Freshman Minnesota Republican Chip Cravaack is wasting no time defending the congressional seat he wrestled from veteran DFLer Jim Oberstar last November, sending out a fundraising pitch Monday claiming the No. 2 spot on an unspecified Democratic hit list. If there's a theme emerging in his coming reelection bid next year, it's spelled M-E-D-I-C-A-R-E. Democrats have been hitting Republicans hard on their support for U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan's plan to turn Medicare into a voucher system for future retirees. But Cravaack has not backed off his support for the Wisconsin Republican, arguing that the GOP plan would keep Medicare from going bankrupt. Cravaack's is using the issue to fight back, particularly against an anti-GOP ad (below) in New York's recent special election showing a Republican pushing a wheel-chair bound senior citizen over a cliff. "That's the kind of campaign we can expect the liberal social interests to wage against first-term Republican Members of Congress, and I'm high on their list," he wrote. "In fact, I'm #2. Not #2 in Minnesota, but #2 in the entire nation." (Cravaack might be claiming the No. 2 spot out of deference to fellow Minnesota Republican Michele Bachmann, who frequently claims the No. 1 spot. Then again, she's no longer a freshman).
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