Harley Rouda is one lucky guy-- and not just because his Orange County opponent happens to be Putin's favorite congressman-- just ask Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy-- but because of a brand new campaign hire.
One moron at the DCCC recruited Frick to run in CA-48 (the Orange County coastal district) against Dana Rohrabacher. And then DC said "no, no, no; we want Frack; we must have Frack." So everyone was stuck with two candidates, 2 centrists who were both endorsed by the New Dems. The DCCC worked hard to persuade other Democrats, particularly self-funders Gil Cisneros and Ma-Khanh Tran, to run somewhere else; both ran in CA-39 instead, although both live in CA-48.
Gil Cisneros, the DCCC's staff's idea of a candidateThere were a lot of candidates willing to spend over $500,000 of their own money to buy a place in the general election run-off. None of the big spenders came in first and most of them failed to come in second, which is what they would have needed to get into the general election. These are the 3 districts, all in Orange County, where multimillionaires spent over half a million in the effort.
The Elizabeth Warren of the WestTuesday will see 4 crucial open primaries in Orange County. Blue America has endorsed in 3 but can't find a candidate good enough to make an endorsement in one (CA-48). In CA-48, the coastal district that starts up in Seal Beach and heads south through Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Costa Mesa and Newport Beach to Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo, Laguna Niguel and Three Arch Bay.
Gil Cisneros, the DCCC's 2018 mascot... and people wonder why California is looking dodgySix of the very best members of Congress-- plus many more-- declared their candidacies on the back on fantastic records as state legislators: Ted Lieu (CA), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Barbara Lee (CA), Jamie Raskin (MD), Mark Pocan (WI), Keith Ellison (MN).
Governor?9 or 10 years ago, Gavin Newsom, Mayor or ex-Mayor of San Francisco, invited a gaggle of Los Angeles political bloggers to meet him in a rented conference room of a fancy West Hollywood hotel. I had the impression everyone was impressed besides me-- and even I was a little impressed. He was really smart and was able to speak way more intelligently than most politicians can on every single subject every blogger threw at him.
A friend listened in on a phone call between Pelosi and a very well-paid-- and very sleazy-- Mike Levin consultant. The guy, who has rounded up a gaggle of really slimy members of Congress to endorse Levin against Doug Applegate, asked Pelosi to get the DCCC to do likewise. She assured him she would.
Should congressmen who get high and play dress-up be barred from buying homes in Orange Co?I can remember when I was a kid growing up on Long Island, there were fights in the suburbs-- Nassau County-- about selling houses to black families. Half the people who lived in some of these towns were there because of "white flight" and they brought their ugly bigotry and racism with them.
On Sunday we ran an explosive post about why the DCCC dumped Hans Keirstead and endorsed Harley Rouda. Just for the record, I emailed Keirstead's campaign, told them I was writing the story and asked for a call so we could go over it before I published. The response was "I call you in a few minutes." Never did get the call so I ran the post Sunday and included Keirstead's press release.
One of California's most conservative Dems, Scott Peters, endorses his rich funder, Paul KerrAccording to OpenSecrets.org, this cycle's half dozen worst self-funders-- at least so far-- include 5 Democrats-- and 4 of this 5 are running ing in Orange County.
