The individual claiming responsibility for hacking the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee appears to be leaking information on races the committee specifically considers "Red to Blue," or necessary for Democrats to regain control of the House.
The trove of data being leaked by the hacker known as "Guccifer 2.0" includes documents on two races given to the Washington Examiner on Tuesday, in addition to five previously published on Monday, which means information has been released on at least seven of the party's 38 targeted races.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2597725
Guccifer provided information on races in Minnesota's 2nd District and New Hampshire's 1st district to the Examiner as part of an ongoing effort to engage reporters. The release came the day after a blog post in which Guccifer published "path to victory" summaries compiled by the DCCC on all five Florida House races the Democrats are hoping to win this year.
Information included in the documents is painstakingly detailed, ranging from racial data to precise percentages for voter turnout targets. For example, Democrats hope to win at least 54 percent of women in the New Hampshire race compared to 55.1 percent in Minnesota.
It also includes granular comments on the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates, and in Minnesota, grievances about a candidate's spouse. "The campaign ebbs and flows on the whims of Jim Lawrence," DCCC staffers wrote in a memorandum on the race, referencing the husband of Democratic candidate Mary Lawrence.
#Guccifer2 I'll send the major trove of the #DCCC materials and emails to #wikileaks
— GUCCIFER 2.0 (@GUCCIFER_2) August 13, 2016
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Staffers capped their complaint with criticism that the couple was relying too heavily on their personal wealth and refusing to focus enough on winning the party's endorsement, and accurately predicted Lawrence would ultimately lose that endorsement to competitor Angie Craig. "Jim is wildly unpredictable and besides writing enormous checks is an absolute negative for the campaign," the notes said.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2599332
The level of detail used to describe the candidate was similar to the earlier reports published about races in Florida, and characteristic of the kind of intimate knowledge that parties usually pay professional consultants and analysts to obtain on their candidates, suggesting they are genuine.
Guccifer denied having a file on Florida's 23rd District, where Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is facing an intense challenge to retain her position in the state's Aug. 29 primary election. Schultz was forced to resign her position as chair of the Democratic National Committee after earlier leaks revealed she had worked to give an advantage to Hillary Clinton in the race for the party's presidential nomination.
The number of districts in which the party compiles such detailed research is unclear, and the DCCC on Tuesday would not respond to phone calls or voicemail left by the Examiner seeking comment.
Cybersecurity analysts have said that various forensics indicators suggest Guccifer, who claims Romanian nationality, is linked to the Russian government. However, Guccifer denies the allegation, and intelligence officials ranging from Director of National Intelligence James Clapper to CIA Director John Brennan have expressed hesitation to attribute responsibility, with the latter saying in July that observers were "jumping to conclusions" about who was culpable for recent breaches.
The hack of the DCCC was made public at the end of July, and an earlier breach of the DNC has already led to the resignation of several party officials aside from Schultz. Guccifer has said that a majority of the information obtained is yet to be released, and will come through the secret-leaking organization WikiLeaks.