Everyone should bookmark this site monitoring the close races that haven’t been called in California.  There are four such races within 2% at the moment.  There’s Prop. 11, which is trending toward passage with a 131,000 vote lead.  There’s SD-19, which has some breathing room now, as Hannah-Beth Jackson leads by 1,203 votes.

And then there are the two Sacramento-area races.  Alyson Huber’s race in AD-10 has really tightened up.  She now trails Jack Sieglock by just 319 votes out of 154,000 counted.  That is well within the 1/2 of 1% territory that would trigger an automatic recount.  Which brings up an interesting question which perhaps some election junkie could answer.  The Secretary of State certifies the count on December 2.  But the new legislature is sworn in on December 1.  If there’s a race with no clear winner at that point, what happens?

Finally, we have CA-04, the race between Charlie Brown and Tom McClintock.  This has bounced around a bit, but we’re now looking at an 889 vote lead for McClintock.  There are anywhere between 48,000 and 55,000 votes left to count, based on this chart (which you can also bookmark) of unprocessed ballots.  This race also appeared headed to a recount, and if you believe this Daily Kos diarist, Brown has a good shot at making up ground, because there are so many outstanding votes in Nevada County, where Brown did best.

We know these counts and recounts are expensive, and now two groups have stepped up with their support of Charlie while we sort this out.  Wes Clark sent an email to his list today:

Our friend Charlie Brown needs our help. The margin in California’s 4th Congressional District is razor thin, and they’re still counting votes. After more than 300,000 ballots were cast in CA-04, the race is tied. The current difference stands at less than half of 1% (less than 500 votes).

With 40,000 vote-by-mail and provisional ballots still to be counted, the race is way too close to call. That’s why it’s critical for us to make sure all the votes are counted in CA-04.

Please contribute to Charlie Brown’s Election Protection Fund today!

Charlie’s opponent, Tom McClintock, has hired an election attorney and brought in a team of lawyers to “watch” the locations where absentee and provisional ballots are being counted. McClintock’s team is doing everything they can to challenge the votes of thousands of people who faithfully cast their ballots.

Charlie needs our help to fight back.

And DFA has done the same:

In 2000, we lost the election when the Bush campaign beat us in the legal and media fight that followed.  In 2004, we had to force a recount in the Washington State Governor’s race and we won because you delivered the resources to make it happen.

We need to raise at least $40,000 by Monday to back up these races with the resources they need right now.

CONTRIBUTE $50 TO THE DFA COUNT EVERY VOTE FUND

In 2004, we raised over $250,000 for the Washington State recount. This year, we need $40,000 right now to keep the GOP dirty tricks at bay and make sure every vote is counted fairly.

DFA’s Grassroots All-Star Charlie Brown needs resources to fend off a team of Republican lawyers who, as I write this message, are challenging every Democratic ballot before the FIRST count has even been completed. Charlie is down by less than 500 votes with over 15,000 votes still to be counted. He needs our help to make sure every vote is counted.

(Note: it’s now 889 votes with over 48,000 votes left to be counted)

with only 12 precincts in Ventura County left to count, Hannah-Beth Jackson has a lead on Tony Strickland of just 386 votes out of over 300,000 cast.

Ventura County has gone for Strickland very slightly, but which way those 12 precincts lean is a crapshoot.  This one will go to a recount and to provisionals.

Despite the failure of Senate Democrats to legitimately contest the 2 seats necessary to gain a 2/3 majority, the one seat that is up for grabs, SD-19, is getting a lot of attention.  From Capitol Weekly:

If the Capitol looks a bit deserted this week, there’s a good reason: Some 200 staff workers have headed into the Ventura area for the hottest legislative battle of the year, pitting two former Assembly members for the Senate seat held by Tom McClintock, who is running for Congress.

Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson and Republican Tony Strickland are neck-and-neck in the 19th Senate District, a Republican stronghold that has experienced a recent surge in Democratic registrations. Political pros say the race is too close to call, and Senate leaders this week began pouring personnel into the zone to buttress the local campaigns. (Capitol Weekly 10/31/08)

Ooh, you can bet there will be fun times in Ventura County this weekend! I mean what can possibly be more fun than 200 legislative staffers. Partying, knocking on some doors, you know general mayhem.

Hey I know somebody who is a fan of general mayhem. Yes Tony Strickland, I’m looking at you, Mr. Sly Trickster.

• John Myers recaps the latest expenditure figures in the top legislative races. Unsuprisingly, the lone Senate race was the costliest race so far.  Currently over $8.5 Million has been forked over for little ol’ SD-19. The split between the two parties is pretty close on that one, but the biggest spender so far, according to the FPPC, is Californians for Jobs and Education.  The Chamber of Commerce provides most of that money. In the Assembly, AD-80 is the most expensive race at almost $6 million.  Manuel Perez is the preferred beneficiary of a bunch of that IE money, mostly from teachers and service employees.

• A coalition led by Change To Win has sent a letter to Arnold Schwarzenegger asking that he assign nonessential public employees to help at the polls on Election Day to facilitate the expected high turnout and long lines.  You can read the letter, which is quite good, at the link.

• The Governor formed a commission to study the tax structure. The idea was first put forth by Speaker Karen Bass, but this commission better do its job in, well, how’s a week sound?  Now, hop to it.

• Some athletes not to idolize: Jeff Kent (Dodgers) gave $15K to Yes on 8, and Philip Rivers (Chargers) gave $10 K to Yes on 4.  

And away we, er, go.

