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CA-45

Outlook for the California State Legislature in 2010 - May 2010 Edition

by: cali_girl_in_texas

Mon May 17, 2010 at 03:29:56 AM PDT

(More great information - promoted by Brian Leubitz)

While the range of competitive House districts has narrowed considerably, I am still including all 8 Obama-Republican districts to watch their trends. I also added state legislative seats that are open this year in which the incumbent is not term-limited.

Cross-posted at Swing State Project and Democracy for California.

DistrictIncumbentDEMGOPMargin2008 Result
CA-03
Dan Lungren
38.41%
39.15%
R+0.74
O+0.5
CA-24
Elton Gallegly
35.72%
41.46%
R+5.74
O+2.8
CA-25
Buck McKeon
37.39%
39.42%
R+2.03
O+1.1
CA-26
David Dreier
35.55%
40.13%
R+4.58
O+4.0
CA-44
Ken Calvert
34.33%
42.75%
R+8.42
O+0.9
CA-45
Mary Bono Mack
37.76%
41.55%
R+3.79
O+4.6
CA-48
John Campbell
29.25%
44.44%
R+15.19
O+0.7
CA-50
Brian Bilbray
31.49%
40.23%
R+8.74
O+4.2

Competitive and/or open state legislature districts are over the flip...

There's More... :: (7 Comments, 437 words in story)

Outlook for the California State Legislature in 2010 - Post-Filing Deadline Edition

by: cali_girl_in_texas

Wed Mar 24, 2010 at 22:02:54 PM PDT

With the filing deadline passed, we are beginning to see how the fields are shaping up for the 2010 elections in California. While the range of competitive House districts has narrowed considerably, I am still including all 8 Obama-Republican districts to watch their trends.

Cross-posted at Swing State Project and Democracy for California.

Breaking news: We now have a registration advantage in Assembly District 5 and are closing in on CA-03!

DistrictIncumbentDEMGOPMargin2008 Result
CA-03
Dan Lungren
38.46%
39.04%
R+0.58
O+0.5
CA-24
Elton Gallegly
35.78%
41.53%
R+5.75
O+2.8
CA-25
Buck McKeon
37.42%
39.58%
R+2.16
O+1.1
CA-26
David Dreier
35.64%
40.15%
R+4.51
O+4.0
CA-44
Ken Calvert
34.67%
42.47%
R+7.80
O+0.9
CA-45
Mary Bono Mack
38.02%
41.50%
R+3.48
O+4.6
CA-48
John Campbell
29.36%
44.36%
R+15.00
O+0.7
CA-50
Brian Bilbray
31.33%
39.91%
R+8.58
O+4.2

Competitive and/or open state legislature districts are over the flip...

There's More... :: (2 Comments, 353 words in story)

California Dreaming - 2010 House Races

by: benawu

Tue Jan 05, 2010 at 02:57:12 AM PST

(Some interesting data and a good wrap-up of the races. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)

With the midterms only 10 months away it is time now to cast our eyes over the biggest state in the country - California.

How will we fare in 2010?

Below the fold for all the details and hey go check out the 2010 Race Tracker Wiki over at Open Congress for all your House, Senate and Gubernatorial needs.

(Cross posted at Swing State Project, Daily Kos, MyDD and Open Left)

There's More... :: (5 Comments, 1502 words in story)

Redistricting California 2010, v2.0: Let Only 6 Republicans Be Safe

by: MattTX

Wed Nov 04, 2009 at 19:07:43 PM PST

Taking into account some suggestions and comments, I made some changes to my previous attempt at redistricting California. I conceded an additional 2 seats to the GOP, which concomitantly makes a number of other seats more strongly Democratic. The additional 2 safe GOP seats are CA-4 and CA-48. Here's what version 2 looks like, overall:

Statewide Map, Version 2

For comparison, here is Version 1:

Statewide Map, Version 1

There's More... :: (0 Comments, 3053 words in story)

Redistricting California 2010: Let Only 4 Republicans Be Safe

by: MattTX

Sat Oct 24, 2009 at 08:18:33 AM PDT

I decided to try my hand at redistricting California's Congressional districts for 2010-2012, using Dave's Redistricting App. After playing around with it a bit, here's what the map I came up with looks like overall:

Here's the 2008 Obama/McCain vote in California, on the precinct level:

Read on for a detailed analysis and breakdown:

There's More... :: (3 Comments, 7958 words in story)

CA-03: Gary Davis Appears To Be Out

by: David Dayen

Thu Oct 08, 2009 at 16:09:44 PM PDT

I got the same email that Randy Bayne did:

All indications are that Gary Davis is dropping his bid for the 3rd Congressional District and switching to another run for Elk Grove City Council. Just a few minutes ago, I was alerted that his Facebook page had changed, and just after that was forwarded a copy of a newsletter from Gary Davis - Elk Grove City Council announcing his run for the council. The logo was even the same as his congressional campaign logo - changed to Elk Grove City Council - of course.

