Democrats launch ads against Walsh, Dold

The Nov. 2 election has barely passed, but ads launched this week make clear that suburban turf is already being staked out by Democrats for the 2012 election.

The phone calls, e-mails, radio and Web ads that attempt to hold 10th District Rep. Robert Dold, of Kenilworth, and 8th District Rep. Joe Walsh, of McHenry, “accountable” for their votes in Congress are part of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “Drive to 25” campaign — an effort to pick up 25 Democratic House seats, thus regaining the majority, in 2012.

The list of 19 Republican Congressional seats on the list is filled with tea party candidates and freshmen from around the country.

Illinois and New York are the only states where the campaign committee is targeting two districts, committee spokesman Jesse Ferguson said.

Republicans Dold, a self-proclaimed moderate from Kenilworth, and Walsh, a McHenry tea party advocate, were each elected to their first terms in swing districts this November.

Walsh’s victory came by a 291-vote margin over three-term incumbent Melissa Bean.

In the ads, Walsh and Dold are each accused of choosing “partisan plans” that will cost jobs and make the country less competitive, over what the committee calls President Obama’s “common sense solutions to create jobs and get the economy again.”

The Campaign Committee declined to release the cost of the ads overall, or the specific amount being spent in the 10th and 8th districts.

Democratic challengers have not been announced in either congressional district’s upcoming race.