This is my first diary here, howdy everyone!

With the June 3rd primary a little over two weeks away, I gave my absentee ballot a first glance this evening.  I’m an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, majoring in political science, but I’m registered back at home in Santa Clara County (San Jose, Silicon Valley, and its environs).  In surveying the ballot, I was surprised and startled to see that there were no candidates listed for my state senate seat.

I live in the northern-most portion of Senate District 15, a nightmarish exercise in the art of gerrymandering.  The district encompasses Santa Maria in Santa Barbara County, all of San Luis Obispo County, bits and pieces of “coastal” Monterey County (Watsonville and Monterey, but not Salinas), parts of Santa Cruz County (not the city of Santa Cruz), and selected enclaves in Santa Clara County.  To anyone familiar with these areas, these borders are about as arbitrary and illogical as it gets.  In the north, demographically-similar neighbors in Morgan Hill and Gilroy, Saratoga and Cupertino, Castroville and Salinas sit in different districts, while owners of new deluxe McMansions in San Jose’s Silver Creek Valley share representation with ranchers in Parkfield, mountain recluses in Corralitos, and migrant workers in San Ardo.  The district is strongly based around Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Counties with a large population center around the southern Monterey Bay area (Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside, Watsonville).

Currently, Senate District 15 is represented by Republican Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria.  In 2004, Maldonado faced Democrat Peg Pinard, a former mayor of San Luis Obispo.  Maldonado, previously mayor of Santa Maria and a state assemblyman, won by a 53%-43% margin, in a district with virtually even party registration numbers.

(more after the fold)

A critical feature in recent Democratic electoral success has been the attempt to field candidates for each and every seat in the Senate, House of Representatives, and state legislatures and to advance the strongest, most qualified candidates available.  This strategy has worked remarkably well and it becomes more effective when we engage Republicans on their turf as well.

By challenging the Republicans on turf considered all but safe, we force Republicans to use valuable resources to defend districts that would not otherwise be in play.  When incumbent popularity suffers because of a scandal, the Democratic challenger stands as a ready alternative.  Jerry McNerney’s victory over Richard Pombo in 2006 is a strong example.  With the dramatic Democratic tide of 2006 and a similar, if not larger, Democratic wave in 2008, we are poised to make massive electoral gains.

To our credit, nineteen of twenty state senate races are being contested.

So it puzzles me, why are there no Democratic challengers in a perfectly winable district?  Why this district?  Geography?

(edit: Thanks for the recommendations everyone!  Here’s hoping we can get him on the ballot for November!)