 points over Tim Bee.

But the national Republicans aren’t shying away from verbal shoot-outs.

“We are willing to fight to take the seat away from the Democrats,” Burgos said.

The committee is looking for the right person bearing facts and reasons Giffords must leave D.C., said the spokeswoman, who is responsible for finding congressional candidates in 15 Western states.

The primary is more than a year away, but Republican Jesse Kelly has been aggressively running for the seat since April. Kelly, 28, is the only one actively campaigning in the district but likely won’t be alone as the election season nears.

The committee has analyzed all of Giffords’ votes and found them to be deficient, and Burgos said many of the votes hint that the congresswoman is a puppet to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Giffords says it isn’t so. Pelosi supported “Cash for Clunkers,” wanted the F-22 program for the Air Force cut and sought support for the auto industry bailout, all of which Giffords voted against — bucking House party leaders.

Those are just a few of “my votes that did not go along with the speaker,” she said.

The committee’s view is Giffords’ votes on the stimulus bills “were actually job killers,” according to Burgos.

The Arizona congresswoman said the reverse is true because there are indications the economy is turning around due to the stimulus packages.

When it comes to where Giffords fits in the conservative-to-liberal scale on issues, The National Journal puts her almost dead center as number 219 out of the 435 House member. The ranking that came out in February is based on representatives’ votes taken from 2006 to 2008.