Rep. Charlie Bass pledges allegiance to the broadcast flag and is in a vulnerable district, but who will challenge him?

At the end of September, 20 politicians signed a letter calling for legislation adopting a broadcast flag for digital TV. This proposal has been killed multiple times -- usually by the outraged response of tech-savvy citizens and stellar legal challenges from public interest groups -- but it keeps rising from the dead. So when it last started to shake off the dirt and climb from the grave, everyone wondered what these 20 lawmakers had been smoking. We also wondered whether their support for such an anti-consumer policy should cost them their seats in the next election.

This confluence of tech and politics is right up IPac's alley, and we want to make room for one of the B-Flag 20 in our 2006 strategy. So we started digging.

The first order of business was figuring out which of the B-Flag 20 are going to be in tight races next November. Today's incumbents enjoy a 95% reelection rate, so it's extremely difficult -- and expensive -- to unseat them. To improve the return on our (or, more appropriately, your) money, we tried to narrow the field to vulnerable candidates only. We consulted with the Cook Political Report [PDF link], a Farmer's Almanac for tight races, and learned that only one of the B-Flag 20 is in a "vulnerable" seat: Rep. Charlie Bass (R-NH02).

Bass entered the House in the 1994 Republican sweep, but those heady days are over. For example, his district has become increasingly Democratic in recent years, going for Democratic presidential candidates in 2004 and 2000. A recent poll also puts his job approval at a fairly low ebb. Plus, he's decided to keep $7,500 dollars from Tom Delay's political action committee, while NH's other rep gave twice that amount back to the embattled funder. All of this is to say that Bass is in a tight race and has political liabilities, and a little money could go a long way next November.

The only thing we need is a challenger, from either party, who can take him on. Several Democrats have announced their intent to run -- including Bass' last opponent, attorney Paul Hodes. There's even talk of a Republican primary challenger.

The moral of the story is that Charlie Bass faces a tough reelection campaign, and we're going to make it tougher because of his bad stance on a technology/information policy issue. With the race in such an early stage, it doesn't make sense to start directing funds to candidates. However, early-adopters can always give directly to IPac, since we're going to be involved in this race one way or another. 2006 will be the first year that this trouble comes from the geekroots, and hopefully it will make the next B-Flag 20 think twice before shilling for Hollywood.