Barack Obama need not worry about our 55 electoral votes. House incumbents like Jerry McNerney (CA-11) and Loretta Sanchez (CA-47) that may be vulnerable in other election cycles need not worry this year. So why should we care about California now?
Hi, I'm mkpowers, long time reader, first time poster here at SSP. My pet issue is the insanity of my representative, Dana Rohrabacher, a certifiable whack-job who's been in power in this district for 20 years. His Democratic challenger, who unfortunately is going to lose, is Debbie Cook, the progressive mayor of Huntington Beach.
Unfortunately, my Congressman's insanity reached new lows with an article coming from the website of the OC Weekly:
Rohrabacher went in drag to solve already solved RFK assassination?
Here is Part 3, the last part of my analysis of this fall's elections in California, which will cover the races for the U.S. House, State Senate, and State Assembly seats in Southern California, and summarize which races we need to win.
Here is Part 2, which covered the U.S. House, State Senate, and State Assembly races in Northern and Central California: http://www.swingstateproject.c...
The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and our allies at the Leadership Conference on Guaranteed Healthcare are debuting a new feature: The Healthcare Heroes Caucus, which will honor candidates who are running on a platform of supporting HR 676, John Conyers' bill for an expanded and improved Medicare for All.
We will highlight the stories of these healthcare heroes, and work to get them the attention and support they need. It's not always easy to run in the face of insurance companies and a sold-out political culture...but it is smart. Poll after poll shows the American people are open to an expanded and improved Medicare for All, and are desperate for the kind of solutions that will improve care while saving money.
Debbie Cook is our first Healthcare Hero candidate and she's a great one. She is a committed progressive running in CA-46, an Orange County California district that is ready to toss out libertarian radical Dana Rohrbacher and elect a real leader.
Ah, how I love me the right-wing blogs! Sometimes, I find it amusing to simply lurk over there and see the vile garbage spew out of their keyboards. But to my surprise, I found out today that some of my recent diaries have been featured on an infamous local right-wing blog.
I live in Orange County, CA. I'm used to seeing scary Republicans that care nothing about environmental justice. But of all the crazy Republicans here, none can be crazier than "Crazy Dana" Rohrabacher. He's consistently voted against the best interests of our people and our planet, and it's time we do something about this. That's why I'm so glad to see some good friends of ours take real action for real change.
Hello. I'm atdleft, someone you may know from Clintonistas for Obama or MyDD or The Liberal OC. I'm new to Swing State Project, so please don't get too rough on me.
I just want to let you know that when we're not obsessing over all things Presidential, my friends & I are looking for good Congressional candidates to support. We already have some idea of who looks good to us, but I'd like to hear from all of you on which candidates we should help out. Whild I'd love to be of use to everyone, I at least want to make sure I'm doing something for Democrats that: (a) can win & (b) will stick to good progressive values once elected.
In the last couple days, there have been several posts across the blogosphere citing what various candidates running for Congress have said on FISA and retroactive immunity for the telecoms. But so far, it's been all over the map. I'll try to corral all their statements into this diary, so you can see who the "good guys" are.
First, let's start off with the current House and Senate members who voted against this bill. They do deserve credit, as it's their jobs on the line.
Follow me below the fold to see the dozens of Democratic challengers who are standing up for the Constitution, and are against this FISA bill and retroactive immunity.
You all remember ex-Rep. John Sweeney (R-Animal House), right? Here's a memento from his 2006 campaign against now-Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand:
"You can't take a resume and a pretty face from New York City and say to people this is good for you simply because we can spend a lot of money and raise a lot of money," Sweeney told the Record of Troy. (Emphasis added.)
"She's a very attractive person, physically, and has a title, so I'm taking it seriously," he said. "But I'm also very confident. ... My beliefs are closer to what the beliefs of this constituency are all about." (Emphasis added.)
This race caught me eye in a dkos diary earlier this week. Checking the CA-46 tags, there were four pretty much un-noticed diaries this past week talking about CA-46:
The Best Hypocrisy Red Money Can Buy CA-46 Rohrabacher Allies "Bleed" Mayor Debbie Cook CA-46 Rohrabacher Allies Smacked Down, Ordered to Pay Costs CA-46 Rohrabacher Sues Mayor Debbie Cook Again, Loses Again Wingnut Dana Rohrabacher (R) has easily held this district since winning in 1988 (he won by 23% last time).
This year his opponent will be Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, (debbiecookforcongress.com) an impressive grassroots progressive. Apparently the California Republican Party is so worried that Rohrabacher may be vulnerable and is facing a strong challenger this time, their Treasurer plus a former Chair of the California GOP filed some frivolous lawsuits against Debbie Cook, essentually just to cause her to have to waste time and money to defend against them.
Happily, on Wednesday an Orange County judge threw out the suit, and Thursday a Sacramento judge ruled against the GOP as well. And Cook's lawyers will get their fees from the Republicans.
(Details and many other links are in the about diaries for those interested; Ballot suit draws criticism and Sacramento court sides with H.B. mayor are good news stories.)
It would be sooooo sweet to get rid of Rohrabacher this election. If we're lucky, the anti-war wave might even reach into solid red Orange County...
Monday's story SSP's Competitive House Race Ratings (3/24/08) put it as Likely R. The PVI is R+6.
My guess is that it will take Cook a couple of tries to crack this nut. Hopefully she can assemble and maintain a good campaign team, and come close this Nov. Then in 2 years unseat Rohrabacher.
Or just possibly after another 2 years in an even smaller Republican minority, Rohrabacher just might decide he'd rather be lobbying for big $$ and call it quits and go surfing.
