"the body on the barbed wire"

Jack Davis Campaign Manager Curtis Ellis emails this morning hawking this Buffalo News story about Davis's role in the Dems' victories. Ellis credits Davis (perhaps a little more than is warranted) for the Democrats' takeover of the House by tying down National Republican Congressional Committee head Tom Reynolds. Here are a few excerpts (from Ellis's email, not the story):

"You might call this story 'How Cheney Cost the GOP the House.' Three years ago, Jack Davis was unceremoniously told he could not speak to the press after a Cheney fundraiser in Buffalo. That's when the industrialist and Republican donor changed parties and decided to challenge the powerful incumbent Congressman Tom Reynolds for his house seat."

Davis, you'll recall, first challenged Reynolds in 2004, and surprised just about everyone by winning 44 percent of the vote. In his 2006 rematch, Ellis says:

"Davis kept Reynolds tied down in Western New York and forced the Republican Party to expend resources and manpower defending the NRCC chaiman's own seat in Congress, a seat that was supposed to be safe. Every dollar Reynolds spent in Western NY was not spent fighting Democratic challenges in other districts. In the end, Reynolds pulled off a Pyrrhic victory - he won his own seat by a few thousand votes, 51-49, but the GOP House fell. Jack Davis was the body on the barbed wire that other Democrats climbed over to take the GOP House command center. And it was Dick Cheney that set Davis on the political odyssey led to the Democrats taking over the House."

--- Krestia DeGeorge