Davis had trouble keeping up with the other two candidates, Bill Slaton and Ami Bera, in fundraising.  With Q3 just ending, obviously it wasn't happening for him, so he cut his losses.

Bera, a doctor who challenged incumbent Dan Lungren directly at a town hall meeting in August, has raised the most cash so far, but Slaton entered the race just a few weeks before last quarter's deadline, so we'll see.

While CQ Politics lists the CA-03 race as leans Republican, Lungren has not been offered help by national Republicans in their next campaign arm fundraiser.  Only Mary Bono Mack of CA-45 figures in that fundraiser.  That's probably more a function of Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet outraising Bono Mack last quarter - she needs the help more than Lungren in the money chase.  But overall, I'd still mark CA-03 as a top target seat in 2010, with CA-45 next on the list.  And Democrats know this.

Discuss :: (1 Comments)

CA Congressional Fundraising A Go-Go

by: David Dayen

Wed Jul 15, 2009 at 16:26:06 PM PDT

Brian is wrong, that does not take care of the horse race for the day! Today is the deadline for Congressional incumbents and challengers to declare their fundraising totals for the second quarter of 2009, and some numbers on the California candidates jump out.  If I write "incomplete," that's because their FEC report hasn't popped up yet.  I'll fill in when they become available:

We'll start with the special election in CA-10:
John Garamendi: $300,000 raised, $260,000 CoH, $54,000 debt
Mark DeSaulnier: incomplete $212,000 raised, $136,000 CoH, $77,000 debt
Joan Buchanan: incomplete $64,000 raised, $179,000 CoH, $308,000 debt
Anthony Woods: $105,000 raised, $65,000 CoH
Adriel Hampton: incomplete $22,500 raised, $269.77 CoH, $346.82 debt

Waiting on more info on this one.  John Garamendi's number came from 350 people, almost $1,000 a head.  That suggests no grassroots fundraising base.  Anthony Woods had over twice as many donors, who could be tapped again.  UPDATE: OK, this is interesting.  Joan Buchanan raised a fairly paltry amount considering the primary is in six weeks, but she took out a $250,000 loan and has a significant amount of debt.  She seems to be blowing through operating expenses too.  Likewise, Mark DeSaulnier, who raised a decent amount, has over half of his cash on hand in debt.  And I missed that John Garamendi has $50,000 in debt as well.  Suddenly, Anthony Woods has more debt-free cash on hand than anyone in the field but Garamendi.

CA-03:
Gary Davis: $34,000 raised, $30,000 CoH
Dr. Amerish Bera: $288,000 raised, $286,000 CoH
Dan Lungren (inc.): incomplete $233,000 raised, $322,000 CoH
Bill Slaton: $113,000 raised, $224,000 CoH, $116,000 debt

That is an eye-popping number for Amerish Bera, and lest you see it as a doctor self-funding, only $4,800 came from the candidate.  I was shocked by that total.  We'll see what Dan Lungren ends up raising later today, but it's entirely possible that Bera will have MORE cash on hand than the incumbent (Lungren only had $121,000 on hand at the end of April, with $12,000 in debts).  Wow. UPDATE So Bera outraised Lungren, but he ekes out a cash on hand lead.  As an incumbent, however, that's a weak performance. UPDATE II: Bill Slaton claimed to some that he raised $227,000 in three weeks, but half of that comes in the form of a personal loan to the campaign.  His actual cash on hand is much less than Bera.  But $113,000 in three weeks isn't bad.

CA-45:
Steve Pougnet: $201,000 raised, $203,000 CoH
Mary Bono Mack (inc): $166,000 raised, $448,000 CoH

Steve Pougnet outraised the incumbent in Q2, which is quite impressive.  Mary Bono Mack starts out with a bigger war chest, so he has some work to do, but this is an excellent start, and I think Pougnet has a natural fundraising base that will only expand once his story gets out.

CA-44:
Bill Hedrick: $65,000 raised, $66,000 CoH
Ken Calvert (inc.): incomplete $407,000 raised, $384,000 CoH

Certainly an improvement over the first quarter for Bill Hedrick, and all of the money came from Southern California, which means he has a solid fundraising and volunteer base locally.  He needs to spread that out nationally to maximize his potential in this winnable race.

