WASHINGTON - The head of the House Democrats' campaign arm said Monday he is staying out of the primary fight for outgoing Rep. Thomas Reynolds' seat.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee would like to avoid a bruising internal battle as they look to win the Republican district. Reynolds, a once-powerful member of the House GOP majority, announced last month he will not seek re-election.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen, the head of the DCCC, told reporters in a conference call Monday that “we've got a number of good candidates up in that district.”

Reynolds' district stretches from the suburbs of Buffalo to the Rochester area.

He specifically mentioned Jon Powers, an Iraq war vet, saying he “obviously got off to a very early start,” racking up all but one of the county party endorsements.

Multi-millionaire Jack Davis spent millions as the Democratic candidate and nearly beat Reynolds in 2006.

Davis is gearing up for another run, and he and Powers are the most prominent figures in a crowded early field.

The Maryland representative insisted he wasn't playing favorites by mentioning Powers and not Davis.

“It's an open process and everyone is obviously welcome to battle it out,” Van Hollen said. “Obviously I mention (Powers) only because he appears to have a lot of momentum in the Democratic primary. ...From the national committee's perspective, we are not getting involved in the primary.”

Van Hollen said the challenge for Democrats, both in upstate New York and around the country, will be to defy longtime political trends that see a national wave of election victories, such as the one that brought Democrats to power in 2006, followed by losses in the next election.

He argued Democrats are well-positioned to prevent that from happening this time because the Republican party is still saddled with an unpopular president, a sagging economy and an ongoing war.

He also noted that Republicans retirements are leaving seats more open to Democratic victories, such as in Syracuse where Republican Rep. Jim Walsh is retiring and Democrat Dan Maffei is in a commanding early position.

Republican officials countered that now that Democrats are in control of the House, they will have to answer to their constituents about their own voting records.

The GOP would dearly like to reclaim the Hudson Valley seat won in 2006 by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, and make a run at Utica-area freshman Michael Arcuri.

“Democrats will first have to defend the liberal tax-and-spend records of Kirsten Gillibrand and Michael Arcuri,” said Ken Spain, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee.