Constituent Dynamics has released their latest batch of “Majority Watch” polls, which include CA-04 and CA-11.  Some great news here, Jerry McNernery is leading Richard Pombo 48-46.  Of course, this is within the margin of error, but it once again shows how endgangered Pombo really is.  As far as I know, this is the only independent poll of the district, and it is doubtful that any more will come out.

As for CA-04, John Doolittle is leading Charlie Brown very slightly, 49-46.  Again, this is within the margin of error.  This is a tough district for Dems, as Bush garnered 61% of the vote in 2004.  However, Brown has managed to make it a very tight battle.  Additionally, I have been told that Brown has a great level of volunteer support.  However, I’m sure that additional volunteers are always needed. 

Our three Congressional races with the most buzz have been bumped up to the DCCC’s “Red to BLue” list in the “Fourth Wave”.  Hopefully this will be the tidal wave which brings institutional change for a long time.  So, Jerry McNerney, Charlie Brown, and Francine Busby will get some level of support services from the DCCC as the election draws near.  These three campaigns have done an incredible job running with, until recently, limited resources.  It is testimony to the leaders who are running for Congress that they have conducted heat to the California’s Corrupt Trio of John Doolittle, Richard Pombo, and Brian Bilbray.  Good work!

So, what can we do? Well, glad you asked. First, you could give money using the Calitics ActBlue page. However, what these campaigns need more than anything else is, as we say “boots on the ground”.  We need to send as many people as possible out into these districts in the last 2 weekends.  So, if at all possible, go walk some precincts in Pleasanton, make some phone calls in Escondido, or table in Roseville.  We need all the possible votes we can get.  You never know when an opportunity like this will arise again.

So, CA-04: Charlie Brown Volunteer Events
CA-11: Jerry McNerney Volunteer Events
CA-50: Francine Busby Volunteer Events

We’ve all heard how huge and effective Charlie Brown’s “Republicans for Brown” group has been. We hear about them in the media, wearing their Tshirts at all kinds of events. At the launch there were already 50 members. Well, Doolittle decided he didn’t want to be left out of the fun, and started his own group, “Democrats for Doolittle.” AP has the story:

The group is being chaired by Placer County Sheriff Ed Bonner and Placer County Supervisor Bill Santucci, according to Doolittle’s campaign. So far there aren’t other members, but Doolittle spokesman Richard Robinson said there are “thousands of conservative Democrats supporting the congressman.”

Haha. Gotta love astroturf. And, I don’t have any evidence, but does anybody else think the titles of these two indicate there may be some of this at play here? (h/t to georgia10@dkos, also this diary was updated w/link to Brian’s diary and to reflect that the story is AP, not SFChron)

In the extended, I’ve pasted Chris Bowers’ Google Bombing code on the flip.  Please consider using the links for Bilbray, Doolittle, and Pombo when you use their names on the Internets.

–AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

–AZ-01: Rick Renzi

–AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

–CA-04: John Doolittle

–CA-11: Richard Pombo

–CA-50: Brian Bilbray

–CO-04: Marilyn Musgrave

–CO-05: Doug Lamborn

–CO-07: Rick O’Donnell

–CT-04: Christopher Shays

–FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

–FL-16: Joe Negron
–FL-22: Clay Shaw
–ID-01: Bill Sali

–IL-06: Peter Roskam

–IL-10: Mark Kirk

–IL-14: Dennis Hastert

–IN-02: Chris Chocola

–IN-08: John Hostettler

–IA-01: Mike Whalen

–KS-02: Jim Ryun
–KY-03: Anne Northup

–KY-04: Geoff Davis

–MD-Sen: Michael Steele

–MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

–MN-06: Michele Bachmann

–MO-Sen: Jim Talent

–MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

–NV-03: Jon Porter

–NH-02: Charlie Bass

–NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

–NM-01: Heather Wilson

–NY-03: Peter King

–NY-20: John Sweeney

–NY-26: Tom Reynolds

–NY-29: Randy Kuhl

–NC-08: Robin Hayes

–NC-11: Charles Taylor

–OH-01: Steve Chabot

–OH-02: Jean Schmidt

–OH-15: Deborah Pryce

–OH-18: Joy Padgett

–PA-04: Melissa Hart

–PA-07: Curt Weldon

–PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

–PA-10: Don Sherwood

–RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee
–TN-Sen: Bob Corker

–VA-Sen: George Allen

–VA-10: Frank Wolf

–WA-Sen: Mike McGavick
–WA-08: Dave Reichert

Apparently the corrupt John Doolittle will not be going down without a fight.  A new non-partisan SurveyUSA poll has Doolittle up by 10 points (51-41) with a 4.1% MoE. So, this is race will require that we get every last Brown vote out.  Doolittle needs to go.