CA-26:
Russ Warner: $60,000 raised, $58,000 CoH
David Dreier (inc.): $138,000 raised, $872,000 CoH

Believe it or not, Dreier actually had a much bigger war chest last cycle.  Russ Warner needs to do better to be competitive, but he's actually in a slightly better position than two years ago.

CA-48:
Beth Krom: $76,000 raised, $98,000 CoH
John Campbell (inc.): $223,000 raised, $470,000 CoH

This was a tough quarter for Krom, with the tragic death of her son taking up a lot of time in the final weeks.  Campbell ramped up his fundraising a bit after Krom beat him in the last quarter.

CA-50:
Francine Busby: $160,000 raised, $136,000 CoH
Tracy Emblem: $22,000 raised, $15,000 CoH
Brian Bilbray (inc.): incomplete $325,000 raised, $388,000 CoH

A solid quarter of fundraising for Francine Busby, notwithstanding that police action at one of her fundraisers while guests were pepper sprayed.  UPDATE: Brian Bilbray had a good quarter.

CA-24:
Elton Gallegly (inc.): $42,000 raised, $831,000 CoH

The field is still getting together in this race, but I wanted to see Elton Gallegly's fundraising output, which is somewhat pathetic.  He does have enough of a war chest that he doesn't necessarily need to get moving on that yet, however.

UPDATE the last: Swing State Project has a full roundup with a number of other interesting tidbits.

• In CA-04, Tom McClintock raised a bundle - $341,000 - but he still has over $100,000 in outstanding debt and only $245,000 CoH.  Some fiscal conservative.

• In CA-10, one Republican is showing financial viability, David Harmer, with a $175,000 haul (but that's based on the first six months, not just the quarter).  He has $144,000 CoH and $17,000 in outstanding debt.  And his ideological viability in that district is, shall we say, suspect, though he is likely to reach a runoff.

• In CA-11, which I think is safe, Jerry McNerney raised $288,000 and has $519,000 cash on hand.  One of his potential opponents, Brad Goehring, would seem to have a good financial position with $259,000 CoH, but he only raised $14,000 for the quarter and has $250,000 in debt due to a massive loan.  The same with Jon Del Arroz, who guaranteed a huge loan for himself and has as much in debt as he does in cash on hand.  These guys are wasting money, in my opinion.

• I added Ken Calvert's numbers in CA-44.  Clearly the NRCC is protecting him by bolstering his fundraising.

• CA-47 is on the fringe of being competitive, but Van Tran had a good quarter, beating Loretta Sanchez (barely) in fundraising:

Sanchez: $242,000 raised, $714,000 CoH
Tran: $253,000 raised, $251,000 CoH, $10,000 debt

Tran gave himself $5,500 to boost his total.  And Loretta has a pretty large war chest from prior years.  

Discuss :: (8 Comments)

CA-45: Pougnet Has Big Fundraising Quarter

by: David Dayen

Fri Jul 10, 2009 at 09:16:26 AM PDT

While candidates for state and federal office have until July 15 to announce their fundraising totals to the FEC, we're starting to see some of the numbers trickle out.  And this is a pretty good one.  Steve Pougnet, the openly gay mayor of Palm Springs, husband and father of two, reportedly raised over $200,000 in the second quarter.  He claimed to have outraised his opponent, incumbent Mary Bono Mack, although the Republican has not yet released her numbers.

$200,000 is a better quarter than almost all Democratic challengers achieved at any point in the last Congressional cycle until the final fundraising quarter.  It's particularly impressive this far out of the race.

With Bono Mack facing heat from her right flank over her vote for the Waxman-Markey energy bill, she may not have the kind of national backing she could need.  Bono Mack has performed impressively in this seat throughout her career and she remains heavily favored, but Pougnet will have a chance in a district that went 52-47 for Barack Obama in 2008.

Discuss :: (0 Comments)

CA-45: Bono Mack Being Hunted

by: David Dayen

Thu Jul 02, 2009 at 09:02:44 AM PDT

I noted this in my June Congressional races roundup, but it deserves a little more attention.

Mary Bono Mack has in her career adeptly threaded the needle, voting mostly with the right but surprising on just enough bills every year to appear moderate to her district, which went for Barack Obama in 2008 and has a PVI of only R+3.  But her yes vote on the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill has incensed conservatives, so much so that they are waging jihad against not only Bono Mack but her Congressman husband, who by the way voted against Waxman-Markey.

