Daily Archives: April 26, 2006

San Diego

CA-50: Roach, Kaloogian in D.C. seeking support

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Confusion and fracturing continue on the GOP side in CA-50. Despite losing the April 11th primary to lobbyist Brian Bilbray, extremely wealthy Rancho Santa Fe Republican Eric Roach is showing even more signs that he will aggressively challenge the June primary (attempting a write-in candidacy in the runoff itself is also an option, though it seems less likely). Along with his new best buddy Howard Kaloogian, Roach has embarked on a tour of national conservative groups in Washington D.C., to gauge support for Roach’s candidacy.

Kaloogian has said he will endorse Roach if Roach runs in the June primary.

Roach decided not to directly contest Bilbray’s April 11 win, deciding after some debate not to persue a recount. However, that still leaves open the possibility of contesting the June primary. While Roach has not officially announced he will run, he has been running radio ads “thanking” voters and sent out mailers with the same message. See my analysis of the implict but obvious anti-Bilbray messages in his “thank you” ads (basically he specifically hits all the areas where he is strong and Bilbray is weak–“moral values” issues, lobbyist/special interest, etc).

NCTimes’ writeup on the Roach-Kaloogian tour (boy is that a presidential ticket from hell or what?!) is here.

On Tuesday, Roach arrived in Washington for two days of meetings with national conservative groups to measure their views on his possible candidacy for the Republican nomination in the June primary, a Roach spokesman said Tuesday.

“He’s getting a pulse,” spokesman Stan Devereux said in a Tuesday phone interview from the nation’s capital. “Eric is in the process of evaluating whether he will continue to campaign for the June primary. We believe it’s very important to have input from key conservatives.”

In the blog/comments section of NCTimes, some interesting comments:

Conservative Repub wrote on April 26, 2006 8:11 AM:“I hope many conservatives will call Mr. Roach’s office and encourage him to run. Even 6 months of Busby would help gel the conservative vote–and she couldn’t do much damage since congress will be out of session most of the time since it is campaign season. Having liberal lobbyist Bilbray “represent” a conservative North County is a disaster.”

write in wrote on April 26, 2006 9:16 AM:“eric roach for the june 6 election! Packard did it, so can roach.”

DC Conservative wrote on April 26, 2006 11:31 AM:”Roach needs to run in the June Primary. If the PARTY forces a lazy ProChoice, anti gUn environmentalist Bilbray on the conservatives of North County we should have no choice but to vote against him. On most important issues there is really no difference between Bilbray and Busby….”

Wow, sounds like Bilbray is really rallying the base… Actually that is one concern with a Roach run–maybe his attacks will hurt Bilbray enough to help Busby, but on the other hand, without Roach, maybe GOP voters won’t turn out at all on election day, helping Busby.

cross-posted at dailykos

Bay Area

sf chron endorses bowen for sec. of state

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debra bowen’s campaign for secretary of state (for california) sends us some good news:

on sunday, californians woke up to great news in our fight for fair and accurate elections:

the san francisco chronicle endorsed debra bowen’s campaign for secretary of state, saying that she was the clear nominee and will secure your vote!

more after the jump!

here are a few key paragaphs from the chronicle’s endorsement editorial:

… for this office, bowen is the clear choice in the democratic primary. in her nearly 14 years in the capitol, bowen has demonstrated her commitment to what we believe should be one of the guiding principles of society: an individual’s actions should be presumed private, while a government’s actions should be presumed public. for example, her bills to help consumers guard against identity theft and block “junk faxes” have set national standards.

as chair of the senate elections committee, bowen has been a determined advocate of bringing more transparency to the political process — such as getting lobbying expenses online in a more accessibly way — and installing more rigorous standards on the use of electronic voting equipment. she has done her homework on technological issues and is ready to make the case that california needs a more aggressive secretary of state to restore public confidence in the electoral process.

bowen is not one to flinch at a challenge. she entered this race at a time when many top democrats were reluctant to criticize the scandal-drenched shelley, who was clinging to office. in her typical straightforward style, bowen explained, “it became clear we were going to need a new nominee.”

she was right. and sen. debra bowen should be that nominee.

you can read the full editorial here and discuss this great news on the bowen blog.

we are big supporters of sen. bowen, as she was seemingly the lone voice in the wilderness who pointed out bruce macpherson’s underhanded certification of diebold machinery.

