It's a tough week to be Tim Walz.
Republicans looking to grab the congressman's seat in 2010 turned up the heat in recent days, setting their sights squarely on what they likely view as the most vulnerable Democrat in the Minnesota delegation. Walz, who is the first Democrat to hold his seat since 1995, represents a district that voted twice for George Bush and narrowly supported Barack Obama.
He now has three Republican challengers for 2010 -- two of whom announced their candidacy this week. The most recent to declare their intentions is Jim Hagedorn, son of former congressman Tom Hagedorn, who labeled Walz a " thoughtless liberal" in his inaugural statement Wednesday.
On the heels of that news, the Minnesota Republican Party spent five figures on a radio ad in Walz's district calling him "out of touch with Southern Minnesota."
The party has been regularly issuing releases attacking Walz's major votes and statements, though partisanship appeared to cloud the facts on Tuesday.
After reports that Walz had donated about $2,000 of his office budget back to the government, the Minnesota GOP issued a statement saying that "it's laughable that Walz thinks cutting spending on office supplies should win him praise" given the current spending in Washington. As opposed to the implications of the release, however, Walz was actually returning his annual salary increase.
But maybe some of this party politics is having an impact.
On Wednesday morning, a rep from the National Republican Congressional Committee alerted reporters that the Cook Political Report had moved Walz's seat from being "Solid" to "Likely" Democrat.