• CA-03: Bill Durston, who is showing lots of strength in his race against Dan Lungren, has earned the support of the Alliance of Retired Americans, a 3.5 million-member group of retirees.  Clearly this came on the heels of Durston’s strong support for a not-for-profit health care system:

Dr. Durston has also been a strong proponent of universal health care. “It’s always been my philosophy that access to necessary medical care is a basic human right, not a privilege based on one’s ability to pay. We’re the only western industrialized country in the world that doesn’t have some form of universal health care, yet we pay twice as much per capita as the other countries for medical care.”

Durston is starting to get some major attention after that last poll.  Expect him to attack Lungren on his vote for the bailout over the next 27 days.

• CA-04: Lots going on here.  After vowing to shut down his account for 2010 statewide races, professional politician Tom McClintock just couldn’t close the door.

But four weeks before the Nov. 4 election, McClintock’s account remains open and active, as the Thousand Oaks lawmaker has doled out thousands of dollars to fellow Republicans in the last week.

McClintock made $3,600 donations, the maximum allowed under state law, to a trio of Republican candidates for the Legislature: Senate candidates Tony Strickland and Greg Aghazarian and Assembly hopeful Jack Sieglock.

His Democratic opponent, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brown, made hay of McClintock’s multiple accounts over the summer, calling him a career politician in search of a job.

“What office are you running for?” Brown said in a July statement.

I just find it interesting that Republicans are that worried about Jack Sieglock.  Go Alyson Huber!  Of course, the other half of this is that McClintock is a huge hypocrite, but you knew that.

In other news, Charlie Brown has a new ad out comparing professional politician McClintock to his record of service.  Truth Fights Back, John Kerry’s group, is getting Charlie’s back over that ridiculous anti-military smear of McClintock’s.  Brown also signed the Children’s Defense Council’s Pledge to ensure affordable health care for every child and every pregnant woman.  I very much liked this strong take in the press release:

“Tom McClintock gets free healthcare, a free car, free gas, and tax free per diems he’s not entitled to, yet has voted to restrict the ability of Californians to see a doctor of their choice and fought against helping our most vulnerable citizens  access meaningful healthcare coverage,” said Retired USAF Lt. Col. Charlie Brown  “His record of inaction has not only helped drive up the cost of healthcare for every Californian, it’s illustrative of a career politician hypocrite who would rather serve himself, than solve problems.”

Earlier this year, McClintock authored SB 1669, which would have made it easier for health insurance companies to deny the health claims of Californians on the basis of pre-existing condition.  In fact, SB 1669 would have extended the period that insurers could look back in your medical history from 12 months to 10 years.  

“Tom McClintock’s idea of healthcare reform is writing a law that says if you have a medical problem, you can’t get healthcare coverage,” Brown said.  “This misguided bill  could have literally cost millions of Californians who have battled and overcome ailments ranging from diabetes, to mild cardiac conditions or cancer their lives.  It was so misguided, it never came up for a floor vote and not a single healthcare organization or institution signed on to support it.

Also, Mcjoan at the Great Orange Satan had a good piece based on some of her time in the district recently.  This is big:

The campaign has seven offices across the nine counties in the huge district, one of the most beautiful in the country, spanning the Sierras. With four regional field directors, seven organizers and 25 paid canvassers, the campaign has knocked on more than 120,000 doors and made over 300,000 phone calls. Hundreds of new Democrats have been registered. This is the kind of retail politics that allows Democrats to win in Republican districts, in fact it’s about the only way to run successfully in a tough district. McClintock, by contrast, has basically no field operation.

That ground game is going to win it for Charlie.

• CA-11: Continuing his quest to be the most overhyped Republican challenger this cycle, Dean Andal continues to dodge the question of whether or not he supported the Paulson bailout plan.  He literally has no idea how to handle it, preferring to hide behind the idea that it would be inappropriate to comment because he’s not in office.  Yeah, uh, that’s kind of the point.  You say how you would be different from the current office-holder as a means to get the job.  What a loser.

• CA-41, CA-45: Haven’t written much about Tim Prince’s race in San Bernardino County against Jerry “Lobbyists Are Funding My Congressional Portrait” Lewis, but somehow his campaign got the local paper to call it a tough race.

Prince criticized Lewis’ use of earmarks, the pet projects that lawmakers attach to spending bills, in some cases without a vote.

“Jerry Lewis is totally void of morality when it comes to earmarks,” he said, pointing to Lewis’ ties to Bill Lowery, a longtime friend and lobbyist. “When I’m congressman, the mayor of Beaumont and the mayor of Apple Valley can pick up the phone and call me for help. They don’t have to call a lobbyist who happens to be my best friend.”

One thing that Prince would be better advised to focus on is that his district has one of the highest rates of foreclosures in the entire country.  The highest?  CA-45, where Mary Bono-Mack is facing affordable housing expert Julie Bornstein.  If there was ever a reason to create a single-issue candidacy, this is it, and for Bornstein, who has an easier time of it with a less partisan electorate, that could be a real opening in the final month.

• SD-19: Calitics Match candidate Hannah-Beth Jackson is attacking Tony Strickland for greenwashing his environmental credentials in a very, shall we say, familiar way:

Of course, I’m happy to have provided the template for calling out Strickland on this nonsense.  There are in addition lots of IE attacks in this race as it nears the home stretch.

So we raised nearly $3,000 in about two days, and combined with our $2,500 in matching funds we contributed around $5,500 to five great candidates: Charlie Brown (CA-04), Debbie Cook (CA-46), Hannah-Beth Jackson (SD-19), Alyson Huber (AD-10), and Manuel Perez (AD-80).

Great work, everyone.  Thanks so much for participating.  You rock.

OK, we’re over $2,600, but we still need to get $500 per candidate to reach our matching goal.  Thanks so much, everyone.  If you want great Democrats like Hilda Solis in Washington and in Sacramento, please do what you can to help us out.

Thanks.

Calitics Match ActBlue page