Dems Throw Early Money Against GOP Guv Candidates in 5 States

ABC News' Teddy Davis reports: The Democratic Governors Association announced Wednesday that it will spend at least $1 million against each of five Republican gubernatorial candidates in an effort to paint them as wanting to take their states back to President Bush's economic policies. The five Republicans initially being targeted as part of the DGA's "Accountability Project" are former eBay CEO Meg Whitman in California, former Rep. Scott McInnis in Colorado, state Attorney General Bill McCollum in Florida, former Gov. Terry Branstad in Iowa, and former Rep. John Kasich in Ohio. These GOP frontrunners are being targeted even before their respective states hold their gubernatorial primaries. "Our view is that ideas matter and in this particular election there is a real contrast between the folks on our side and the folks on the other side," said incoming DGA chairman and Delaware Gov. Jack Markell (D). "Too often, the other side thinks the solution is to stand in the way of progress and in some cases actually revert back to the same ideas that got us into this situation in the first place. . . . That's one reason why today we are launching the Accountability Project, to put our money where our mouth is and to hold Republicans' feet to the fire next year." The $5 million that the DGA is planning to spend as part of its "Accountability Project" is the first salvo in a 2010 campaign season which is expected to see $40 million in total DGA spending on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial candidates. The DGA is looking to next year's elections, when 37 states will choose chief executives, as a chance to rebound from a 2009 election cycle which saw the Democratic Party lose control of governorships in New Jersey and Virginia. The DGA announcement was made by Markell during a press conference held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, D.C.