[img_assist|nid=10708|title=Congressional candidate Darcy Burner|desc=|link=none|align=right|width=170|height=200]In 2006, Wisconsin Assembly Speaker John Gard and Washington State businesswoman Darcy Burner lost their races for Congress by about 7,000 votes each. This year, both candidates are back to run again, and political analysts put both near the top of the list of challengers most likely to knock off an incumbent.

Gard, a Republican, lost a previously Republican-held seat centered around Green Bay to Democrat Steve Kagen. After a series of missteps during his first two years in office, Kagen is seen as vulnerable, and a district that is likely to vote for John McCain could provide the GOP with one of their best pickup opportunities (A number of politically-savvy Republicans have told this columnist that Gard is the best candidate to have lost last year).

Burner, a Democrat, lost a suburban Seattle seat that is trending increasingly toward her party to U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert. The former sheriff has a strong field operation, but the district voted Democratic for U.S. Senate in 2004 and 2006, and for Al Gore and John Kerry. An area that was once barren of Democratic state legislators now sends a majority of Democrats to Olympia, the state capital. Burner, who has made her opposition to the war in Iraq a central part of her campaign and who has outraised Reichert, stands as good a chance as any Democrat ever has of winning the seat.

Gard and Burner, though, are hardly alone. Across the nation, at least 27 other candidates who lost earlier races are back for another run, and in many cases, they are among the top challengers either party could have hoped to recruit. "I learned a lot," Gard said of his first run for office in 2006. "I've been tested by fire."

Among the 29 total candidates running again this year are five former Republican members of Congress who are back for another try at their old jobs, and one former governor who looks like the odds-on favorite to take back a U.S. Senate seat for Democrats, Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire.

Some candidates run repeatedly for the same seat without success. Then again, some of the most prominent members of Congress in history lost repeated runs for office. Former U.S. Sen. William Proxmire of Wisconsin lost three consecutive elections for governor in the 1950s before replacing Joe McCarthy in 1957. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich lost elections in 1974 and 1976 before winning an open seat in 1978.

Running a second, or in some cases, a third, time for a seat "is an advantage and potentially a disadvantage," said one Republican strategist. Several incumbent members of Congress, including Baron Hill of Indiana, Frank Wolf of Virginia and Nancy Boyda of Kansas, have all taken multiple tries to get to office. The actual experience of running for office, those on both sides agree, is helpful when making a second run. A neophyte one time is an experienced veteran of political warfare the next.

Candidates who have been there once, and who have tasted being in Congress, can rely on their experience, and know what it takes to win a seat. Former Republican Reps. Anne Northup of Kentucky and Jeb Bradley of New Hampshire are in strong position against freshman Democrats John Yarmuth and Carol Shea-Porter, respectively. Then again, even having been there isn't always a guaranteed winner in one's own primary; ex-U.S. Rep. Jim Ryun of Kansas found that out, losing his repeat bid before even making it to the general. Former U.S. Reps. Melissa Hart in Pennsylvania and Mike Sodrel in Indiana are running again as well (For Hoosier voters, it will be the fourth consecutive chance to choose between Baron Hill and Sodrel; Hill leads by a score of 2 to 1).

Repeat candidates, though, do have a leg up on first-timers. "The hardest thing for a first-time candidate to do, unless he's already particularly well-known in the community for something he's done, is to build name ID," the Republican strategist said. Repeat candidates, agreed one Democratic strategist, "don't have to go through the months and months and months of introducing themselves to voters."

But that doesn't mean name identification is a good thing. For starters, a candidate's assumption that they are known for their previous bid is not always accurate, and the notion of one's own fame often needs to be countered with a healthy dose of reality. "An important thing to realize, I think, is that you're not starting necessarily from where you finished last cycle," the Democrat said. "The mistake a candidate can make who got very close last cycle is to assume they start at that point and all they need to do is make up for the 1,000 votes or the 3,000 votes or whatever it is they're short."

Too, some candidates run first campaigns that leave bad impressions even with their own parties. "It might be easier to start off with a blank slate than to start off with a guy who's got very high negatives," the Republican strategist said.

Fundraising is another area in which the second time around is easier than the first. Virtually every second-time candidate running this year finds him or herself in better financial position than they did at this point in their last race years ago. Standouts include Burner, Dan Seals facing U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk in Illinois, Dan Maffei running for an open seat in New York and Larry Kissell running against U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes in North Carolina.

Coping with an ever-expanding media universe is another lesson second-time candidates learn. "There's nothing that will teach you to deal with the media better than dealing with the media. You learn that it's a [bleeping] hot stove and it will burn you if you put your hand on it," the Republican strategist said. "There's a value to learning the hard way."

Then again, for candidates like Gard and Burner who came so close in 2006, it could simply be a matter of a better year making the difference. "The issue matrix is so different this time around, and I believe it certainly plays to my strength," Gard said. As for his opponent, this time the roles have changed. "Last time [Kagen] ran against the establishment, and now he is the establishment." Too, Gard points out that only once in 160 years has a Democrat been re-elected to represent the district.

Whatever it is that a candidate can learn about running for and losing office, be it how to raise money, how to deal with the press or just how to knock on doors, it has worked in the past. This year, at least eleven of the 26 repeat candidates are among their party's top challengers.

"It's kind of like a team that made it to the Super Bowl and loses, but they have that experience of going very far and the next time they're going to win it," the Democratic strategist said. Still, if recent NFL history is any guide to electoral success, repeat challengers face a historical battle: No team since the Miami Dolphins has lost a Super Bowl, which they did in 1972, and returned to win the following year, 1973.

Reid Wilson, national columnist for Politicker.com, is also an associate editor of RealClearPolitics.com and covers Senate, House and governors' races at PoliticsNation.com. Contact him at reid@realclearpolitics.com.