So it was probably a bit of a shock to her when she saw the headline above that I captured in a screen shot from the Republican Party blog, Red State: Mary Bono Mack Should Be Burned In Effigy And Voted out Of Office. It was written by Georgia Republican Party operative Erick Erickson and something tells me Erickson isn't about to endorse Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet, who's not just gay, but married (to another man) and happily raising their two children! Too far a stretch for Republicans who seem to always be involved with "opposite marriages," or whatever they call the degrading situations traditional marriage sanctity defenders like Mark Sanford, David Diapers Vitter, Larry Craig and John Ensign are in.

Erickson and the fringe loons on the furthest reaches of the non-criminal right are so upset with Bono Mack that they are threatening to not just defeat her but to go after the right-wing extremist husband to boot! He demands that she vote against health care reform and against the energy bill when it comes back from the Senate-- where it will probably be watered down and look more acceptable to mainstream conservatives!!!-- or face the consequences.

"Otherwise, we beat her and her husband at the polls.

Yes, you heard me. We can get at Mary Bono Mack in two ways-- her district and that of her husband. He should feel the heat just as much as her."

Now, Erickson is a silly person.  And his frothing at the mouth is unlikely to result in any change in CA-45.  However, I wonder if they can entice some far-right activist to run in the primary.  Gary Jeandron, who lost to Manuel Perez convincingly in 2008, is supposedly preparing for a rematch.  But AD-80 is far less cordial to Republicans than CA-45 is.  And maybe enough foot-stomping tea partiers can persuade him - or some other teabagger - to challenge Bono Mack in the primary.  As one of only 8 Republicans to vote for the Waxman-Markey bill (and one of them, John McHugh, is about to become Barack Obama's Secretary of the Army), the wingnuts don't have many targets.  Bono Mack may have poked her head up on the wrong bill.

This could be a good time to check out Steve Pougnet.

Discuss :: (0 Comments)

2010 Congressional Races Roundup - June 30, 2009

by: David Dayen

Tue Jun 30, 2009 at 17:12:25 PM PDT

We're setting a course for the center of the sun in the state budget process right now, but today is also the last day of the second quarter, an important day for Congressional candidates, who must file fundraising reports based on close of business today.  So this is as good a time as any to take a look at the Congressional races and where we stand at this point.  I have not yet done similar roundups for 2010 statewide offices or legislative races, but plan to do so in the near future.  If you find any of these challenges attractive, I urge you to pass a few bucks along to the candidate of your choice.  This quarter will help or hurt the candidacies in terms of their perception of viability.

A word on the notations.  PVI refers to the Cook Political Report's Partisan Voting Index.  I've also included the Presidential performance from last year and the particular Congressional performance, where applicable.  That information is available for the whole nation at this link.  Open Congress also has a good Wiki on all the seats involved.

flip it...

There's More... :: (1 Comments, 1916 words in story)

Registration changes since the election

by: cali_girl_in_texas

Fri May 22, 2009 at 10:14:36 AM PDT

I've been saving the changes in registration differences in the competitive districts that I track in my regular registration number updates. Here I will show the changes in registration going from the last numbers before the 2008 election to the latest numbers released a few days ago. Here they are in tabulated form. And for the congressional districts, in addition to the 8 Obama-Republican districts, I tossed in CA-04, because the House race there was very close in spite of the considerable Republican advantage in registration and the presidential race, and CA-46, the district of McCain's closest win of the 11 McCain districts and the only one that he won with less than 50%.

Cross-posted at Swing State Project.

Numbers are over the flip.

There's More... :: (2 Comments, 277 words in story)

Outlook for the California State Legislature in 2010 - May 2009 Special Election Edition

by: cali_girl_in_texas

Sun May 17, 2009 at 19:20:08 PM PDT

(More good stuff. Thanks! - promoted by Brian Leubitz)

With the release of the new registration numbers, and a couple of special elections just around the corner, I now have updates for the open and/or competitive State Senate and State Assembly districts, as well as the eight Obama-Republican districts. The Secretary of State's website has the presidential results by district, so I am including the presidential results in each district.

Breaking news: We now have a (albeit slight) registration advantage in AD-10!

And an edit: I am including CA-04 in the list because of McClintock's less-than-1% win, even though the presidential race and registration gap are not particularly close.

Cross-posted at Swing State Project and Democracy for California.

