the California Five

These are the five districts that we should be looking at in 2006.

  • Richard Pombo in CA-11
  • David Dreier in CA-26
  • Elton Gallegly in CA-24
  • Mary Bono is CA-45
  • And Duke Cunningham's now vacant CA-50

  • Pombo, Dreier, Gallegly and Bono ALL voted for House Budget Bill on Wednesday...any one of them could have held out their vote.

    Remember that, because just like Frank LoBiondo of NJ-02, the final votes are the folks who have that "extra say"...they are the ones who can demand a change or an amendment. In a normal Congress, one that didn't vote in lockstep with the will of Grover Norquist and Karl Rove, that would happen. None of these four helped out in the least, and we got the bill we got. A budget with draconian cuts for poor, for the least powerful, for students.

    Ask yourself, are those Californian values?

    Now take a look at the issues page for Russ Warner, this guy is putting together a challenge to Dreier that deserves a look, especially as Dreier is dragging his feet on lobbying reform. Dreier is House Rules Committee Chairman, and was happy to carry water for the corrupt Tom DeLay. (This Rolling Stone article will give you the picture.)

    It's also worth noting the scuttlebutt that Dreier was one of the strong supporters of new House Majority Leader, John Boehner.

    We Californians will have our work cut out for us to take back more than one or two of these seats in 2006. I'd love to think we could snag three. Mary Bono would be the hardest to win. Pombo is the one we are all focused on. So, how about this, let's put our shoulders to the wheel...

    Arnold + Three in 2006... let's trim the California Five.

    (Please support Calitics....it's a worthy platform, and a great place to post anything related to our State..you'll find JaninSanFran there...and me from time to time.)

    Comments

    Eidin said…
    Not that there's much of a chance of getting a progressive candidate into office, CA's 4th district deserves some attention. Doolittle is as vulnerable as he's going to get. It could present an opportunity to replace him with a non-DeLay disciple.

    Doolittle does have a pro-choice, moderate Republican primary challenger: Mike Holmes.
    Anonymous said…
    agreed on the 4th. as the abramoff scandal continues to roll on, doolittle might be beatable. democrat and retired lt. col. charles brown might give him more of a race than we're anticipating, and getting the dems in the district to actually turn out will help with the statewide races as well.
    kid oakland said…
    I agree that scandal makes that race interesting...but here's the thing: Doolittle's district CA-04 went 61% for Bush in California!.

    Even John Campbell's CA-48 went 59% for Bush...and we just couldn't break through there.

    Pombo, (Cunningham's 50), Dreier, Gallegly and Bono are all "lean GOP" districts...in CA that's 54-56% Bush.

    "Safe GOP" starts at 57% Bush in CA...so Doolittle and Campbell are in districts that are just not friendly territory.

    Now, scandal changes that map....but for myself, I'd like to see us take on CA-50 first. The April primary is a 50% takes the cake affair..which means if by some miracle we could get Francine Busby that number...she's in...no runoff.

    A GOP primary opponent for Doolittle is a good sign. Is there a local Democratic elected official who would have strong appeal?
    Anonymous said…
    there are two dems in the race in the 4th, charles brown and lisa rea. i'm not aware that there are any local dem officials in the area, although the nevada county dems have been pretty on the ball of late. so long john is the local anti-doolittle clearinghouse, although i'm not sure what kind of exposure it gets. the fact that the northern part of the district voted down most of the special election props, led by the prison guard union turnout in susanville, might also point to another way to wear that 61% down a bit.

    i'm not saying it's up in the top 5 tier, but a big enough scandal could start to tip things to the point where it's in play.

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