CA-04: John Doolittle

CA-11: Richard Pombo

CA-50: Brian Bilbray

AZ-Sen: Jon Kyl

AZ-01: Rick Renzi

AZ-05: J.D. Hayworth

AZ-08: Randy Graf

CA-04: John Doolittle

CA-11: Richard Pombo

CA-50: Brian Bilbray

CO-04: Marylin Musgrave

CO-05: Doug Lamborn

CO-07: Rick O’Donnell

CT-02: Rob Simmons

CT-04: Christopher Shays

CT-05: Nancy Johnson

FL-13: Vernon Buchanan

FL-16: Joe Negron

FL-22: Clay Shaw

ID-01: Bill Sali

IL-06: Peter Roskam

IL-10: Mark Kirk

IL-14: Dennis Hastert

IN-02: Chris Chocola

IN-08: John Hostettler

IN-09: Mike Sodrel

IA-01: Mike Whalen

IA-02: Jim Leach

KS-02: Jim Ryun

KY-03: Anne Northup

KY-04: Geoff Davis

MD-Sen: Michael Steele

MN-01: Gil Gutknecht

MN-06: Michele Bachmann

MO-Sen: Jim Talent

MT-Sen: Conrad Burns

NV-02: Dean Heller

NV-03: Jon Porter

NH-02: Charlie Bass

NJ-07: Mike Ferguson

NM-01: Heather Wilson

NY-03: Peter King

NY-19: Sue Kelly

NY-20: John Sweeney

NY-24: Ray Meier

NY-25: Jim Walsh

NY-26: Tom Reynolds

NY-29: Eric Massa

NC-08: Robin Hayes

NC-11: Charles Taylor

OH-Sen: Mike DeWine

OH-01: Steve Chabot

OH-02: Jean Schmidt

OH-15: Deborah Pryce

OH-18: Joy Padgett

PA-Sen: Rick Santorum

PA-04: Melissa Hart

PA-06: Jim Gerlach

PA-07: Curt Weldon

PA-08: Mike Fitzpatrick

PA-10: Don Sherwood

RI-Sen: Lincoln Chafee

TN-Sen: Bob Corker

TX-22: Shelly Sekula Gibbs

VA-Sen: George Allen

VA-02: Thelma Drake

VA-10: Frank Wolf

WA-Sen: Mike McGavick

WA-05: Cathy McMorris

WA-08: Dave Reichert

WI-08: John Gard

WY-AL: Barbara Cubin

Ted Gaines (handpicked by the corrupt and ineffective John Doolittle) is too “busy” to go out and meet the voters in his district. This has gone so far that the Auburn Journal felt compelled to write a story about it:

As the Nov. 7 general election draws near, District 4 California State Assembly candidates Rob Haswell and Ted Gaines are battling hard in last-push efforts to reach out to voters.

But while one candidate has attended many public forums, the other has chosen not to show up.

Democratic candidate Haswell, 43 has been walking precincts, phone banking and attending any public forum he can.

To be fair, Gaines did show up at one forum:

“Ted did accept one forum, but it was not open to the public,” Haswell said. “I would be willing to accept any offer and I was hoping that we would have some debates.”

But wait it gets better. Here’s what Ted Gaines has to say about it:

“I have just been trying to juggle all of my activities – my family, my business and my duties as a supervisor,” Gaines said. “Those combined with campaigning have really kept me busy. I am getting out there and trying to meet as many voters as I can.”

After reading this “excuse”, what do you think? Do you honestly believe that this man will work his ass off for the residents of his district? Or will he be too “busy” to care? I’ve got a faint feeling that this man has a sense of entitlement, that he feels because this has been a Republican district for quite a while, that the annointment by John Doolittle is all he needs.

Well, Mr. Gaines, it takes a little more than that. Not debating your opponent, not showing up at public forums, not caring what the voters think is not the best choice.

There is of course an alternative to Ted “Busy” Gaines.

Rob Haswell has toured the district tirelessly, meeting as many voters as he possibly can and answering all their questions. If you haven’t heard about Rob yet or if you want to learn more about him, then read this interview Rob has given to Turn Tahoe Blue.

If you think Rob deserves your support then vote for him and consider contributing to his campaign. As little as $5 will go a long way!

cross posted from Turn Tahoe Blue

When you move away from the coast, and reach into the Republican areas of the state, you’ll find political machines to rival any of those found in the big coastal cities.  Big City machines have to deal with powerful mayors (i.e. Newsom and Villaraigosa) and have a large number of Congressmen.  Resentment of the mayors typically limits the actual amount of power that the mayors will have, and so you have kind of a crazy push and pull between different power sources.

But while less urban machines may not have as great of number of positions, they make up for it in authoritorianism.  John Doolittle personally chooses who will run for each position, who gets what money, etc.  There is nobody to compete with Doolittle.  There are no mayors that have where near the authority to challenge him.  See Auburn mayor John Michael Holmes about that one. 

Pombo is no different, his shady dealings were detailed in the Tracy Press (I’m quite surprised too).  He has vested interests in the district.  Especially in Tracy.  Especially in real estate.  He was, shall we say, less than pleased in 2001 when Tracy passed a ballot initiative that limited the number of homes built per year. The current city council has already made deals with developers, including the family of big Phil Angelides supporter Angelo Tsakapalous. Long story short, the city council has accepted two deals. One would build $20 mil worth of sports parks, and the other would build a simiarly priced waterpark.  The developers would then get the right to build a ton of homes once the slow growth initiative expired.

Sounds dirty, but where does Pombo come in you ask? Oh well, you see the land that the developers want to build on, yeah, it belongs to the Pombo family.  So, Celeste Garamendi, who is running for mayor, wants to continue slow growth and plans on fighting those plans.  So, what does Pombo do? He dumps $25,000 into her opponent’s campaign. That’s a lot of money for a position like mayor of Tracy.

Garamendi sees in the Pombo donation an effort by a corporate cabal to maintain power in Tracy.

“The money is being directed 100 percent at maintaining the special-interest control of the council,” said Garamendi, who is running on a slate with council candidates Carole Dominguez and Roger Adhikari. “Pombo has historically supported unrestrained development.

Yup, that sounds just like the Pombo we know and the Pombo we (don’t) love.