John Gizzi of Human Events is crunching the numbers for the 2012 campaign to control the U.S. House of Representatives.

Just the numbers of incumbent House members who are leaving their seats next year is enough to dampen the fund-raising appeals of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee that suggest that the party’s recapture of the House is within reach.

As of last week, there were 12 Democratic U.S. representatives either retiring or seeking another office, and only six Republicans doing the same. All of the six open Republican seats are in districts considered safe for the GOP, while at least half of the open Democratic seats are politically up for grabs. The list does not include the lone vacant seat in the House, that in Oregon’s 1st District, where a special election will be held in January to replace recently resigned Democratic Rep. David Wu.

One strong case in point of the Republican opportunities to maintain their 63-year high majority in the House is in Arkansas’ 4th District, where Democratic Rep. Mike Ross is retiring. The fact that there is more attention focused on the Republican maneuvering to succeed Ross than in his own party is proof, as one Razorback State wag told HUMAN EVENTS, that “there is one political figure who did the most to make Arkansas Republican, and his name isn’t Mike Huckabee or Karl Rove?, but Barack Obama?.”