5 days until the special election to replace convicted felon Randy Duke Cunningham in CA-50.  And it’s been an amazing couple of weeks.

First, simultaneous polls (internal and independent) indicated that Francine Busby (D) was the top candidate in the field of 14+, by a 3-1 margin over her closest Republican opponent.  Both pegged her support in the high 30s.  Not enough to win the seat without a June 6 runoff, but definitely respectable. 

Next came the excellent poll results from SUSA, the most accurate pollster of the 2004 elections, which indicated that Busby’s support stands at about 45% of likely voters.  Then, in what should not have even been a surprise, came Kaloogiangate–the fake Iraq photos that may have brought enough exposure to this race to increase Busby’s support to 50%+.

(This suggests a couple interesting possibilities: either Howard Kaloogian is a liar and thinks the voters in CA-50 can’t tell the difference between Iraq and Turkey or Howard Kaloogian is an ignorant ideologue and he can’t tell the difference between Iraq and Turkey. – promoted by jsw)

Howard Kaloogian (R) has posted a photograph on his campaign website which he claims to have recently taken in downtown Baghdad, to show how “calm” and “stable” the city was during his visit.

Check out the photo under the fold. I am no photographic expert, but to me, this does not appear to be a photo of Baghdad (or even Iraq) at all.

Here’s why I think this photo was not taken in Iraq:

1)  The signs are all in Roman script.  (the signs that read edo, 2.Noter, etc.)  Where’s the arabic?

2)  The couple holding hands in the front, right side of the picture.  First, the fact that they are walking down the street holding hands makes me think this is not from Baghdad.  Second, look at the woman’s top (shirt).  It has spaghetti strap sleeves (shoulders exposed) and is awfully tight for Iraq.

Am I crazy, or is this not of Baghdad at all?

Check out the photo on Kaloogian’s site here:

http://www.kaloogianforcongress.com/…

This is extremely important because Kaloogian is claiming that Iraq is much more calm and stable than most Americans believe.  His direct quote: “We took this photo of dowtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq.  Iraq (including Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be.  But, each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it – in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.”

Just another reason to support Busby on April 11 and June 6.

Remember to support her here:

http://actblue.com/…

and check out her campaign site here:

http://www.busbyforcongress.org