This could be the result of a Halloween prank, all the way up to something out of The Godfather.  But the fact that it happened at the beginning of GOTV weekend is very curious.

On Friday night, upon leaving the Charlie Brown for Congress campaign office in Grass Valley, staffers found a severed goat’s head on the front step.  I’m putting the pictures on the flip, because they are graphic and disturbing, so please don’t open if you don’t want to see them.

Who in the world would do something like this?  I don’t care if it has nothing to do with the election, although putting it at a Brown campaign office obviously makes a certain connection.  Authorities were involved in the removal and are looking into finding the perpetrator.  If this is politically motivated, it is sad and cruel for someone to involve an innocent farm animal in their personal frustration or anger or derangement.  Hopefully, those responsible will be caught.

Edit by Brian: Photos moved here…

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Wednesday, October 29, 2008.  8pm.  Tom McClintock addresses a group of potential voters at the McBean Park Pavilion in Lincoln, CA

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Over four hundred people stood in line outside at a fundraiser put on by the Lincoln Police Auxiliary and Lions Club, to donate canned goods to enter this Halloween Haunted House, also at the Lincoln McBean Park Pavilion last night, Oct 29, 2008, adjacent to the building McClintock was in.

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“Vell- come to my House of Economic Horrors” .  That’s McClintock campaign spokesperson Bill George guarding the door making sure the Democrats and other Subversives, like Independents and other people with notepads, don’t get in.  It worked, George.  There were 18 people.  At least 5 of them were campaign staff.  

Note the Igor force field effect.  He’s not in the viewfinder but within a few yards so the picture blurred again.

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Another view of the Secret Republican Political Meet Tom McClintock in Lincoln event. Peering thru the camelia bushes outside the building

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This is Team McClintock’s sentry standing in front of the local Lincoln Massage Parlor 2.5 hours before the Lincoln McClintock event that evening. It is across the street from the McBean Pavilion.  He whipped out that cell phone when I pulled into the parking lot.  I think it’s time to mention that the former Lincoln Planning and Zoning commissioner during the time Lincoln was approving every single proposed commercial development (during the early 2000’s, when Kevin Ring, Doolittle’s ex legislative aide,  was a lobbyist for the city )  was eventually  busted on prostitution charges and owned another massage parlor in town.   While we’re at it,  McClintock voted against regulating massage parlors while in the State Senate.  

It just writes itself, sometimes.   I can’t make this stuff up.   More pics to come.

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Roseville,  Maidu Community Center, 6:30 pm, Wednesday Oct 29 2008.  McClintock addressing potential Republican voters at his first event that evening. View from outside the room, looking  through the window.  McClintock is to the far left, light grey hair, suit, standing facing audience.  Doesn’t look too crowded in there, does it ?  Note door sentries.

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Roseville, Maidu Community Center, Wednesday Oct 29, 2008.  It is 7:10 pm.  They just had about 35 people total dribble out of the room, including the staff and others working as Republicans. The yoga class next door had more people.   McClintock is supposed to be in downtown Lincoln at 7:30 pm.   Is this going to happen ?  Not unless he teleports.  

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This is the fun part.  Meanwhile, back in Lincoln, at the main road into town from the south, there’s some serious Brown support going on !   A demonstration with at least 50 to 60 people is showing their public support for the local candidate.

McClintock is going to have to drive past this to get to his next event in Lincoln.  ( I was there very early and as it ended, but left to see what was going on in Roseville, so these are not my pictures )  

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Charlie Brown supporters waiting along the highway, Lincoln, evening of Oct 29,2008, during commuting hours, ready to give Travelin’ Tom McClintock that Big Lincoln Hospitality Welcome he deserves !

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This is one of the first people that was out there that evening. Veterans for Brown.  

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Young people for Brown.  

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Older people (“seasoned and sage” )  for Brown.

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Working people for Brown  

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Ladies and Gentlemen of Lincoln for Brown

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Jumpin’ for Joy for Brown !

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And once McClintock and his crew got past that, they still had to go thru this .

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The families waiting in line to donate food to the Lions Club, and visit the Haunted Castle House in Lincoln, next to the McBean Pavilion building, Oct 29, 2008.  

