(Welcome to Rep. Lois Capps – promoted by Brian Leubitz)
By Rep. Lois Capps
Dear Calitics community:
After following your smart takes on California and national politics, I thought it was time I joined the conversation. Here’s my first post — an update on my congressional campaign.
First, thank you for many years of support. Without the help of grassroots activists, I never would have been elected to Congress. And I never would have been able to write the Nurse Reinvestment Act to address our nationwide nursing shortage, help get Health Insurance Reform enacted, protect our coastline from more offshore drilling, vote against the Iraq war, stand up for a woman’s right to choose and provide more opportunity for the middle class. I’m proud of my record and can keep going, but my message today is about politics.
This election is different.
There has been a lot of discussion here about the redistricting commission and their new maps.
The new, final map makes my 24th district the toughest Democratic seat to defend in California. No other congressional district has lost as many registered Democrats as mine. For the past ten years, my district had an 18% Democratic registration advantage. Now the seat has only 3% more Democrats than Republicans.
The Republicans are not waiting to take advantage of the new map. In July, Karl Rove’s SuperPAC spent huge bucks running a misleading TV ad criticizing my votes for Health Insurance Reform. The National Republican Campaign Committee had already run another misleading TV commercial against me in June. This is a year before the primary and a full17 months before the general election.
Meanwhile, there is a battle brewing among Republican challengers. Millionaire Abel Maldonado has so far given his campaign over $250,000 from his fortune. And Tea Party candidate Tom Watson is again trying to join his brethren in Congress.
With the new “jungle primary” (that Maldonado put on the ballot) anything could happen between those two…
So get ready. This is the hottest Congressional race in California. And you’re going to hear a lot more about it in the months ahead.
And I hope you’ll join my campaign. I’d love your help to educate, energize and mobilize voters in my district.
I’m also going to stay in touch with you on Calitics. Your passion and ideas on this site will be a big boost to my campaign. Together, we can keep California’s beautiful Central Coast district blue.
Please contact my campaign, be a part of our team and help us win.
Thank you,
Lois
www.cappsforcongress.com
as an Independent in Lompoc I am thrilled at the possibility of being represented by you instead of the odious Elton Gallegly. I think you have a great opportunity up here in the North County. Continue to support education and healthcare, talk about jobs, jobs, jobs, getting fleeced by the Banks and Wallstreet, and your in. IMHO
I think the key to the 24CD in June will be the turnout in IV. Traditionally, it is very low so there is lots of room for growth. I would start organizing an absentee or vote by mail campaign there and in the dorms right away. I don’t know if the kids will be out of school by the time the primary rolls around, but we do know that their minds will be on other things. Put those votes in the bank as soon as you can. Also, Abel is weaker than a former LG normally is. Go after him in the primary and you might get a tea party candidate for the general.
I’m a climate hawk living very close to your new district, and want to elect and reelect fellow climate hawks. Please stay in touch on Calitics and elsewhere.
The big disappointment for me about the redistricting was that I don’t get to vote for Lois Capps next time! Port Hueneme is now in some other district.
Good luck in the vew 24th!
But I used to live in your district when I lived in Santa Barbara. I agree 100% with smoker1 that turning out UCSB students will be key to winning this election. Santa Barbara County usually votes at the same percentage Democratic as California does. In 2010 though, Santa Barbara County voted 49% for Brown while Brown won 54% statewide. I saw the precinct results for that race and IV precincts had lower turnout than usual. Turning out the voters at UCSB is extremely important, Obama won 60% of the vote in Santa Barbara County in 2008 as IV turned out strongly for him.