Cracking the Top Ten

Bob Ney's re-election announcement shot Ohio's 18th Congressional district into the Fix's top ten seats most likely to change hands at number six. Chris Cillizza, who writes The Fix for the Washington Post, also sheds some light as to why Ney is seeking re-election. From The Fix:

Another motivating factor for Ney may be financial. Ney has little personal wealth and has accrued considerable legal costs in the past year or so, making a retirement from Congress untenable from a dollars and cents point of view at the moment, according to several GOP strategists. Ney has, however, set up a legal defense fund to defray the legal costs of the federal investigation.

Keep in mind that Ney's campaign money can legally be used to directly pay his legal fees. Ney has already used $135,881 in campaign dollars to pay Houston law firm of Vinson & Elkins.

The legal defense fund was set up because it is not covered by campaign contribution limits by donors, although current House rules limit campaign committees to a contribution of $5,000 per year.