It's Up to 53

There's really something happening in the Democratic Party, completely outside the establishment, with little or no help from the national party or leaders in the House and Senate, that is going to make 2006 an absolute nightmare for Republicans. It has to do with the fact that there are now 53 House candidates on the Democratic side that are veterans. At least 9 of them are Iraq war veterans.

53. There are only 435 seats, and the Democrats hold 202 of those. These Fighting Dems aren't running in any of those, so that means that potentially one out of every four challengers to GOP seats will be a Democratic war veteran. In a time of war (as the President never misses an opportunity to tell us we're in), that will resonate.

Brand of Brothers 2006 has a rundown of every single one of these guys. Why one of them isn't giving the rebuttal to the State of the Union Address is beyond me.

If you're wondering, the number of Republican veterans running this year? Uhh... 2.

P.S. Here's a profile from USA Today.