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Happy Halloween from Lincoln, CA.  The Great Pumpkin has Arrived, Charlie Brown.  

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McClintock’s bloggers are making bizarre claims about having 3 thousand donors making over $300,000 in donations over the last 10 days-  this is bloviating nonsense, his campaign is still in debt, but  getting big money from outside the district via independent expenditures.  And you should see where some of the dough is coming from, you’d be shocked.  Well, maybe not, after all, it’s McClintock, running the Doolittle playbook.  Remember one of those Indian tribes involved in the Abramoff scandal ?  Remember some companies that Doolittle did earmarks for, then they contributed to his legal defense fund?   Remember how McClintock makes this stupid dig all the time, about how we can’t send somebody to Congress who would implement the same policies as Herbert Hoover ? So what does he do?  He takes a big donation off of a old Reaganite who works for the Herbert Hoover Institute.   Link to McClintock’s FEC filings, the F6 ‘s are the larger last minute filings which have to be reported within 48 hours,  and the F3 ‘s are the quarterly, primary or general filings (covers a longer period of time)   http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…

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For just one example, on the latest McClintock F6 filing,

http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-b…    there is a 10/27/2008 donation to McClintock of $2000 from the HERGER PAC, which is Congressperson Wally Herger’s (R, CA- 02) slush fund.  A look at the latest filing of the HERGER PAC show that they just received money from the Credit Suisse Securities PAC,  a  Swiss Investment Bank. From Opensecrets:    http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Here’s a list of the individual large donors for Credit Suisse Securities. Note all the New York addresses.  http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

and from Wellpoint WELLPAC in Indiana.  (Wellpoint was based in THOUSAND OAKS CA, which McClintock uses as his current legal residence for collecting per diems from the state of CA-  what a coincidence )

This is an HMO health insurance PAC. From Opensecrets:   http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Now they’re in Indiana. Same business. http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Check the donors to this PAC, they’re the executives of this HMO administrator.

http://www.opensecrets.org/pac…

Foreign investment banks based in NYC and HMO’s are giving money to McClintock via Bush enabling Republican Wally Herger.  You’ll never hear McClintock bragging on this while he’s busy playing the “family values” card. He attempts to go to DC not to change anything but to preserve the Republican status quo of NO regulations and more tax cuts.   And this is one of the more pedestrian donations.   Don’t forget Jeff Morris is running against Herger in CA- 02.  

So much for all of McClintock’s alleged “local support.”  Here’s the pictures. Here’s the FEC filings.  Undeniable.  The polls are the 3rd key.  Charlie Brown has the support of the voters.  McClintock just has a PR consultant.

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Now let’s not let all the outside the district forces like ex- Congressman Richard Pombo, sworn enemy of the Endangered Species Act,  and his PAC/West Communications, a lobbyist group dedicated to the Drill Baby Drill mantra in the Artic National Refuge, buy out our congressional district.   Let’s keep Charlie Brown on the airwaves for the last 5 days.  

Charlie Brown for Congress  site  http://www.charliebrownforcong…

Actblue donation link

http://www.actblue.com/page/or…

Charlie Cook, the favored Congressional tipster for insiders, is notoriously conservative in his selections.  And as such, he’s slow to recognize races that, based on outdated fundamentals, simply “can’t” be competitive.  It’s embarrassing that it’s taken him this long to move CA-04 to a toss-up.  Here’s his precis:

CA-04 OPEN (Doolittle) Lean Republican to Toss Up

All GOP state Sen. Tom McClintock needed to do to put this district away was to run ads noting Democratic nominee Charlie Brown’s attendance at anti-war rallies. The only problem? McClintock ran out of money too soon and has been inexplicably “dark” on broadcast television in the final phase of the campaign, allowing Brown and the DCCC to remain in strong contention by portraying McClintock as a carpetbagger and self-serving career politician.