DistrictIncumbentDEMGOPMargin2008 Result
CA-03
Dan Lungren
37.73%
39.58%
R+1.85
O+0.5
CA-04
Tom McClintock
31.14%
45.83%
R+14.69
M+10.1
CA-24
Elton Gallegly
35.83%
41.82%
R+5.99
O+2.8
CA-25
Buck McKeon
37.77%
39.29%
R+1.52
O+1.1
CA-26
David Dreier
35.67%
40.50%
R+4.83
O+4.0
CA-44
Ken Calvert
34.63%
42.40%
R+7.77
O+0.9
CA-45
Mary Bono Mack
37.81%
42.08%
R+4.27
O+4.6
CA-48
John Campbell
29.40%
44.77%
R+15.37
O+0.7
CA-50
Brian Bilbray
31.40%
40.27%
R+8.87
O+4.2

Competitive and/or open state legislature districts are over the flip...

There's More... :: (16 Comments, 453 words in story)

2010 CA House Races Roundup - April 2009

by: David Dayen

Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 17:52:05 PM PDT

In 2007-08, I wrote a monthly series of House race roundups here in California, taking a look at the races with the highest potential to change members of Congress.  This cycle, there are promises from the national Democrats that they will pay attention to a number of seats in California held by Republicans, and with the statewide races at the top of the ticket looking favorable for Democrats, and Republican registration collapsing throughout the state, in theory we should see some more movement.  But many of these elements were true the past two cycles, amounting to little.  Because it's a statewide officer election year, I will also do a statewide races roundup at a later time.  But for now, let's take a look at the seats most likely to flip in 2010, starting with seats currently held by Democrats, few of which are in play.  In addition to those "threatened" by Republicans, I'm including two seats where I've heard rumblings about primary challenges to incumbents.

A word on the notations.  PVI refers to the Cook Political Report's Partisan Voting Index.  I've also included the Presidential performance from last year and the particular Congressional performance, where applicable.  That information is available for the whole nation at this link.

flip it...

There's More... :: (9 Comments, 2026 words in story)

Outlook for the California State Legislature in 2010 - April 2009 edition

by: cali_girl_in_texas

Tue Apr 21, 2009 at 21:30:02 PM PDT

(Another great report on these numbers. Thanks! - promoted by Brian Leubitz)

With the release of the new registration numbers, I now have updates for the open and/or competitive State Senate and State Assembly districts. The Secretary of State's website has the presidential results by district, so I am including the presidential results in each districts.

I am also tacking on the eight districts that are our top targets in 2010: CA-03, CA-24, CA-25, CA-26, CA-44, CA-45, CA-48, and CA-50.

Cross-posted at Swing State Project and Democracy for California.

DistrictIncumbentDEMGOPMargin2008 Result
CA-03
Dan Lungren
37.72%
39.63%
R+1.91
O+0.5
CA-24
Elton Gallegly
35.84%
41.88%
R+6.04
O+2.8
CA-25
Buck McKeon
37.72%
39.35%
R+1.63
O+1.1
CA-26
David Dreier
35.64%
40.56%
R+4.92
O+4.0
CA-44
Ken Calvert
34.70%
42.38%
R+7.68
O+0.9
CA-45
Mary Bono Mack
37.97%
41.96%
R+3.99
O+4.6
CA-48
John Campbell
29.41%
44.87%
R+15.46
O+0.7
CA-50
Brian Bilbray
31.38%
40.36%
R+8.98
O+4.2

Competitive and/or open state legislature districts are over the flip.

There's More... :: (2 Comments, 460 words in story)

Q1 Congressional Reports

by: David Dayen

Fri Apr 17, 2009 at 10:41:13 AM PDT

So the first quarter of fundraising for the 2010 cycle ended, and this week the reports were filed.  Swing State Project has a good roundup.  Here's what I found interesting:

• In CA-48, Beth Krom had an unusually strong quarter, considering she entered the race in the middle of it.  She raised $63,000 for the quarter, actually beating the incumbent, John Campbell, who raised $55,000.  Now, in 2008 candidates like Nick Leibham and Debbie Cook beat their incumbent counterparts in fundraising repeatedly, but had major disadvantages in cash on hand because the incumbents had assembled war chests from prior fundraising.  And that's the case here too - Campbell has $300,000 CoH, while Krom has $61,000, a 5-to-1 advantage.  But to beat Campbell so early in the cycle shows a lot of potential.

• Debbie Cook, Charlie Brown and Bill Durston basically raised no money in the quarter, dampening any expectation that they will run again in their respective districts.  Durston raised $9,000, but that was probably all before he hinted at dropping out due to medical troubles.

