by Randy Bayne

The Bayne of Blog

The question:

How did the brightest, most promising young political figure in Sacramento lose an election last week that he seemed certain to win?

was posed by Sacramento Bee columnist Marcos Bretón.

His answer:

It’s easy. The unions got Christopher Cabaldon.

wasn’t even close.

“The unions” didn’t get Cabaldon. His own supporters got Christopher Cabaldon. His bid to be the next Assemblyman from the 8th district was doomed when EdVoice, running an independent expenditure campaign, took on a successful and popular job training program that Mariko Yamada, Cabaldon’s opponent in the primary, voted in favor of. They called the job training program a waste of money and Yamada a wasteful spender. Voters reacted by handing the election to Yamada.

Yes, Yamada did receive help from “the unions.” They worked to reach out, directly contacting voters with a boots on the ground campaign that took her message directly to them. She did what wins elections &ndash direct, targeted voter contact. Days and hours spent knocking on doors and making phone calls, talking directly to voters and asking them for their vote. And it worked.

It worked so well that EdVoice had to resort to attacking Yamada.

Cabaldon’s fate was sealed when EdVoice sent out the mailer attacking Yamada for voting for the job training program. It labeled Yamada a big, wasteful spender, but didn’t tell the whole story. The funds she and her fellow Supervisors were voting for were funds that would come only with the job training program. No existing county programs would be adversely affected, and in the long run the job training benefits the local economy. This was the reason for the backlash and voters abandonment of Cabaldon.

To be fair, the independent expenditure working to elect Yamada also took a negative tack. They exploited the embarrassing fact that Cabaldon had a boot put on his car for too many unpaid parking tickets. The difference was that they were truthful. Cabaldon’s car was booted, he did have unpaid tickets. Edvoice omitted important facts in their attack making is seem like Yamada did something wrong.

There is not doubt Cabaldon would have made a great Assemblyman, just as Yamada will make a great Assemblywoman. For Democrats it was a no lose situation. We had two of the best candidates possible, and in the end voters selected the one they felt would best represent the district.

What is unfortunate in Bretón’s article is that he is singling out the wrong people. It isn’t “the unions” that are the problem, but independent expenditures in general. They can be as ugly, mean, and nasty as they want to be, and the candidate gets the blame. In this case, the negativity caused enough voters to change their votes it may have pushed Yamada over the top.

Good thing we had to great candidates.

Losing this election, as in all elections, came down to one thing, and one thing only. The other candidate got more votes. It is that simple. The possible exception being presidential elections in Florida and Ohio.