Republicans in Washington fret that McClintock has run a second rate campaign and that even with an extensive statewide fundraising network, he has failed to put together a competent media strategy. The NRCC, too broke to come to McClintock’s rescue, is also off the air in the expensive Sacramento market. Some Republicans suggest that in the end, their biggest advantage in this district may be the presence of Proposition 8, a measure to eliminate same-sex marriage, on the California ballot. This race should be a slam dunk for the GOP, but right now it is a toss up.

First of all, there’s no way that misleading anti-war rally attack would have derailed the Brown campaign.  Most of the country is against the war.  But putting that aside, Cook shares my astonishment that Mr. Fiscal Conservative McClintock managed to run out of money weeks before the race was over.  That is some epic mismanagement.

Cook is wrong about another thing, the NRCC is trying to ride to the rescue, up with a new ad trying to paint Brown as a “liberal yes man.”  I just don’t think this is the year to throw around the “L” word like it’s some kind of boogeyman.  Anyway, don’t they know that these days, you’re supposed to call the Democrat a socialist or a Marxist?  Looking at the ad, it looks like the NRCC and McClintock went Dutch on it.

The point is that the GOP hasn’t totally given up on this race, and while I’m confident in Brown’s abilities he could definitely use some reinforcements in the final week.  You can give at the Calitics ActBlue page.

The biggest newspaper in the region, the Sacramento Bee, makes the case for Charlie Brown and a new direction in the district, particularly on the area of putting pragmatism above ideology.  Now, I don’t totally agree with all the conclusions of the editorial, but the last bit is unquestionably true:

Brown understands that the that the mortgage crisis, the collapse of the financial system, the credit crunch and the recession are real. He would have supported the rescue plan because doing nothing was worse than doing something, though he believes Congress has done a poor job of selling the package. And the final package assured taxpayers get any profits, required congressional oversight, banned golden parachutes.

This is telling. McClintock sticks to ideology; Brown pragmatically puts the nation first.

The nation and the 4th District need to find ways out of partisan and ideological gridlock. Elect Charlie Brown to Congress.

Now, if the final package wasn’t such a dog with fleas that the feds have basically scrapped it, and if the banks weren’t using it to collect free money instead of facilitating lending, this would be a stronger argument.  Whatever; the Bee’s endorsements have been profoundly odd, and have seemed to value bipartisan seriousness over everything.  But I think there’s a difference between rejecting partisanship and abandoning core principles.  I think that Charlie Brown will govern the way he has campaigned, by working through problems and using his best judgment based on his values and principles.  Tom McClintock is incapable of adapting to changing information whatsoever.

What he will do is try to play dirty to win the election, including sending nasty robocalls throughout the district because they’re cheap for his cash-strapped campaign.  The problem is that they haven’t done a good job of checking their call lists.  The Brown campaign, for example, got robocalled.

UPDATE: The latest poll shows Brown expanding his slim but measurable lead.

Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 10/20-22. Likely voters. MoE 5% (9/23-25 results)

McClintock (R) 42 (41)

Brown (D) 48 (46)

Among early voters (13 percent of respondents)

McClintock (R) 38

Brown (D) 56

Brown takes independents 51-34.  McClintock’s fav/unfav is at 44/42.  Brown is at 49/29.  And McClintock is out of the cash he’d need to push up Brown’s unfavorables.  

This is very good news.  Let’s get this seat.  Stay for Change.

The 4th District had a debate as well last night, the fifth and final of the campaign, and it was spirited.

Every scathing remark and harsh charge that’s gone back and forth in the congressional race between Republican Tom McClintock and Democrat Charlie Brown got one more airing Tuesday night.

Speaking at a forum sponsored by the South Nevada County Chamber of Commerce south of Grass Valley, McClintock was painted as a do-nothing career politician and Brown as a tax-loving big-government advocate.

And there was also some talk about issues, mixed in with the shots, though sometimes each answer was equal parts both.

It was the usual nonsense: McClintock wants to drill here and drill now.  McClintock wants no taxes and no government.  McClintock wants to privatize Social Security (yes, even now).  McClintock thinks Keebler elves can build the roads and bridges and a thimble-full of oil can power a Lexus.  He’s a magical thinker.  But I have to say that this was my favorite part, and not just because McClintock doesn’t know the meaning of the word “liquidity.”

