First-term Representative Rod Blum will be one of the top targets next year for EMILY’s List, the political action committee supporting pro-choice Democratic women announced today.  

Iowa’s first Congressional district contains some 30,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans and has a partisan voting index of D+5, making Blum one of the coutry’s most vulnerable House incumbents. Earlier this year, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee put Blum on its list of “one-term wonders.” However, the National Republican Congressional Committee left him out of their “Patriot Program” for vulnerable incumbents, a move widely seen as revenge for Blum’s vote against John Boehner as House speaker.

In March, EMILY’s List endorsed Monica Vernon for the IA-01 Democratic primary. The big question now is how committed are they to helping Vernon become Blum’s general election opponent?

Vernon entered the race as the Democratic front-runner, having placed second in the 2014 primary here. She lined up endorsements from some of the best-known politicians in IA-01 right away. But rival Democratic candidate Ravi Patel’s early fundraising has outpaced Vernon’s, and as Iowa Starting Line reported last week, a super-PAC is being formed specifically to help Patel.

EMILY’s List is a “heavy hitter” among PACs supporting Democratic Congressional candidates, mostly through contributions it bundles from like-minded individual donors across the country. How many e-mails and direct mail pieces will EMILY’s List send those donors on Vernon’s behalf before the IA-01 primary next June?

Any comments about the first district race are welcome in this thread.