Today, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced the first round of candidates selected for the prestigious “Red to Blue” program that targets GOP-held districts. It's awesome that the list includes two Asian American candidates: Ami Bera who is running in CA-03 and Raj Goyle who is running in KS-04.

“These candidates have come out of the gate strong and the Red to Blue Program will give them the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive in November,” DCCC Chairman Chris Van Hollen (Md.) said in a statement. “These candidates are generating excitement back home and are making the case to voters that their commitment to creating jobs and standing up for the middle class is far better than turning back the clock to the failed Bush policies of the past.”

The 13 candidates include Ami Berain California’s 3rd district; Paula Brooks in Ohio’s 12th district; John Callahan in Pennsylvania’s 15th district; John Carney in Delaware’s at-large district; Suzan DelBene in Washington’s 8th district; Raj Goyle in Kansas’ 4th district; Roy Herron in Tennessee’s 8th district; Bryan Lentz in Pennsylvania’s 7th district; Rob Miller in South Carolina’s 2nd district; Steve Pougnet in California’s 45th district; Dan Seals in Illinois’ 10th district; Tom White in Nebraska’s 2nd district; and Lori Edwards in Florida’s 12th district.

Two of those candidates are running in districts held by Democrats: Tennessee’s 8th and Pennsylvania’s 7th, a pair of competitive open-seat races.

According to the committee, candidates selected for the program this cycle must surpass “demanding fundraising goals” and demonstrate their political abilities before making the list. But now that these Democrats are in the program, the committee offers them financial, communication, grass-roots and strategic support.

The committee typically adds more candidates to the program as the cycle continues; however, the program likely will not be as big as in previous cycles because there are fewer feasible pickup opportunities for House Democrats after back-to-back wave elections in 2006 and 2008.

The program was so successful in previous cycles that the DCCC’s counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, started its own ranking system of challenger and open-seat candidates this cycle.

By the end of the 2008 cycle, a DCCC official said the committee raised more than $26 million for the 63 candidates on the Red to Blue list — 27 of whom won their races. The DCCC boasted 56 Red to Blue candidates in the 2006 cycle and 27 candidates in the 2004 cycle.

With a tough political environment and the prospect of defending dozens of competitive seats, it's nice to see that two of the top prospects for a flip are from our community. 

In addition, there's a strong chance that Manan Trivedi and Ravi Sangisetty could make the next round.