Here’s what’s happening on the campaign trail.

• CA-11: Apparently trying to win some kind of award for the worst attack website in history, Jon Fleischman of the Flash Report (a terribly designed website in its own right) has put together One Term Is Enough, in all of its way-too-large masthead, ridiculously-spare with no action items or columns, design out of Quark X-Press glory.  Man, that’s ugly.  And I think the focus on Jerry McNerney’s earmarks, given the summer of scandal that Dean Andal has lived through which is entirely about a construction contract with a community college (if he was in Congress, that would be, basically, an earmark), is kind of silly.  Meanwhile, McNerney is up with his first ad of the cycle, focusing on his work on behalf of troops and veterans.

• AD-80: As soyinkafan noted, Manuel Perez and Gary Jeandron had a debate where Jeandron stated his support for a tax increase in Imperial County.  That’s not likely to help him with the conservative base, but clearly Jeandron understands that he has to move to left if he has any chance to win this seat.  The Palm Springs Desert Sun has a debate report here.

• SD-19: Tony Strickland’s latest endorsement is Erin Brockovich, of all people.  However, this could be less of a reach across the aisle as it appears.

Ventura County Star columnist Timm Herdt got Strickland’s Democratic opponent Hannah-Beth Jackson on the phone, who said she was “a little surprised” by Brockovich backing her opponent.

While Brockovich says she is a Democrat in the ad, she writes on her blog that she’s ready to leave the party and become an independent.

“I am ready to turn because both parties are acting foolish and judgmental and attacking,” she writes.

She also has kind words for GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

“I am proud to be a member of the same Strong Woman’s Club that Sarah Palin is in.” Brockovich writes.

• AD-15: As has been noted, Joan Buchanan released her first campaign ad of the cycle.  Her opponent Abram Wilson responded with his own ad, also biographical in nature, and his campaign has questioned the Buchanan spot and her commitment to fiscal responsibility.  I suppose signing a “no-tax” pledge is the height of responsibility, then.

• AD-30: We were all expecting it, and now Nicole Parra has officially endorsed Republican Danny Gilmore in the election to replace her.  This is a family fight moved into the political sphere – the Parra-Florez feud is well-known.  

Parra’s support of Danny Gilmore angered Democratic Party leaders, but comes as no surprise because she has been praising Gilmore for months.

“I will endorse Danny Gilmore in the near future and I will campaign for him and do commercials,” Parra said in an interview. Gilmore, a retired California Highway Patrol officer from Hanford, is running against Democrat Fran Florez, mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, a longtime Parra rival.

• LA Board of Supes: Turns out that not only is Bernard Parks turning to Republicans to help him get elected over progressive State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, but for ten years he was a member of the American Independent Party (!).

According to voter registration forms certified by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder:

Bernard Parks left the Democratic Party and registered as an American Independent on February 12, 1992 – just in time to miss the opportunity to vote for President Bill Clinton.

He registered again as an American Independent on August 9, 1996.

President George Bush was elected in November 2000 – but Parks still wouldn’t become a Democrat for nearly a year and a half.

Parks was fired as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department on April 9, 2002. Shortly thereafter, he began to prepare to run for Los Angeles City Council, and re-registered as a Democrat on May 30, 2002. Less than a year later, he was elected to the City Council.

That is very strange, especially for an African-American to sign up with a party which is the legacy of George Wallace.

I was at a Joan Buchanan fundraiser the other day that featured the Speaker (who was great, as usual) and other local elected Dems. One thing that a couple of them mentioned was the fact that we now have a registration edge over the GOP in AD-15.

Since I’m a huge nerd, I decided to take a look at the numbers and ended up putting together a little chart (all numbers from the SoS website). One thing that struck me is that Democratic registration (as a percentage) has been increasing very slowly; the small advantage this cycle is more due to Republican registration shrinking. I also noticed that the margin of victory seems to have stayed fairly constant over the last three cycles – even during the presidential race, where Kerry won the district by a narrow margin.

Obviously the fact that Houston was an incumbent was a factor, as well as the fact that (as far as I know), the previous three candidates didn’t have the same experience in elected office or fundraising potential as Joan Buchanan. Just curious as to what people think and whether I’m reading too much into this.

I was over in the East Bay yesterday running some errands, so I figured I would stop in the Walnut Creek opening of the Contra Costa County United Democratic Campaign (CCC-UDC) HQ.  They had a band, plenty of good snacks and drinks, and a few great candidates mingling with a pretty good number of grassroots Democrats who turned out to welcome the new office.

Check out AD-15 candidate Joan Buchanan talk about her race and the area, and over the flip you’ll see current Assemblyman and future Senator Mark Desaulnier.

Due to Memorial Day, the Calitics Show has been moved to today at 3:30. I'll be talking to 2 Assembly Candidates, Joan Buchanan of the 15th District and Richard Holober in the 19th.

As always, you can listen live here, or you can catch the archived podcast on iTunes  or at the Calitics Show homepage.

As reported by Randy Bayne, Steve Filson is dropping out of the race for the Democratic nomination in AD-15. From Filson’s website:

Dear Friends and Supporters:

It is with great regret, that we are suspending our campaign for the California State Assembly. There are a constellation of reasons both personal and political that I have reached a point to make a tough choice.

I want to thank everyone who has been with us. You understood the importance of winning this seat and converting it to a Democratic one. I still think that is possible and very important but having two strong opponents in a Primary brings more harm than good. Therefore it is best if we help clear the field so that our Democratic contender is ready for the general election which will be very tough.

For those many folks who donated their time, I can’t thank you enough.

For the time being I will be analyzing my next steps. For the many great new friends I have met during this campaign, I’m sure we will cross paths again. Again, I thank everyone for their support.

Warm regards,

                                             Steve

This would seem to leave Joan Buchanan as the strongest contender for the Democratic nomination in the district – which is one of the most favorable to flip from red to blue this fall.

Cross posted from The Progressive Connection

Seems like it’s about time for Ellen Tauscher to check herself into Interfering Politician Rehab. You might have thought that after last year’s Steve Filson debacle in the CA-11 primary, she’d have gotten the message that Democratic voters are perfectly capable of choosing their own candidates. But nooooo, the woman is out of control.

With Guy Houston being termed out of his AD-15 seat, there are presently five Democrats vying to replace him:

• retired airline pilot Steve Filson
• electrician Steve Thomas
• retired entrepreneur Fred Klaske
• small businessman Davies Ononiwu and
• high school principal Chris Van Schaack

So you might look at this group and ask yourself, “Exactly what’s missing from the mix; what more do we need?” And the answer would be — why, it’s the Ellen Tauscher Seal of Approval™. Apparently, Filson has fallen out of favor; I’m guessing that Tauscher feels like he let her down in CA-11, rather than the more obvious alternative: that, just maybe, Democratic voters resent Tauscher’s interference in their elections.

So meet the new, sixth candidate in AD-15, Joan Buchanan. A 17-year member of the school board in San Ramon and generous contributor to Tauscher’s past campaigns, Buchanan appears poised to catapult to front-runner status based on her powerful political connections to Friends of Ellen and her prodigious fundraising potential. Sound eerily familiar?

What is Tauscher thinking? Isn’t there anybody who can stop her before she hurts someone? K-Fed? Anyone?