National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Pete Sessions told reporters this afternoon his goal is to win 40 seats this November and take back the majority in Congress.

"Anything less, I did not fulfill my mission statement," he said.

It's a big hill to climb, and it begins next month with special elections in Hawaii and southwestern Pennsylvania -- two vacant Democratic seats where Sessions likes the GOP's chances.

"Both of these are drawn for and are Democratic districts," Sessions said, lowering the expectation bar in case of a GOP loss. But, he said, "We've fielded a great candidate in both races."

Sessions stressed that the NRCC was challenging Dems in the four quadrants of the country -- Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and West -- saying, "We are a geographically balanced machine." But PA-12 also fits right into the area where a large number of Democratic districts are being targeted.

Sessions calls them the Ohio River Valley districts, which lie in West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and even down to Mississippi. This is where Democrats picked up a large number of seats in the last two elections, and Republicans now feel that the environment is right for the party to win them back.

While he believes the poor political environment for Democrats will ultimately be the deciding factor in November, Sessions and Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), the vice chairman in charge of finance, noted that GOP candidate fundraising is in great shape -- 121 challengers and open seat candidates have more than $200,000 cash on hand, and 16 challengers outraised a Democratic incumbent in the first quarter.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee notes that its most challenged incumbents -- mostly new members in what they call the Frontline program -- have an average of more than $1 million cash on hand.

Hensarling also announced that the NRCC itself raised $8 million in March, its highest grossing month since becoming the minority party. The committee now has $10 million on hand, $4 million more than a month ago. That still leaves it well behind the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which raised $9.77 million last month and has $26 million on hand.