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Juggling his cell phone and carry-on materials, Richard Baker tried to make the most of his time before boarding a nonstop commercial flight from Baton Rouge to Washington, D.C. He knows the flight plan well, having made the jaunt easily a few hundred times since being elected to represent the largely blue-collar 6th Congressional District in 1987.

An entirely new generation has sprouted since he took office, a whirlwind of change and land-shifting political realities trailing close behind, but Baker, now the dean of Louisiana’s delegation, has endured.

To put the timeline into perspective, Bobby Jindal wasn’t even old enough to buy beer when Baker was a rookie rep on the Hill.

High name recognition is a good thing to have, and Baker has plenty of it. Always has. But he’ll need more than slick signage during next year’s highly anticipated election cycle. His district, once again, has been targeted for a takeover by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The tough talk is nothing new for Baker. Still, most voters take his soft-spoken tenacity for granted, since he won without opposition in 1994 and 1996, and carried the lion’s share against token opposition in every election held between 2000 and 2006. He notes this during our interview from the airport, more worried about having ample prep time in his D.C. office for committee meetings the following day than the political posturing of the fall 2008 elections.

“My district has a long history of being targeted like this, and I’m expecting more of the same next year,” Baker says. “Democrats are going to be spending a lot of money in the Senate race and presidential race, so they figure they may as well drop some money in this one, too.”

This time around, though, it’s all in demographics. Baton Rouge’s population may have ballooned from 225,000 to as much as 325,000. Even though the U.S. Census Bureau won’t release official data for another two years, some politicos are hoping the Democratic-ripe areas that were hit by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 transplanted a deeper shade of blue in Baton Rouge’s red landscape.

Yet recent election results are a staunch reminder the district is a conservative one, handing President Bush 59% of the vote in 2004. Earlier this year, Jindal also carried the district in his bid for governor against a packed field, outpacing his nearest opponent by almost a three-to-one margin. Additionally, Republican registration in the outlying portions of the district, like Livingston Parish, is skyrocketing.

But there is some hope for the Democrats, as a fickle bit of irony has broken loose in this GOP-dominated milieu. For decades, East Baton Rouge Parish has managed to elect both a Democratic mayor and sheriff. The electorate has remained open-minded; it placed into office the parish’s first black mayor in Kip Holden, whose popularity locally may rival that of Baker’s. Few can boast such a claim, which is one of the challenges Democrats are facing.

“Richard Baker is definitely one of our targets this session,” says Kyra Jennings, a DCCC spokesperson. “We believe he is vulnerable, but it will take the right kind of Democrat to run in that district, someone who is moderate to conservative, and we have been recruiting that caliber of candidate.”

While Holden’s name has been batted around half-heartedly, there is only one person national Democrats have been courting up to now, although the state Legislature seems fertile for other possible recruits. Rep. Don Cazayoux of New Roads, who seems to have been edged out of the ongoing race for speaker, is on the top of the lonely list. Democratic state Sen.-elect Sharon Weston Broome, who is positioned to become Senate president pro tem, meanwhile, could easily run as a conservative with heart, while outgoing Sen. Cleo Fields likely will insert himself in the race somehow.

The DCCC has already tried to poke a few holes in Baker’s untouchable veneer, hoping to generate more interest on behalf of potential candidates. This past fall, the committee targeted Baker for his vote against SCHIP, a popular federal program that provides health insurance for children. The district was hit with robo-calls, which are massive phone banks pushing recorded messages, explaining the Democratic interpretation of Baker’s vote.

If Katrina’s diaspora will play a role in Baker’s re-election, and it is expected to, the DCCC has its opposition research on hand. It’s already replayed the infamous Wall Street Journal quote in press releases, and it’s likely to resurface again. “We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans,” Baker reportedly told lobbyists. “We couldn’t do it, but God did.” Baker later explained that he didn’t “intend flippancy” and has always wanted to reform low-income housing in the region.

And it’s that subject-matter expertise that could bail Baker out. He gained statewide notoriety following Katrina for floating a home buyout program, even facing down President Bush in the process. With all of the problems that have plagued the state’s Road Home program, Baker’s now-defunct plan, in hindsight, may seem more agreeable today than ever before.

Not more than anything else, party loyalty is a major theme among state GOP diehards these days when addressing Baker’s future. He went out on a limb during this year’s elections, endorsing Democrats for statewide and local office. The decision has infuriated a few big-money Republicans, one veteran strategist says, and they won’t soon forget. When asked why he would go out on a limb, Baker says he was simply paying out for chips being cashed in by people he respects. “In politics, you have friends and you don’t ask your friends whether they’re Republican or Democrat,” Baker says. “In past campaigns I have had Democrats support me to their detriment, and I was merely returning political favors.”

State Sen.-elect Yvonne Dorsey, for instance, endorsed Baker in his 1998 re-election bid against her fellow Democrat Marjorie McKeithen. Baker barely held firm to the district, winning by roughly 1,000 votes. That was the last time Baker was opposed with any seriousness since his 2,700-vote victory over Clyde Holloway in 1992.

The real key to beating Baker may be breaking his hold over his home base of Baton Rouge and neighboring Livingston Parish. In both of his close races, they were the only two parishes Baker could confidently walk through. That’s why a strategy to split his base and keep him out of the runoff is among the plans being tossed around by Democrats, save a political miracle, the perfect candidate or a well-managed opposition campaign.

For now, Baker is in his seniority glory in D.C. When his plane lands, he’ll start looking over his work for the House committees on financial services and transportation, where he is a ranking member on both. His campaign finance reports, however, leave much to be desired. According to his October quarterly filing, Baker has only $133,000 in the kitty. But his committee assignments alone, coupled with dollars from the national party’s coffers, could help the total inch up quickly in just a few short weeks.

“In the past, this district has been slightly Democratic,” Baker says. “In the current window, it looks slightly Republican to me. But either way, there’s always a margin and a way to talk about issues. As far as a plan, I’m not looking too far ahead. I’m going to watch LSU in the BCS championship game and that’s the only short-term plan I have right now.”