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Van Hollen Wants Dems to 'Play Offense' in 2008

December 19, 2006 2:44 PM

ABC News' Teddy Davis Reports: Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) will head House Democrats' efforts to hold onto their House majority in 2006, House Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) announced Tuesday.

Van Hollen recently told ABC News that his strategy for Democrats to hold onto their newly won majority will be for them to "play offense" by going after what he calls "mid-hanging fruit": entrenched Republican incumbents, who might be well-regarded in Washington, but who represent districts that vote Democratic in presidential elections.

Van Hollen's selection was enthusiastically received by Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), the outgoing chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, who privately lobbied for his selection.

"Coming in the same class as Congressman Van Hollen, it was clear to me from his hard-fought primary victory and even tougher general election win that he had an acute political capacity rarely found in Washington," said Emanuel. "There is no one better prepared to take the reins of the DCCC than Congressman Van Hollen."

In addition to leading House Democratic recruitment efforts in 2006, Van Hollen subbed for Emanuel on Oct. 18 when the DCCC chairman, who was sick in Chicago, backed out of a joint appearance at the National Press Club with Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

On the issue of Iraq, Van Hollen spoke out against the push to go to war in the absence of an imminent threat.

"We experienced a terrible tragedy on September 11, 2001," Van Hollen said on the House floor on March 11, 2003, "but we do not have to act out of fear."

But despite his early opposition to the war, Van Hollen opposes withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq at this time, believing that it would lead to even greater levels of bloodshed.

Van Hollen is a familiar figure in Washington.

As the congressman from the 8th district of Maryland, Van Hollen represents the suburban Montgomery County communities that many Washingtonians call home.

The self-described "Foreign Service brat" was born in Pakistan and lived in Turkey and Sri Lanka, where his father was the U.S. ambassador. After graduating from Swarthmore College and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, Van Hollen worked on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the late 1980s. While earning his law degree in the evening program at the Georgetown Law Center, Van Hollen worked in the Washington office of Maryland's governor.

He was elected to the House of Delegates in 1990 and moved up to the Maryland State Senate in 1994. He was elected to Congress in 2002 when he beat Delegate Mark Shriver, a Kennedy cousin, in the primary, and veteran Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) in the general.

Van Hollen gave considerable thought to running for Maryland's open seat in the U.S. Senate in 2006 but ultimately decided to take a pass on the race, clearing the way for Rep. Ben Cardin (D-MD). Political observers consider him a strong Senate contender when Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), 70, retires.

December 19, 2006 in Tancredo, Tom | Permalink | User Comments (0)

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