• In CA-44, Bill Hedrick may be getting national attention, but he's not raising national numbers, and if he continues to put up $14,000 for a quarter, the D-Trip will either walk away or look for another challenger.  I respect the hell out of Hedrick but he's got to do better than that.

• CA-37 is absolutely ripe for a primary challenge.  Noted deadbeat Laura Richardson raised a paltry $28,500, as an incumbent, and her $39,000 cash on hand is dwarfed by $363,000 in debt.  We deserve better than Laura Richardson in that very blue district.

• Jerry McNerney put up a $275,000 quarter in CA-11.

• His numbers weren't spectacular, but Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet is drawing some attention for his challenge to Mary Bono Mack in CA-45.  This is another "Obama Republican" district, and Pougnet, a gay father of two, has an interesting profile for the district and a proven record in the community.  This one bears watching.

Discuss :: (9 Comments)

D-Trip "Targets" 8 House Seats - I'll Believe It When I See It

by: Open Thread

Sun Apr 05, 2009 at 08:11:10 AM PDT

(Sorry, guys, I wrote this one, as well as any "Open Thread" comment.  I forget to log out sometimes...
- promoted by David Dayen
)

State Democrats are buzzing about this weekend's Carla Marinucci article entitled "California Dems target 8 GOP districts", which claims that Republican voter registration is dropping fast, providing a major opportunity to pick up Congressional seats in 2010.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has targeted 35 districts across the country represented by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives - including eight in California - that were won by Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election, said Jennifer Crider, the committee spokeswoman.

The Democrats plan increased appeals to voters in those areas and will make aggressive efforts to recruit Democratic candidates to run against the Republican incumbents, she said [...]

The vulnerable California districts with Republican representatives that were won by Obama are those of Reps. Dan Lungren of Gold River (Sacramento County), Mary Bono-Mack of Palm Springs, David Dreier of San Dimas (Los Angeles County), Elton Gallegly of Thousand Oaks (Ventura County), Brian Bilbray of Solana Beach (San Diego County), John Campbell of Newport Beach (Orange County), Ken Calvert of Riverside and Howard "Buck" McKeon of Santa Clarita (Los Angeles County), the committee says.

It would be nice if I thought any of this would work.  First of all, the registration changes didn't just spring up in December 2008.  These trends have been occurring for some time, and were all present during the last election.  Despite this, we had a candidate in CA-25 (McKeon) who spent less than $10,000 or her entire campaign.  The candidate in CA-24 (Gallegly) won her primary because of her ballot designation and without spending any significant money.  (By the way, CA-25 is now the seat held by the GOP with the closest registration gap between Republicans and Democrats in the whole state.  Did you know that?)   In the races where we managed to compete, our candidates significantly underperformed the top of the ticket, and in most cases underperformed Barbara Boxer's performance in 2004, when a less dominant John Kerry was at the top of the ticket.

I don't think there are that many other people who have followed California congressional races closer than I have, and I have to say that we simply suck at elections in these kinds of races out here in California.  The state party is dysfunctional at best and downright criminal at worst.  Put it this way: we had the same chance to win all these seats in 2008.  Nate Silver, making a separate point, provides a list of the 30 districts where Obama won between 50 and 52 percent of the vote.  As you'll see, we did extremely well in those seats, except for in California.

Barack Obama won 51 percent of the vote in NY-20 on November 4th. How did congressional candidates perform in other districts where he received between, say, 50 and 52 percent of the vote? Again, we see essentially an even split; Republicans won 16 of 30 such districts and Democrats won 14:

Won by Republicans (16): CA-24, CA-25, CA-26, CA-44, CA-45, CA-50, FL-10, FL-18, MI-4, MN-3, NE-2, NJ-7, NY-23, VA-4, WI-1, WI-6

Won by Democrats (14): FL-22, KS-3, MI-1, MI-7, MN-1, NC-2, NJ-3, NY-1, NY-19, NY-20*, NY-24, TX-23, VA-2, WA-3

Winning percentage in these seats in states other than CA: 58.3%
Winning percentage in CA: 0.0%

By the way, the other two districts not mentioned above that are now being "targeted"?  CA-03 (Lungren) was 49-49 Obama, and CA-48 (Campbell) was also 49-49 Obama.  Heck, even CA-46 was only 50-48 McCain.  Obama got 46% in CA-19 (Radanovich), where there was no Democratic candidate, and 47% in CA-40 (Royce).

