I'd love to know who hired PPP to poll the dozen House districts they polled this week. Notice that in some districts they polled the incumbent Republican against some crap Republican-lite conservaDem the DCCC is pushing-- Ann Kirkpatrick, Jason Crow, Angie Craig, Chrissy Houlahan-- even though there are competitive progressives in the races.
Laura Oatman entered the race to replace Dana Rohrabacher in a district that flipped to the Democrats in 2016-- Hillary beating Trump in CA-48 (coastal Orange County) 47.9% to 46.2%. The 2016 PVI (R+7) is a now more winnable R+4. When we first spoke with Laura she had very high hopes that the Democratic Party, though she recognized it as flawed, would embrace a candidate like herself.
Tomorrow is day one of DCCC candidate Week in which the DC Democratic Party elites invite all their favored candidates and purposely leave out candidates they don't like. But they swear-- and believe it on some delusional level-- that they don't interfere in primaries. The festivities kick off Wednesday with two by-invitation-only events for right-wing Democrats.
When Dana Rohrabacher was first elected to Congress in the '80s his Orange County district was beet red. Last year, nearly three decades on, the PVI was a very daunting R+7. Next year, Rohrabacher faces a more hostile environment. Trump lost the district to Hillary-- albeit narrowly-- and the PVI shows a slide towards the Democrats.
I wonder how staunch conservatives in towns like Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Laguna Niguel and Fountain Valley feel about their Representative being referred to as "the pro-Russia congressman." That exactly how the San Francisco Chronicle labeled eccentric-- some would say crackpot
In the wee hours Wednesday, Nico Hines broke an explosive story at the Daily Beast about Orange County crackpot Dana Rohrabacher.
Still, a better candidate than the lottery winner A couple months back, a Democratic Party operative called me and told me he couldn't wait to introduce me to the "dream candidate" the DCCC had recruited to run in Orange County against Dana Rohrabacher. Hans Keirstead is a super rich-- a DCCC requirement-- stem cell scientist who looks GREAT... at least on paper.
Dana Rohrabacher's Orange County district is the reddest in what is now purple Orange County. It stretches along the coast from Seal Beach, Fountain Valley and Huntington Beach through Costa Mesa and Newport Beach to Laguna Beach, Aliso Viejo and Laguna Niguel. Romney had beaten Obama handily there-- 54.7% to 43.0%-- but last year Hillary edged Trump-- 47.9% to 46.2%. That's a pretty narrow margin to hang too many hopes on for a seat flip.
There are many reason I live in California-- the weather is one. Another is that incidents like this don't happen. But it just did, an hour from my house in Huntington Beach. I'm ashamed.CA-48 is changing... slowly.
Not always that easy to tell who's worse, Crist (D) or Rohrabacher (R)Yesterday the House passed (246-176) a cockamamie bill by Tim Wahlberg (R-MI) called the Regulatory Integrity Act, the purpose of which is to prevent the public from finding out what rules are being worked on by federal agencies to protect the public.