McClintock also roundly criticized the recently passed Wall Street bailout package, saying the better route was to put liquidity into the market.

Brown countered that he supported the plan because something needed to be done, then made reference to recent Federal Election Commission reports that showed McClintock’s campaign in debt.

“You can’t even run your own campaign on a balanced budget, so I don’t trust you to run our nation’s budget,” Brown said.

Brown also hit McClintock over spending the past two years in Sacramento without getting one piece of legislation passed.

Brown took aim at McClintock’s record as a state legislator, making reference to a recent Sacramento Bee story that reported McClintock had a perfect record of getting no legislation passed in the last two years.

“This is about actual results, and not talking about what you want to do unless you propose something else you can get passed,” Brown said.

The debate is not going to have a major viewing audience.  But the airwaves will, and the DCCC has just dropped a long-awaited ad in the district.  It’s good.

That’s quite a lot for 30 seconds, but they pretty much cover California’s Alan Keyes and make him out to be the punchline that he is.

The question is whether or not McClintock has 10 cents to respond to this.

Politico picks up the story of Tom McClintock’s fundraising woes, and the fact that he was in the red as of October 1.  I didn’t know this:

But according to his campaign finance reports, he heads into the home stretch without much campaign cash left. McClintock spent more money than he raised, ending September with just $94,000 in his campaign account.

He is not currently airing airing any television ads, and hasn’t been for the last two weeks.

If he’s off the air right now, it’s going to be next to impossible for him to get back on.  The NRCC doesn’t have a whole lot of money to play with, especially considering all the incumbents they have to defend.  And the GOTV efforts, radio, phone calls, mailers, etc., cost plenty of money.  If McClintock’s living from hand to mouth right now, he’s not going to get back on TV.  And needless to say, Charlie Brown has plenty of money to blanket TV in the final two weeks.  It’s incredible.

And what’s amazing is that this is how McClintock handled the primary as well.  He overspent early and wound up running on fumes the last couple weeks.  It wasn’t a big deal against Doug Ose, but against a formidable opponent like Brown it’ll matter.  The supposed fiscal conservative can’t even manage his own campaign stash.

(stay for change. – promoted by David Dayen)

With only two weeks until Election Day, it is more critical than ever to get out and help bring Charlie to victory. For months now, the Charlie Brown campaign for Congress has been burning up the phone lines and pounding the pavement to get our positive message of “patriotism before partisanship” out to the voters of the 4th Congressional District.  

One of our top canvassers is Nate Cox.

Nate is 22 years old and a recent graduate of the Sierra College Fire Academy. While waiting for his first assignment, he’s taking time to help send Charlie to Congress. While following Nate around South Placer County, we learned first-hand about how this race is shaping up in our favor and how we need every available boot on the ground to bring Charlie to victory.

“I’ve never really been interested in politics until I heard about Charlie,” Nate said. “One of my roommates was involved in the campaign and told me about this guy named Charlie Brown running for Congress. After hearing about him and meeting him, I knew I needed to do whatever I could to get this guy elected. Plus, how cool would it be to say I helped get a Congressman elected?”

As we pulled up to the first house, Nate explained how he likes to approach each individual and find some way to connect before even meeting face-to-face. “You can find out so much about a person by their driveway and front lawn. Bumper stickers, toys in the yard… they tell you a lot about who you’re going to talk to.”

The first person we talked to was a man named Gary. A registered Republican, Gary was a little bit of a tough nut to crack. “I’ve never voted for a Democrat in my life. Why should I support your guy?” Nate explained Charlie’s 26 years of service in the Air Force, his staunch support for 2nd Amendment rights, and his commitment to balancing the federal budget. Nate also gave Gary a copy of the recent Veterans Press endorsement of Charlie. After a good five minutes of discussion, Gary gave a big grin. “You sure know your stuff. You’re making me think, and I’m not sure that’s such a good thing for my Party. I’ll check out your website and think about it.”

A few “not home” houses later, we came upon another Placer County resident. Iris, a 55-year old school teacher, answered the door. She immediately identified herself as a supporter. “Everyone in this household is for Charlie. There’s no doubt about that. How do I get a lawn sign?” This one was a little too easy.