Some would argue that, properly resourced, these seats would suddenly become very winnable.  I give you CA-50, where Nick Leibham consistently beat Brian Bilbray in fundraising and maxed out at the 45% ceiling on Democrats in that district.

CA-44 is somewhat winnable because Bill Hedrick came close in '08 and is running again.  We lost our best candidate in CA-03, Bill Durston, and everywhere else, I'm just extremely dubious, because the state party has systematically psyched itself out of winning these seats (thanks to the Faustian bargain of incumbency-protected gerrymandering designed by... imminent state party chair John Burton), and the commitment at the national level has been known to wane.  We've left dozens of winnable elections on the table the past two cycles, dramatically underperforming the nation.  A little DCCC money won't change that.

Discuss :: (15 Comments)

Campaign Update: CA-04, CA-45, CA-46, AD-78

by: David Dayen

Wed Oct 29, 2008 at 13:49:58 PM PDT

A few odds and ends:

• CA-04: Tom McClintock is bringing out the big guns to help his cash-strapped campaign - Ron Paul is all in!

Paul, the libertarian-Republican congressman from Texas who raised more than $34 million for his presidential race, sent out an e-mail last week urging his massive donor base to contribute to McClintock.

"Tom McClintock is one of the most promising warriors in the fight against big government we have seen in a long time, and the special interests and big bankers know it. ... You have stood with me as....

...I campaigned for the Presidency to return our federal government to its proper role. Will you help me bring a reliable ally to Congress?"

This brings up some interesting questions.  Does Tom McClintock think we should withdraw from Iraq and dozens of other military bases around the world?  Does he believe in abolishing the Federal Reserve?  The coinage of free silver?  

They do have one thing in common, however - white supremacist supporters.

• CA-45: New voter registration statistics have not been released by the Secretary of State's office, but I think they will show good news for Democrats across the state.  One statistic that is measurable is the early voting number, and in CA-45, it's good news for Julie Bornstein.

Democrats have significantly narrowed the early voting gap in the 45th Congressional District, an encouraging sign for challenger Julie Bornstein in her battle to unseat Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack (R-Palm Springs), according to Bornstein campaign manager Walter Ludwig.

In both 2004 and 2006, registered Republicans accounted for about 54 percent of early voters, compared with just 34 percent for Democrats. Mack, now a four-term incumbent, cruised to re-election both years by more than 20 points.

This year, early voting is much more evenly split. The latest numbers from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters show that registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by just five percent among early voters.

It's like the entire Republican machine all collapsed at once.  They used to be MASTERS at getting absentee votes out.  This year, there's either no such effort, or it's being matched by Democrats.  CA-45 is under the radar, but these numbers suggest that it shouldn't be.

• CA-46: At the Great Orange Satan, Devilstower has a great piece that could start a new meme about Debbie Cook - the anti-Palin.

Suppose there was a candidate who was as bright and as capable as Sarah Palin is confused and incompetent.

Someone who had a record of working with environmental groups, and who had a real understanding of the threat posed by our dependence on fossil fuels. Someone with a degree in earth science and the long experience to make the claim of being a genuine energy expert.

Someone who not only knew science, but also had a law degree, and was a graduate of the leadership program at the Kennedy School of Government. Someone who has held positions of honor in state and national commissions. Someone who was well respected for both her intellect and her passion.

Suppose there was a candidate who had been mayor of, not a tiny town, but a medium-sized city. And suppose she took that position as a Democrat in the midst of a heavily Republican district.

Suppose there was someone who was everything that Sarah Palin is not.

Fortunately for us, there's Debbie Cook.

Read the whole thing.  And help Debbie if you can.

• AD-78: Bill Cavala, who worked the last close race in this district, took a peek at some new registration numbers which show a real advantage for Marty Block:

This year the new registration 'close' figures show the Democrats with 101, 131 registrants, an increase of about 4100 from the last Presidential year. DTS registrations are 49,855, an increase of about 5800 from 2004. Most remarkably, however, Republican registration has fallen by almost 8000 - from 82,615 four years ago to 74,700 today.

This means the net change is Dems up 4100 and Reps down 8000 or 12,100 in favor of the Democrat over 2004.

Forget the increase in DTS registrations - which vote more Democratic than Republican in San Diego. Starting out down 12,000 in a seat where they won by 2000 with an incumbent - it's open this year - puts the Republican candidate squarely behind the 8 ball.

Just one of the many Assembly races where this is so.

