Narrow Victory by G.O.P. Signals Fall Problems
By ADAM NAGOURNEY
Published: June 8, 2006
SAN DIEGO, June 7 — The victory that Republicans squeezed out in a high-profile race to fill a Congressional vacancy here eased party anxieties Wednesday but signaled future difficulties as they confront tougher Democratic challenges in increasingly contested districts this fall....
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Mr. Bilbray's failure to break 50 percent was striking. The Republican Party had poured workers and millions of dollars into avoiding defeat in a district where Republicans have a sizable registration advantage and where President Bush won by 10 percentage points in 2004. The previous holder of the seat, Randy Cunningham, who resigned after pleading guilty in a corruption scandal, defeated Ms. Busby in 2004 by 58 percent to 36 percent....
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The Republican Party backed Mr. Bilbray not just with money for advertising but also with automated phone calls from President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Laura Bush and the highly sophisticated get-out-the-vote operation that has helped Republicans in the last two national elections. Analysts said Mr. Bilbray was also helped by a tough anti-immigrant message that resonated here on the Mexican border....Yet the Republican victory also highlighted divisions within the party. In making immigration the central issue of the campaign, Mr. Bilbray publicly broke with Mr. Bush, who supports legislation that would allow some illegal immigrants to apply for citizenship. Mr. Bilbray, a former representative in another San Diego district, said in an interview that his campaign took off once he began attacking Mr. Bush and Senate Republicans for immigration legislation....
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Yet the result in the California race underscored a persistent concern among Democrats that their hopes of winning control of the House could be thwarted by Republican institutional advantages.
Republicans demonstrated yet again their ability to raise more money than Democrats and to deploy the get-out-the-vote and absentee-vote operation developed by the Republican National Committee....Republicans had 160 people in this district helping to get out the vote (making 164,000 phone calls)....Democrats said the Democratic National Committee had no similar effort on the ground here....
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/08/washington/08elect.html?hp&ex=1149739200&en=6114a20258d72f36&ei=5094&partner=homepage