In their final weekend of campaigning, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart held a picnic to mark his 15th week of walking door-to-door in southwest Broward. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and his wife, Tia, fanned out at early voting sites, and Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen courted voters in Key Biscayne and South Beach.

It wasn't always like this. Two years ago, the three Republican Congress members coasted to reelection without a major effort -- rising above a Democratic wave that took out local Republican Rep. Clay Shaw, an 18-year veteran.

But with the economy sinking along with President Bush's ratings, three Democrats have been able to mount credible campaigns against all three Republicans, posing significant threats to the Diaz-Balart brothers in two of the country's most closely watched Congressional contests.

Forced to be on the defensive, the Republican incumbents have raised more money than ever and campaigned nonstop. The Democrats have kept pace and earned the backing of a national party flush with cash and eager to claim as many seats as it can in a bid to expand its House majority.

''It's not my opponent, it's the millions and millions of dollars out there working against us,'' said Mario Diaz-Balart, who, along with Lincoln Diaz-Balart has faced a barrage of nearly $2 million in national Democratic Party TV ads that depict them as Bush rubber stamps. A separate group, Patriot Majority, has dropped more than $1 million on TV ads and mailers targeting Lincoln Diaz-Balart's voting record.

National Republicans, too, have made defending the seats a priority, spending nearly $2.6 million in the two districts and running what analysts say are among the harshest ads in the country -- including one with challenger Raul Martinez's face superimposed over a garbage truck with a voice saying, ``His garbage stinks!''

`GOING TO FIGHT'

Democrats began eyeing the reliably Republican seats after noting that two inexperienced candidates managed to pull in 40 percent of the vote against the Diaz-Balarts in 2006. Joe Garcia, who stepped down from his post as Miami-Dade Democratic Party chairman to run against Mario Diaz-Balart, said he was determined to field candidates for every local race he could.

''We said we were going to fight as a party,'' Garcia said Saturday as he knocked on doors in a Homestead neighborhood not far from where he has a campaign office. ``We've done that.''

In many ways, the congressional races mirror the presidential race where Bush's sinking ratings, the faltering economy and a significant fundraising advantage have allowed Barack Obama to compete in traditionally Republican states such as Ohio and Virginia. In addition to the three South Florida seats, Democrats are eyeing at least two other seats in Florida Congressional districts once considered solidly Republican.

''We believed if we had strong candidates, they could be competitive,'' said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat. ``There had been the presumption that these would be Republican seats forever, and that's a sense of entitlement that wasn't justified.''

Recruited in Miami: Garcia, the well-known former executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation; Martinez, the powerhouse former mayor of Hialeah to challenge Lincoln Diaz-Balart; and Annette Taddeo, a Colombian-American businesswoman to challenge Ros-Lehtinen.

Join the discussion

Note: If this is your first time using our NEW commenting system, you will have to LOG OUT and then LOG BACK IN.

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.CommentBody@

@Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@