Nate made “the ask.”

“Is there any way you’d be able to help volunteer some time?”

“Only if I can get that button you’re wearing in return!”

Over the course of the afternoon, it became clear that canvassing in Roseville was a pretty enjoyable experience. Mild weather, beautiful suburban scenery, and pleasant people abound.

The final location of the canvassing trip was an apartment complex. As each door was knocked and literature was left behind, new supporter after new supporter was being identified. Our final knock of the afternoon was to a young college student named Joe.

Joe readily identified himself as someone not interested in politics. Joe admitted to not having ever voted until this Presidential Primary. “I just don’t see how it affects me.”

Nate found a way to identify with the student. “Do you drive to school?”

“Yes,” he replied.

“Do you like having smooth roads or driving over potholes messing up your suspension?”

Joe responded “No one likes bottoming out.”

“Then you have a reason to vote. These are the people who decide what to do with your tax money. You can vote for someone, like Charlie, who will work to bring money back to fix our highways and infrastructure and make life a little easier for you.”

Nate is an unusual kid: not appearing to have a care in the world, he surprised us by using his passion for helping Charlie bring in new supporters. A lot of the people we talked to had questions about Charlie’s economic positions and what he was going to do to bring jobs into the district. With the release of our new TV ad, we were able to speak to several voters while the commcercial was playing on their TVs! You can see our newest ad on youtube as well:

We need your help to keep this ad running. Click here to contribute. Any money you donate will be used to fight the slime machine Tom McClintock is employing against Charlie. The time is now, and you can make a difference wherever you are to help Charlie win this election.

All told, 12 Charlie supporters were identified from those that were home, compared to 3 McClintock supporters for the entire day. The votes are out there, but we need your help to bring this victory home.

With one of the best ground games in the nation being implemented here in the 4th District, we have a distinct advantage over our opponent. While he’s busy slinging mud, we’ve built a volunteer base that has dominated in every way imaginable. But in these final 2 weeks, your help will be a crucial addition to our winning strategy.

As GOTV progresses, please come spend some time in CA-04. Walk some neighborhoods with Nate and our team. Make some phone calls in one of our 7 offices to remind voters about Charlie Brown and his positive message of change. If you can’t make it to our district, please send a contribution to Charlie and help us support the flood of volunteers we will be hosting in these final days. You can also contact our campaign headquarters to find out other ways to help.

We appreciate your help, and look forward to seeing you on the campaign trail.

Sincerely,

Neil Pople

Director of Online Communications

Charlie Brown for Congress

That’s the bottom line.  As the Sacramento Bee reports, Tom McClintock is Epic Fail:

Tom McClintock, a conservative Republican in a Democratic-dominated state Legislature, is the only state lawmaker to fail to shepherd a single piece of legislation into law in the last two years.

Not that he seems to mind.

In all of 2007, he passed not a single bill.  And, according to the article, this year, he passed one, but it was vetoed by the VetoNator.

So…since Tom McClintock isn’t exactly a legislator, what does he view his job as?

“I came to the conclusion a long time ago that minority legislators have a choice,” said McClintock, who has served for 22 years in Sacramento. “One is to tinker at the margins and win very minor victories on unimportant matters and the other is to try to drive the public policy debate on major issues, sacrificing legislative victories for broader policy victories.”

See, McClintock doesn’t view himself as a legislator representing his constituents.  He actually sees himself as a conservative ideologue using a position in elected office to push a broader ideological agenda.  And it doesn’t matter what the office is, or whom he would technically represent.  What matters is that it’s an office he thinks he can win–which is why he’ll carpetbag hundreds of miles to a district he doesn’t even know.

Attention Mr. McClintock:  If you want to push a narrative, go work at the Heritage Foundation.  Go push public opinion at Fox News.  If you want to push the debate, there are plenty of places designed for just that where you can do that.  But do us all a favor, Tom, and leave the legislating and representing of constituents to someone who…oh, I don’t know…actually gives a shit about the job.

Voters in CA-04 have a choice.  That choice is Charlie Brown.