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.

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. swung through Ohio Monday to tout the Obama administration's economic policy and to raise money for three junior House Democrats who should face challenging re-election campaigns next year.

In the morning, Biden headlined a Columbus fundraiser for Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, whose likely 2010 opponent is former state Sen. Steve Stivers, the same Republican Kilroy narrowly defeated last year in an open-seat race in the 15th District.

According to a press pool report, Biden characterized Kilroy as a partner in the administration' effort to revitalize Ohio's economy. Kilroy in February was one of 246 House members, all Democrats, who voted for the economic recovery plan, which Biden said has provided needed relief to Ohio eight months after President Obama signed it into law.

Virginia Republican Rep. Eric Cantor, the House Minority Whip and one of the GOP's most potent fundraisers, used his leadership PAC last month to donate mostly to Republican candidates who are challenging Democratic incumbents in the 2010 election.

Cantor's organization, known as Every Republican Is Crucial (ERIC) PAC, reported Monday that it donated $2,500 apiece to five GOP challengers about whom the congressman and other national party officials are bullish.

They are Andy Harris of Maryland, a state senator challenging Rep. Frank Kratovil Jr. in a rematch of their close 2008 race in the 1st District; Martha Roby of Alabama, a Montgomery city councilwoman who is taking on Rep. Bobby Bright in the 2nd District; Steve Pearce of New Mexico, a former House member who lost a Senate race in 2008 and is seeking to reclaim his old 2nd District seat, now held by Rep. Harry Teague; Steve Stivers of Ohio, who is waging a rematch campaign against Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy in the Columbus-area 15th District; and Van Tran of California, an assemblyman who is taking on Rep. Loretta Sanchez in the 47th District.

The conservative Family Research Council's political action committee plans to target 16 congressional races in 2010. The group's president, Tony Perkins, said the PAC has a goal of raising $1 million to boost grassroots activity in targeted races.

The group wants to spend money to help favored candidates take over the seats now represented by:

Sen. Michael Bennet, a Democrat who is running for a full term in Colorado after his appointment this year;

Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, a Democrat who is running for re-election in Connecticut;

New Hampshire Sen. Judd Gregg, a Republican who is retiring;

Missouri Sen. Christopher S. Bond, a Republican who is retiring;

Rep. John Boccieri, a Democrat who represents Ohio's 16th District;

It's official. Steve Stivers will challenge freshman Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy in a rematch of their whisker-close 2008 House race in Ohio's Columbus-based 15th District.

The 2008 contest wasn't finally called until more than a month after the election, when Kilroy emerged as the winner by 2,311 votes -- or less than three-quarters of a percentage point of the more than 300,000 votes cast.

The campaign arm of Republicans in the U.S. House is using this week's legislative recess to criticize some Democrats who backed a climate change bill the House narrowly passed last week.

The National Republican Congressional Committee's advertising campaign consists mainly of low-cost radio advertisements and telephone calls against 14 Democrats, most of them from conservative-leaning districts, who helped provide the winning 219-212 margin in the June 26 vote. Eight Republicans also backed the climate change bill, which most Republicans described as a massive "national energy tax" on consumers.

A top target of the NRCC campaign is first-term Virginia Rep. Tom Perriello, who broke with most politically vulnerable Democratic freshmen in backing the bill. The NRCC is airing a television ad in Perriello's south-central Virginia district that urges viewers to "tell him he was wrong to vote for the [Speaker Nancy] Pelosi energy tax."