Discuss :: (2 Comments)

Congressional Campaign Update: The State of the Race With One Week To Go

by: David Dayen

Mon Oct 27, 2008 at 12:18:04 PM PDT

There's so much going on in this bounty of close races, it's hard to follow it all as just lil' ol' me and without a full-time staff.  But clearly, California is terribly broken because there are no competitive seats and so we must change the redistricting process and re-gerrymander competitiveness into them.  Right?  On the flip, I offer an update on every seat that's even reasonably close.  I'll get to the Assembly and Senate races later today or tomorrow.

CA-11, CA-04, CA-03, CA-46, CA-50 and much more on the flip!  Including the infamous "phone sex robocall"... no, I'm not kidding.

There's More... :: (3 Comments, 1057 words in story)

Campaign Update: Q3 Money Race Tells The Story

by: David Dayen

Wed Oct 15, 2008 at 15:59:25 PM PDT

(Updated with new information at the bottom... - promoted by David Dayen)

The FEC reports are starting to come in for our candidates.  I'll update them here, but the preliminary numbers are very strong.

CA-50: Wow.  Nick Leibham raised $413,000 in the third quarter, his best quarter of the cycle by a factor of four.  With $334,000 cash on hand, he's going to be able to get his message out in the final weeks.  As much as anything, this is why Leibham is Red To Blue.  No word on Brian Bilbray's take yet.  Leibham's latest ad uses a local war hero to hammer Bilbray for his vote against the new GI Bill, and it's very powerful, a great improvement over the attention-getting stunts from earlier in the year.  I'm starting to feel good about this race.

CA-45: Julie Bornstein raised around $102,000 in Q3, while Mary Bono Mack raised $245,000.  The cash on hand situation shows Bono Mack with $462,548 in the bank compared to Bornstein's $179,308.  That's not terrible, especially if the DCCC steps in with some outside help - they just added Bornstein to their emerging races list (along with Bill Durston in CA-03).  Her latest ad, showing Bono Mack as a rubber-stamping bobblehead, is spot-on ("Do you think George Bush is right 92% of the time?")

CA-52: In our toughest winnable race, Mike Lumpkin raised $107,000 and has $125,000 CoH, and Duncan D. Hunter raised $290,000 with $321,000 CoH.  It'll take a monumental effort to win this one, but I don't consider it impossible.  Lumpkin just got put on the D-Trip's Races To Watch page, along with Russ Warner (CA-26).

CA-46: A nice writeup about canvassing for Debbie Cook from friend of the blog Andrew Davey (atdleft).

more money updates when they roll in...

UPDATE: Debbie Cook raised $114,000 and has $181,000 in the bank.  Nothing yet from Dana Rohrabacher.  Will she outraise him three quarters in a row?

UPDATE: More numbers:

CA-04:
Charlie Brown: raised $539K, $456K cash on hand.  GREAT numbers.
Tom McClintock: raised $978K, but spent a ton, and has only $94,000 left, with $110,000 in debts.  He is BROKE.  Brown has an infinite lead in CoH.

CA-03:
Bill Durston: raised $149K, $145K CoH.
Dan Lungren: raised $173K (wow, Durston almost outraised him), $680K CoH.  Dr. Bill is going to need some help.

CA-26:
Russ Warner: raised $289K, which is great, but he's spent a lot early.  He has $119K CoH.
David Dreier: raised $255K.  Wow, Warner outraised Dreier.  He still has $1.7 million in the bank, and he doesn't seem to be using the money.  He only spent $345K in Q3.  I don't know if it's for leadership purposes or what, but he has a hell of a war chest that he's not using.

CA-11:
Jerry McNerney: raised $601K, $1.02 million CoH.
Dean Andal: raised $345K, with $850K CoH.  Some prize recruit.

CA-50:
Brian Bilbray: This was the number I was waiting for.  He raised $262K and has $382K CoH.  OK, Nick Leibham didn't just beat Bilbray in Q2, he destroyed him.  And the cash on hand is virtually even.  Wow.

CA-46:
Dana Rohrabacher: Drum roll... raised $148K.  OK, he beat Debbie Cook for once.  The CoH is $497K, but much like Dreier, he's spent next to nothing.  $35K in the quarter.

Overall, these are good numbers.  Lots of our candidates have the resources they need.  Keep up the pressure.

Discuss :: (2 Comments)

The State of the Races in California

by: Bob Brigham

Tue Oct 14, 2008 at 11:17:46 AM PDT

Howie Klein has a look at the state of congressional races in California as voters are heading to the polls in what should be a tsunami year for Democrats.

Over the flip...

There's More... :: (4 Comments, 575 words in story)
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