WILLIAMSBURG, Va. -- National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Greg Walden of Oregon said today he's putting together a special campaign team to target seven House Democrats whom he views as his top targets of the 2014 cycle.

That list includes a pair of House Energy and Commerce Committee members, Reps. John Barrow (D-Ga.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah), as well as House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ranking member Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.), House Agriculture Committee ranking member Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Rep. Mike McIntyre (D-N.C.), a senior member of the Agriculture panel.

The top target list also includes a pair of newly elected Arizona Democrats, Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick and Ron Barber.

GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney performed well in all seven districts during the 2012 election, taking more than two-thirds of the vote in Matheson's district and 65 percent in Rahall's district.

In five of the districts -- those of Matheson, Rahall, McIntyre, Peterson and Barber -- Romney outperformed Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) showing in the 2008 White House election. The other two districts did not change.

Walden told reporters at the House Republican retreat at a resort here this afternoon that the group is mostly composed of what is left of the Blue Dog coalition of conservative Democrats.

"These are seven Democratic seats that are actually Republican seats," he said, "Seven seats that Democrats are in that they know they don't belong in. We know they don't belong in."

Walden said that while he has a top seven, his entire target list right now is made up of more than 40 Democratic-held seats. And while that map will be smaller than past cycles, he argued that it is weighted in Republicans' favor, pointing out that 15 Democrats currently sit in Republican-leaning districts while just four Republicans currently occupy Democratic-leaning districts.

But that is not to say there aren't unique challenges facing Republicans this cycle.

Walden said he expects that with President Obama no longer having to worry about re-election, the president will turn the full force of his vaunted campaign machine on the Republican-controlled House.

"We know we have our work cut out for us," he said. "We know it's a challenge."