Uncategorized

John Doolittle Obsessed With Erectile Dysfunction

Apparently, when he is not avoiding the media or asking his fellow church members for support, Representative John Doolittle (CA-4) does a little blogging on the side. Of course, being a solid conservative Republican, Representative Doolittle chooses a upstanding right wing blog for his comments. Doolittle is pissed that the federal government is subsidizing the cost of erectile dysfunction drugs for convicted sex offenders.

14 states allowed 800 sex offenders to acquire ED medications. Outraged, I offered an amendment to the Labor, Education and Health and Human Services Appropriations bill last year to prohibit this practice. The amendment was accepted by the Committee and progressed through much of the legislative maze before it was struck due to procedural objections in the House-Senate Conference on the bill. Fortunately, Congress acted in a subsequent bill, HR 3971, to prohibit the subsidized distribution of ED medications to all participants, not just sex offenders, in Medicare and Medicaid.

According to Doolittle the Republic is saved. But wait, here’s the good part. The conservative audience over at the big time blog where Doolittle posted don’t think much of Doolittle’s efforts. Some comments regarding his post:

Instead of wasting our time trying to get us all excited over ED medications, why don’t you do something about the $749 Billion Medicare Part D that you voted for which is almost twice the $395 Billion that you, Bush, and Frist told us it was going to cost?

Quit posturing by trying to push our buttons and try doing something substantive for a change.

While Congress fiddle f*rts around with ED medication there are actual things that need to be done. And even when they deal with something as  as ED meds they screw it up. You’ll note that rather than just restict it from sex offenders its now prohibited to Medicare recipients even the ones who don’t prey on little children.

Every time the Congress makes a law its a joke and every time the make a joke its a law. But you can’t say they aren’t doing something — even if it is a waste of time. Didn’t Marie Antoinette have something to say about this? Or maybe it was the Romans and their circuses to amuse the masses.

[…]

While It’s Great to see elected officials posting here, I don’t see how this adds much to the discussion.  Congressman Doolittle seems to post these random thoughts that pop into his head on any given day. What we are looking for is a demonstration of leadership and vision, and an expression of where he stands on big issues and where he wants to take the GOP and the country.

These hit-and-run posts are annoying and condescending. Just because you make a post here doesn’t mean you are engaging in any meaningful dialogue.

We know how bad the Dems are, stop posting about them. As a leader of the GOP, tell us why you are any better.

Well, you get the idea. Doolittle complains that all the media wants to do is talk about his ties to corruption so he goes onto a conservative web site and instead of talking about any substantative issue, brags about cutting off unnecessary drugs to 800 people. And, instead of getting praise, he gets cut down to size and held accountable for the financial disaster that he and his fellow Republicans have loosed on our country. Must be a bunch of liberals hiding out at RedState.

Hat tip to Dump Doolittle.

Uncategorized

CA-50 New Poll….Roach Watch….Etc.

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Over at MYDD, Chris Bowers takes a look at the first public poll in the CA-50 race since the April 11 special election. The polls shows Democrat Francine Busby and Republican lobbyist Brian Bilbray in a statistical dead heat, with about 8% of likely voters undecided.

It is important to note that this poll was taken before the NRCC’s latest attack ad aimed at Busby and, more significantly, before the media and public backlash about the ad put Bilbray on the defensive.

Chris also thinks that conservative Republican Eric Roach will mount a primary challenge to Bilbray. This will force Bilbray to fight Busby in the run-off election, while defending himself against Roach in the Republican primary. Roach’s campaign says a decision on his candidacy is likely this week.

Democrats have lots of work to do in the CA-50 and the importance of the district to the 2006 grows as the Republican Party dumps more resources into the campaign.