A Battle Looms to Succeed 'Duke'

[Judi Lynn]

December 19, 2005
A Battle Looms to Succeed 'Duke'
Democrats see the campaign to fill Randy Cunningham's seat as a test of party strength as they seek to regain a majority in Congress.

By Michael Finnegan, Times Staff Writer

The downfall of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in a bribery scandal has cleared the way for a surprisingly competitive race for his San Diego County congressional seat, a contest that will test the strength of Democratic efforts to regain control of Congress.

In a poor political climate for the GOP, analysts say, a suburban coastal district of California — even one that leans as Republican as Cunningham's — is just the kind that could prove the leading edge of a potential national tide against the party.

Yet Democratic candidate Francine Busby faces a steep uphill battle, thanks to a California congressional map drawn to protect incumbents of both major parties. The district was shaped to strongly favor a Republican, so it would take a major political shift for voters there to put a Democrat in Congress.
(snip)

The bipartisan gerrymander of the state's congressional districts after the 2000 census all but wiped out competition between the two parties. As a result, none of the state's 33 Democrats in the House faces any viable threat next year from the GOP, strategists say, and only two of the 20 Republican incumbents seem to stand even a slim chance of trouble in November: Reps. Richard W. Pombo of Tracy and, to a lesser extent, David Dreier of San Dimas.
(snip/...)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-congress19dec19,0,950887.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews
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[Greeby]

1. While all Republicans should go generally...

Pombo, Dreier and Rohrbacher are the 3 from CA I don't want to see back.

Rohrbacher makes the list because of his fascist defense of Bush's spying. Even Bob Barr couldn't stand listening to him

[BrotherBuzz]

3. Doolittle (Ca4) is another that should be on your short list

and I think his close connections to DeLay and Abramoff make him vulnerable.

[DinahMoeHum]

9. A USAF vet is looking to take Doolittle down. . ..

Link:
http://brown4congress.org/

:kick:

[BrotherBuzz]

10. Good Grief! Charlie Brown Takes on Doolittle in CA-04

I met him and like what he represents. Charlie Brown will have appeal in a district that has a large retired military population especially when the public makes the connections between Doolittle, DeLay, and Abramoff. All he needs is money, and as they say, money donated now has three times the value of money received closer to the midterm election. Charles Brown sounds like a good investment to me.

[SoCalDem]

5. Didn't we get rid of Dreier once already??

I could have sworn that he was out of office for a while there..I loathe all the little pantywaist "impeachment managers"..

Rohrbacher is also a piece of work:puke:

[dryan]

2. A little off....

the subject, but is Cunningham going to go to jail?

[BrotherBuzz]

4. You bet your sweet bippy

Cunningham will be sentenced on February 27, 2006.

[WhiteTara]

6. Yes he is! He pleaded guilty

and it buh bye Randy. Many years in prison await him

[Seabiscuit]

7. Anytime anyone mentions "Duke" they should also mention Francine

Busby. GET THE WORD OUT, or lose the 50th District seat to a right-wing nut case (there are two of them running under the Repuke banner).

[cascadiance]

8. I've already got my sign up in my yard...

Right where Donna Frye's was earlier. And a new bumper sticker as well just this morning after getting my car washed.

One thing to note. In this district's election last year, even though Busby lost it to Cunningham, the same group of voters had a majority of votes FOR Barbara Boxer for Senate. Hmmm... Doesn't that tell you that there's potential for a Democrat if the right circumstances fall into place?

If we get more dirt out on Duncan Hunter in the coming weeks too, that will be just that much more problems the GOP here will have to deal with in trying to fend off more legitimized criticism of their being the party of "Culture of Corruption" here.

I think the earlier everyone gets a Busby sign, etc. in their yard, bumper sticker on their car, etc. that will establish her as the pseudo incumbent, which might help her more when the election comes like other incumbents are helped around here. It won't be an easy battle, but it won't be impossible either.

Also to note is that Donna Frye lost a lot based on the absentee ballot voting. Sanders campaign focused successfully on getting absentee voters to vote for him, which made a big portion of his vote differential against her. When you measured the non-absentee ballot vote margin, it was only something like 51-49%, a LOT closer. I'm hoping that the Busby organizers are seeing those stats and focusing this time on getting absentee voters to vote for Busby. Perhaps that's one reason why Arnold is holding off on setting the date for the special election to the absolute last minute, to keep them from getting an early and more organized start in campaigning the absentee voters, which she should now have an advantage over, with the indecision over who the Republican candidate that they want to vote for against her is at this point.