A New Use for the Military

Running for Congress.  John Fund in the Wall Street Journal lays it out for us.

Rahm's Way
 Recruiting military veterans to run for marginal House seats comes from the Book of Rahm. 

The idea of specifically recruiting military veterans to run for marginal House seats was part of Rahm Emanuel's master plan when he ran the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006. The strategy helped Democrats win back the House. Now Republicans are taking a page from the Book of Rahm and mounting their own effort to run veterans of the Iraq and Afghan wars. The Washington Times reports that the number of vets running this year will be double what it was in 2008 -- and most of the 40 who are running are running as Republicans.

The surge comes at a time when the total of veterans in the House has reached a post-World War II low of just over 21%. D. Patrick Mahoney, an Iraq War veteran who heads the Veterans for Congress political action committee, says it's to be expected that several of this year's candidates will stumble short of the finish line because they come to their races without the wealth or network of supporters that more established candidates have.

Nonetheless, in the right districts veterans can appeal to voters as fresh faces who have proven their leadership qualities. Rep. Joe Sestak, a former admiral, is picking up ground in Pennsylvania's Democratic Senate primary against longtime incumbent Arlen Specter. Mark Kirk, an Illinois GOP congressman who was twice deployed to Afghanistan as a reservist in 2008, is now favored to win the Senate seat once held by Barack Obama. Allen West, a Bronze Star winner who has trained Afghan troops as an adviser, is wowing Republican audiences in Palm Beach, Florida in his race to unseat an incumbent Democrat. Steve Stivers, another Bronze Star winner from the Iraq war, is an even bet to unseat Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy in a Columbus, Ohio district.

Many veterans lack the polish and political skills of candidates who have climbed the ladder of public office, but in an anti-incumbent year they may find more success than normal precisely because they haven't been tainted by the backroom deal-making that voters are increasingly suspicious of.