They voted for the health care bill. With enough money behind the opposition, could they be voted out of office next year?

Republicans aim to find out with a new effort to raise campaign funds for challengers to two dozen House Democrats who voted for the health care bill earlier this month.

Reverse The Vote Victory Committee was established this week with the Federal Election Commission as a joint fundraising committee that will collect contributions to distribute among 24 GOP challengers.

It's still months until the first nominees will be formally selected in primary elections, so the committee for the time being will give campaign funds to 24 separate "congressional victory committees" that in turn will deliver the funds to party nominees once they are determined.

The 42 House Democrats to whom party leaders are steering extra financial and political assistance banked an average of nearly half a million dollars 16 months before the 2010 midterm elections.

These lawmakers -- primarily junior members from politically competitive districts -- are known as "Frontline Democrats". They ramped up their fundraising operations in this year's second quarter to prepare for vigorous Republican opposition in the 2010 midterm elections.

According to updated campaign finance reports filed this week with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the 42 Frontline Democrats had an average of $481,000 in campaign cash-on-hand as July began. Please consult this chart for a detailed analysis that is based on FEC data.

Two Arizona Democrats are building up solid defenses in advance of 2010. First District Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and 8th District Rep. Gabrielle Giffords -- both members of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's Frontline program to defend vulnerable incumbents -- both expanded their cash reserves in the second quarter of 2009 as they work to fend off likely Republican challenges for their seats.

Giffords raised $370,000 in the second quarter, boosting her cash on hand from $895,000 to an impressive $1.2 million. Kirpatrick raised less -- $261,000 -- but it helped her nearly double her available campaign funds from $241,000 at the end of March to $423,000 as of June 30.

Thus far, only Giffords has declared Republican challengers, led by GOP recruit and Iraq War veteran Jesse Kelly.

Duncan Hunter, a retired Republican who once chaired the Armed Services Committee, has decided that Iraq War veterans are the perfect candidates to revive the Republican Party in 2010.

Hunter -- a Vietnam War vet who briefly sought the 2008 Republican presidential nomination -- is already backing two such candidates as they launch challenges to two of the more junior members of the House Democratic majority: Jesse Kelly, who wants to take on two-term incumbent Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona's 8th District, and Vaughn Ward, whose target in Idaho's 1st District is freshman Democrat Walt Minnick.

Hunter will be attending a series of brunches, receptions and a golf outing in Tucson this weekend with Kelly, who said Hunter is a big attraction in conservative circles in his district in Arizona's southeastern corner. "He did very well in early presidential polls down here," Kelly noted, referring to Hunter's 2008 bid.

During much of his House career, Hunter represented a California district that stretched from San Diego east to the border of Kelly's home state of Arizona, though for the past decade the 52nd District has been confined to San Diego County in California's southwest corner.