Well almost 3 weeks since the last Benawu congressional diary and the news is almost all bad.

We still have candidates in only 426 districts but it is about to become 425!

Check out the 50 State Page and give some lovin’ to Barry Welsh whilst you are there.

Below the fold for details……………

We are now up to 6 uncontested Republican districts with VA 4 and VA 6 coming up short. I still don’t understand why the Virginia Democratic Party and the Virginia Blogosphere focused so much on the Webb V Miller Senate Primary and left TWO congressional districts unopposed, the only state to do so.

In worse news Mark Hull-Richter will almost certainly fall short in his write in campaign in CA 42. Have a look at these returns from Orange County. Across the district Hull-Richter needed 2461 write in votes to get on the ballot in November. In Orange County he only got 263! (see the bottom of page 5 of the linked returns). Given that almost two thirds of the votes cast in CA 42 in 2004 came from Orange County I would say Hull-Richter is well sunk. **sigh**

So with that in mind the state of play is as follows:

425 Races with a Democratic candidate including 1 unconfirmed:
– LA 4 – Rev Artis Cash. When he files or sets up a website he becomes confirmed.
(Since my last diary unconfirmed candidates have become confirmed in AZ-06 and NY-03.)

10 Races where the Republican incumbent is unopposed:
7!!! Races where there won’t be a Democrat on the ballot in November.

AL 6 – Congressional District Map

CA 42 – Congressional District Map

FL 12 – Congressional District Map

MS 3 – Congressional District Map

TX 11 – Congressional District Map

VA 4 – Congressional District Map

VA 6 – Congressional District Map

3 Races where we don’t have a candidate YET.

LA 5 – Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate.

LA 6 – Congressional District Map. There is currently no rumored candidate.

LA 7 – Congressional District Map. Hunter Lundy is not running so there is currently no rumored candidate.

Whilst the last few weeks have been disappointing there is an upside. 425-428 districts filled is an amazing affirmation of Howard Dean’s 50 State Strategy as in 2004 we contested only 396 districts. We will have a full Congressional house slate in 43 or 44 states and with filing closing today in Rhode Island we now have 40 Unopposed Democratic candidates in districts where filing has closed! This of course compares to just 7 Unopposed Republicans.

Great job team.

(We’ve got a candidate in CA-42. Let’s see if he can qualify for the general. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

***** Cross posted at Daily Kos, MyDD, Our Congress (hopefully LOL), Calitics and My Left Wing!*****

Like many in the progressive blogosphere I was disgruntled (shitty actually) that write in filing had closed in California and we didn’t have a starter in CA-42. I even diaried about it.

So imagine my shock when I scrolled through the Kos diaries and found this unloved and unlamented bombshell. Yep we have a starter and his name is Mark Hull-Richter!!!!

Being a bit skeptical about these things I wandered over to the Californian Secretary of State site to have a gander at the list of Certified Write In candidates and yep Mark is listed.

Below for more………..

Like most of you I know nothing about Mark but so what he is running to get enough write in votes in the primary on June 6th to get on the ballot in November.

His is a steeper challenge than either Tony Barr, Charles Dertinger or Charlie Wilson, but if they could do it so too can Mark Hull-Richter!

Yes he is leaving his run mighty late and yes it is a cheap and nasty campaign website and yes that is one hell of a name to write in and yes he needs 2461 write in votes to get on the ballot in November!!!!

Mark however has three things going in his favour.
1) He is running
2) The progressive blogosphere knows he is running and can get behind him (no not financially).
3) Most importantly he has filed to receive write in votes under a wide variety of spellings of his name go check the Certified Write In list and you will see what I mean.

So come on you lot ring write and email friends and family in CA-42 or better still email Mark and offer an hour or two to ring registered Dems in the district to remind them to vote on Tuesday 6th June and to write in Mark-Hull Richter for the 42nd.

This is the 50 State Strategy in action guys GO TO IT!

Brought to you by the gang from the 50 State Page and of course Barry Welsh. Don’t forget the Welsh campaign meet up in Indianapolis on June 24th.

424 Races filled with a target of 431!

(Anybody live in CA-42? This seat currently belongs to Gary Miller, a proud co-author of the Racist/Nativist HR 4437. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

When Charlie Wilson’s campaign couldn’t get 50 signatures to file in OH-06 I thought that the Repubs would have only token opposition. WILSON GOT ON THE BALLOT THROUGH A PRIMARY WRITE IN CAMPAIGN.

When our candidate withdrew from NJ-04 less than a week AFTER filing closed I thought the Repub incumbent would go unopposed. A REPLACEMENT CANDIDATE GOT ON THE BALLOT.

When our candidate didn’t file in PA-09 I thought that the Repub incumbent would go unopposed. A WRITE IN CANDIDATE SURFACED.
When our write in candidate bailed out in PA-09 I thought that the Repub incumbent would go unopposed. ANOTHER WRITE IN CANDIDATE SURFACED.

So what the hell is wrong with California’s 42nd Congressional District??????????

Below the Fold………………………

How is it that we can fill every district in states like Utah, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Indiana, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Georgia and Kentucky but we can’t fill a lousy district like CA 42.

Here are the facts:
CA 42
Counties – parts of Orange, Los Angeles and San Bernardino.
Bush 2004/ Kerry 2004 – 62/37
Repub incumbent 2004 vote – 68%
Registered Repubs/ Dems – 171133/99356

Boxer won San Bernardino in 2004. Boxer and Kerry both won LA county but not the relevant parts of LA county.
Congressional District Map

As you can see a fairly Repub district but not overwhelmingly so and yet CA 42 joins AL 06, MS 03 and TX 11 as the ONLY districts where filing/nominations have closed and there is no Democratic candidate. Let me tell you that the other 3 are all districts and states that are much less Dem friendly than CA 42.

So what the hell is going on???

A write in candidate needs 1000 write in votes at the Primary on June 6th to get the party line for the General in November. So come on Kossacks find a candidate. We have write in candidates running in PA 9 and PA 15 so why not CA 42?

As Howard Dean enunciates so well we must contest EVERY district. Right now we are contesting more Districts (420) than the GOP did in 1994 (419). How cool is that? And we will end up with Dems running in at least 425 out of the 435. (and we might yet get to 430!)

So do YOU know anyone in CA 42.

Come on email State Party Chairman Torres and the County Chairs too!

Art Torres
LA County Chair
Orange County Chair
San Bernardino County Chair

Let’s get a write in candidate here so that Gary Miller doesn’t get a free pass!