I apologize for the problems with the server. It looks to be back in action now. Hopefully all of our problems will be in the past. I guess it’s just Murphy’s Law that it went down the day before the primary. Again, thanks for your understanding.
Daily Archives: June 5, 2006
CA-50: One voter at a time
Both candidates are busy fighting for every last possible vote.
At a heavily traveled Encinitas intersection Friday, Bilbray and sign-toting supporters waved at passing cars. Trucks honked. One man pulled up and said jovially: “Hey, I recognize you. You’re the carpetbagger, right?” – a reference to the fact that he moved to his mother’s house in the district last year.
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Busby focused this week on meeting commuters as they lined up for the Coaster train. When she approached people Thursday at a Carlsbad Village station, about two-thirds, including Republicans, vowed to vote for her.“I’m on the right, but I’m going to vote for you anyway,” Art Jensen, a fan of conservative talk radio, told her. “At this point, it’s character that counts.”
Some of the old-guard Republicans – the conservatives who had long defined the 50th District – also were waiting to board the train. “I’m a Republican and you won’t live long enough to see me vote for you,” one man said with a steely stare. (SD U-T 6/4/06)
Why does the old-guard GOP always gotta have a steely stare? We don’t want voters who gotta use the steely stare anyway. And hey, if Francine can pick up 1 out of 2 GOP voters, she’ll do well. There’s going to be more than a smidgeon of voter fatigue in the 50th, so let’s make sure that our voters get out and vote tomorrow. Please do as much as you can to get out the vote.
Field Poll: Schwarzenegger inches up
While Schwarzenegger is inching up, it’s not great news for the Governator…or the Legislature:
The survey finds that there has been little change in overall voter evaluations of the job the governor and state legislature is doing. Currently, 46% disapprove of Schwarzenegger’s performance, while 41% approve, not much different from a 47% – 39% negative rating in April.
Voters remain even more critical of the legislature’s performance, with 51% disapproving and 26% approving. That’s not much different than the two to one negative to positive assessment it received in April.
Contributing to these poor evaluations is the fact that a majority of voters (57%) believes the state is seriously off on the wrong track, while just 32% feel it is moving in the right direction. This is a slightly more optimistic assessment than what was observed in April.(FieldPoll 6/5/06)
Typically a number under 50% approval is a cause for serious concern for the incumbent. Schwarzenegger has been languishing under 50% since June of last year. While it will take a lot of work on the part of the Dem nominee, Angelides or Westly, it is certainly a reasonable outcome. The matchups at this point still have a big name recognition factor in favor of the Governator. We’ll see how that shifts after the campaign is in full swing.
As for the legislature, I think it’s one of the “hate the legislature, love your legislator” things. There are few competitive races in either the Assembly or Senate. For info on interesting races, see Nathaniel, Burbank native’s review of the Assembly Races and the Senate Races. Not a whole lot will change in the next session. Term limits will mean faces will change, but votes likely won’t. There are one or two pickup opportunities for the Republicans, mainly in SoCal, but don’t expect a lot of change.
But, the infrastructure bonds are fairing well…for now.
The results indicate that there is currently greater than two to one support (58% to 25%) for Proposition 1e, the $4.1 billion bond for disaster preparedness and flood protection.
By a similar margin (57% to 24%) voters also support a $19.9 billion proposal, Prop. 1b, called the “Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port Security Bond Act.”
A smaller, but still substantial, plurality of voters (48% to 34%) are also inclined to support Prop. 1d, a $10.4 billion bond for “Kindergarten through University Public Education Facilities.”
However, there is less support for Prop. 1c, a $2.8 billion proposal for “Housing and Emergency Shelter,” with voters dividing 39% in favor and 38% opposed.
Boy, would it be the GOP’s dream to get 1e and 1b passed without 1c and 1d, the school and housing related bonds. It’s really what they wanted all along. The Housing bonds were a real sticking point in the negotiations all throughout. Many GOP arms had to be twisted to get that through the Assembly.
The interesting thing is that the California electorate tends to drift towards no as the elections get closer. I’m curious if that will happen here as well.
CA-50: Never too many volunteers! Get out and help Francine!
From the DCCC Stakeholder:
Dear Friends and Bloggers,
I wanted to write a quick note of thanks for your engagement in my race — I’ve seen great posts sorting out fact from fiction on all the desperate Republican attacks, and just as importantly we’ve seen a huge surge in volunteers over the past few days thanks to all of you as well as the DCCC, DNC, Louise Slaughter and Jane Harman. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.
However! We’ve got 300 volunteers lined up right now, and to give it everything we’ve got on Monday and Tuesday we need 400. I hate to ask, but if any of you can help us get there, we’ll all be eternally grateful out here.
Anybody in the San Diego area who wants to help can let us know by emailing us at volunteer-at-busbyforcongress.org or calling us at (760) 479-0114.
Thanks either way, and onward!
Francine Busby
Let’s make sure that we put everything into this one. We certainly don’t want to be left next Wednesday wondering what could have been. If you can help her send her an email at volunteer-at-busbyforcongress.org or talk to somebody you know that’s already volunteering. Also, Moveon.org is having a virtual phonebank if you are outside of SoCal.