It is time for me to get focused again on House and Senate races. With redistricting, we’ve got to make some tough decisions in races where two incumbents are situated. Likewise, we’ve got new people running. It is time. Here’s my initial list of support and focus. I’ll add to it over time.

One of the big races up front is going to be Manzullo vs. Kinzinger in Illinois. We supported Adam Kinzinger in 2010. He ran as a tea party candidate. In his term so far, however, he has done nothing to distinguish himself as someone willing to stand up to House leaders. A simple review of his and Manzullo’s Heritage scores make it no contest. In fact, if you have a tough time deciding who to pick in these sorts of races, the Heritage Action for America score card should be the default tool to break a tie. In the Manzullo v. Kinzinger race, there really is no contest on who is more conservative — Manzullo has an 84% score and Adam Kinzinger has a 63% score.

And if you have doubts about the Heritage Action scorecard as an arbiter for who is the better candidate, consider that Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard was reflecting the concerns of congressional Republicans as recently as December that the Heritage Action scorecard is a bad idea. But just recently even Fred Barnes admitted they were doing it the right way.

All that said, here is my initial list:

Senate
Ted Cruz in Texas
Clark Durant in Michigan
Josh Mandel in Ohio
Richard Mourdock in Indiana
Mark Neumann in Wisconsin
Don Stenberg in Nebraska

House
Tom Cotton (AR-04)
Ron DeSantis (FL-6)
Evan Feinberg (PA-18)
Adam Hasner (FL-22)
David McIntosh (IN-05)
Don Manzullo (IL-16)
Matt Salmon (AZ-06)
Carl Wimmer (UT-04)
Martha Zoller (GA-09)

I’ll have posts on each and try to spend more time focusing on them and their races. Oh, and we shoud also see if we can find enough people to primary every single congressional Republican from Alabama. Good grief the present contingent is pathetic.