David Harmer has run for Congress three times.  Twice here in California, and a third time over a decade ago in Utah.  He comes from a political heritage, as his father was appointed by Reagan to serve out a year as Lt. Governor.  But, despite the fact that he lost by 2,658 votes, that doesn’t mean that he’s going to give in quite yet. No sir-ree!

As we told you the other day, with all the votes counted — but not Secretary of State certified — Republican David Harmer is down 2,658 votes in his East Bay congressional race against incumbent Dem Jerry McNerney. But Dave told me Thurdsay he ain’t quitting…just yet.

When you lose a race by a 1 percent sliver, he said, you want to make sure you exhaust all your possibilities.

His race was so close, he was asked to participate in freshman orientation for new House members. He went. “I consider a lot of them (other freshman) friends now.”

Now, he needs a miracle to be sworn in with them.

“It just seems prudent to review the precinct-level data to make sure there are no anomalies there,” Harmer told me. He doesn’t expect the anomaly-hunting to last more than a couple of days. His staff is sifting through the data, which it couldn’t obtain until the vote count was certified by counties until earlier this week.(SF Gate)

You can certainly understand his reluctance, but coming from a political background, this is less than classy.  The nearly 2700 votes are not going to fall from the sky for Harmer.  After all, Steve Cooley conceded with a lower (percentage wise) margin.  It is hard to imagine Harmer getting another crack at this apple, after losing three times.  However, he certainly is persistent, and he might want another shot come the new districts in 2012.  Just don’t expect his track record to change.

(Good post on Harmer’s BS claims – he’s trying to suppress the vote to steal an election he lost. – promoted by Robert Cruickshank)

In what I believe is the closest Congressional race in the country, Jerry McNerney held a 121 vote lead as of Wednesday morning.  Absentees counted in Alameda and Santa Clara counties have increased his margin to 568 as of this morning, but those counties were his strongest ones.  Now Harmer wants to challenge the signatures (and stop the counting of) of mail in ballots when the voter is not there to respond.  

Now Harmer has filed a lawsuit against the Contra Costa County election officials claiming the right to challenge the signatures on absentee ballots, even as those voters are not present to respond.  

Congressional District 11 GOP nominee David Harmer will seek a court order in Superior Court in Martinez this afternoon to stop the vote-by-mail signature verification process in Contra Costa County.

Harmer, who ran against incumbent Democratic Rep. Jerry McNerney on Tuesday, says his team should be allowed to challenge the signatures on vote-by-mail ballots.

Contra Costa Election Clerk Steve Weir disagrees. He says the county’s written procedures and guidelines clearly state that observers may challenge the process of counting ballots but not individual signatures.

Challenges to a specific voter’s right to cast a ballot must be made through a pollworker at the polls or through a challenge of a voter who has requested a vote-by-mail ballot, Weir said.  This allows the voter to respond to a challenge of his or her right to cast a ballot.

“While Harmer has claimed irregularities, not one instance has been presented to us,” Weir said.

Harmer ran best with the early voting, but as election day votes were counted, McNerney slowly caught up.  Many (apparently including Harmer’s campaign) believe that late absentees will favor McNerney.  

In Contra Costa County, the ballots at issue are those that were mailed but not received by last Friday, those delivered to the polls on Tuesday, and provisional ballots.  I understand that there are well over 10,000 ballots.

I have heard nothing from San Jaoquin County where over have of the voters are, but I am suspicious that the far-right is out in force to stop a full and fair count.  Florida 2000 anyone?

There is a hearing today on a TRO.  

At least there is one Republicken candidate in the 11th that isn't a toady for the health care insurance vampires. Elizabeth Emken, an advocate for the rights of autism victims, has figured out that the current health care system in not just broken, but is at heart unjust. See her letter to Cong. Mike Doyle at http://doyle.house.gov/pdf/aut… . Even in the Republicken no thought zone sometimes someone gets it.  

The rest of the Republicken gerbil pack are typical tea bag types who never saw and gun or corporation they didn’t like. David Harmer failed miserably against Garamendi in the 10th, then brought his traveling show to the 11th last month: he says he’s the front runner. He also has land for sale in Orange County! Jerry McNerney looks to be safe no matter what the RNC says.

Lisa Vorderbrueggen at the CoCo Times picked up an some pretty hilarious stuff:

Tenth Congressional District GOP candidate David Harmer touted a new poll in a fundraising email he sent out this week he says shows him beating Democrat Lt. Gov. John Garamendi 49 percent to 32 percent.

I can almost hear Garamendi’s response, which is quoted in the article.  If I were him, I don’t think I would have been able to keep a straight face while the reporter tried to get my opinion about some Republican poll showing a Republican leading by 17 points in a district that has an 18 point Democratic registration advantage.

But Harmer has a rationale for all of this: voters are turned off by the public option!  So, let’s take a look at the primary results to see if that could be the case. We’ll set aside Garamendi’s 25.7%, and look at the rest of the electorate.  21% voted for Harmer and another 13.5% or so voted for other Republicans on the ballot. So, I’ll just grant Harmer that 34.5%.

Now, let’s see where the other 40% of the vote went. Well, 17.6% voted for DeSaulnier, an outspoken public option fan. 12% voted for Joan Buchanan who usually said that she would support the public option. Anthony woods gathered 8.75%, and he really, really supported the public option.  Toss in Adriel Hampton, the miscellanious P&F and Green party candidates and you have the whole shebang.  So to recap.

Votes for candidate who supported the public option: ~ 65%

Votes for candidates who opposed the public option: ~ 35%

Yes, I’m sure Nancy Pelosi is simply shocked at these numbers…which pretty much line up with the national polling showing strong support for the public option. Clearly Nancy Pelosi and that D behind Garamendi’s name are like a bloody albatross around his neck.

…If you look at what Harmer’s touting, it’s a poll that shows him winning 49-32 among people who know who he is.  That’s a very small sample, since he’s unknown.  This is the trick every low name ID candidate uses to prove they can win if they only get the resources.  They never do get the resources, and they lose badly.

Photo from BBS Radio.