Debra Bowen eyeing Harman's congressional seat

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Sacramento Bee

Secretary of State Debra Bowen is considering running for the congressional seat expected to be vacated by Democratic Rep. Jane Harman.

"She is very, very seriously considering running for Congress," Bowen campaign consultant Steve Barkan said. "It's brand new news, and so she needs to take all factors into consideration."

News broke today that Harman, 65, will leave office to take a job as president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, setting the stage for a special election in the 36th Congressional District.

Bowen hails from Marina Del Rey, which is part of the district, and represented the area in the state Assembly and Senate from 1992 to 2006. She will be termed out of her job as the state elections chief in 2014.


Read more: http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2011/02/bowen-eyeing-harmans-congressi.html

[Liberty Belle]

1. Fabulous news! Bowen is a champion of election protection and popular enough to win.

[leveymg]

2. Hey, that seat most rightly belongs to Marcy Winograd who primaried Harman in '08 and in '06

Winograd, who took 41% of the vote last time, was not planning a run until the AIPAC/wiretap revelations. But she is uncomfortable with Harman not being held to account, and saw no other option on the horizon.

She is likely to be the most progressive candidate in the field, if she runs again. Please, see, http://www.opencongress.org/wiki/Marcy_Winograd And, here's a bio for Marcy:

Marcy Winograd is President of Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, a chapter of Progressive Democrats of America. Winograd garnered almost 38% of the vote when she challenged Jane Harman in the congressional Primary last June <'06>. Daniel Ellsberg, Tom Hayden, Cindy Sheehan, Helen Caldicott, Howard Zinn and Scott Ritter all backed Winograd's campaign, supporting her call for an end to the US occupation of Iraq and restoration of constitutional rights.

A former legal worker with the United Farm Workers Union and the Pentagon Papers defense team, Winograd helped craft an anti-war resolution passed at the California Party convention in 2005. In addition to working for an end to the US occupation of Iraq, Winograd led election protection efforts aimed at ensuring a verifiable voter paper trail and lobbied the FCC to oppose media consolidation. Currently, Winograd teaches US history at Palisades Charter High School. This winter she and other grassroots Democratic Party activists will run on a progressive slate to claim the California Democratic Party.

[Freddie Stubbs]

4. The seat belongs to the voters, not some also-ran who only got 38% of the vote

[leveymg]

5. That's a rude way to reference Marcy.

It's unusual that a primary challenger gets 41% running against a seated multi-term Congressperson. 38% in her first race. This shows unusual strength on Winograd's part, as well as sustained dissatisfaction with Jane, who's a Blue Dog.

If Arne Duncan runs for Jane's seat, will you support him?

[karynnj]

24. He is right that the seat will be an open contest

The people in the district will vote between the two choices. If Winograd keeps the full 41% that voted for her and adds some of Harmon's supporters, she wins. However, if Bowen wins all or most of the people who voted against Winograd, she wins. From everything I saw written about Bowen, which is not that much, she was an outstanding Secretary of State.

[cascadiance]

7. CORRECTION! Last election Winograd got 41% of the vote! You're living in the past 2006 election!

41% in my book is pretty damn good not getting help from the DCCC, etc. against one of the wealthiest incumbent Democrats in congress. I think Marcy will do just fine thank you at winning that seat, and will do far better than most other Democrats at representing progressive values for us in the House!

And Winograd actually got more votes in the Democratic Primary (15,732) than the Republican nominee (Mattie Fein) did in the GOP primary (13,964).

http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/house/california/36

[leveymg]

9. My bad. You're right, and I'll correct that.

I am pretty old fashioned - I try to be accurate. :hi:

[denbot]

12. Winograd has my vote

She is a true progressive.

[KeepItReal]

10. Hey I'm one of the Voters in Harman's district and I voted for Winograd

She's the only one to step up to the plate and challenge Jane Harman.


Bowen sounds like a good alternative, but since she is electable statewide, I'd rather see her in DiFi's seat.

[yurbud]

22. against a sitting incumbent in your own party, that's significant. How many incumbents get

primaried at all?

[cascadiance]

6. I would rather Bowen keep California's Secretary of State office and wait for Feinstein to retire!

I think Bowen should really set her sights higher than just the House at this point. I think she'd be a fabulous senator working with Boxer. And with Feinstein who's good buddies with Harman, it makes you wonder if what had Harman resigning might also come after Feinstein too! For now though, I'd like Bowen to make sure that the Secretary of State's office keeps California's elections fine for 2012, which will be very important then I think! She's been the best Secretary of State California's had for a while, and I believe has helped with some of the earlier problems it has had quite a bit of (voting machines, DMV/voting record mismatch voter disenfranchisement, etc.) that she inherited from past holders of that office.

I really think someone like Marcy Winograd, who doesn't have to leave another political office vacant (possibly to a Republican) to take this seat would be the best person for this office! And I really like her active progressive voice on so many issues that the House needs to have more of now!

[cascadiance]

11. And now with Jerry Brown as Governor, I think Feinstein leaving early might be more possible...

... from the Dems perspective, and I would think that Debra Bowen would be high on Brown's list as a replacement for DiFi.

Then again, perhaps DiFi might rather have had Arny choose her replacement if she were to leave office, since DiFi's campaign co-chair for past elections, Angela Bradstreet endorsed Schwarzenegger over Angelides. Maybe she's feeling the pressure if Arnold goes after her seat this time around though. The Dems really need to have a real Democrat running instead of a fake one in that case. And I wouldn't be surprised that Darryl Issa might have some investigations going after DiFi's husband's financial dealings too that had her resign her chairmanship from one committee earlier.

[shanti]

17. exactly!

she's been a great SOS! why doesn't feinstein retire??

[WhiteTara]

3. She is one of the smartest people in the room.

It would be wonderful to have her there.

[Tikki]

8. She would be an amazing Congresswoman...

GO DEBRA...


Tikki

[bemildred]

13. Awesome.

She has done a great job as Sec. of State.

[Overseas]

14. K&R ! Yes Please !! //nt

[lonestarnot]

15. I can't vote for her but would like more info about her so that I can see what's happening and draw

my own opinions. Special election should be fun to watch.

[EFerrari]

18. She was the the CA secretary of state that rolled back

our near takeover by vapor voting machines. Elected 2006. If the Republican had won, we'd have been royally screwed by now. It was that close.

[lonestarnot]

19. That is great! What else?

[EFerrari]

20. I don't know much more about her than that.

She's been a terrific SoS in a state that was RIDDLED with election problems and under assault from the Thuggery. Maybe someone else can pitch in more. :hi:

[cascadiance]

21. Debra Bowen worked hard to clean up McPherson's mess of matching DMV to voting reg data

which was invalidating tons of people's new voting registrations (many Democrats!) who's new voting registration data didn't match explicitly the data in the DMV (maybe a street address was abbreviated differently than the other). Ironically, in this article Marcy Winograd is quoted as saying that she might have been one of those disenfranchised when she knew her data didn't exactly match.

http://www.mail-archive.com/[e-mail]/msg119611.html

...
U.S. Congressional Candidate Marcy Winograd, who is running in that
primary to unseat right-leaning Democrat Rep. Jane Harman in
California's 36th District released a statement today expressing
concern as well. "If I register to vote as Marcy Winograd and my DMV
application reads Marcy A. Winograd, I may not be able to vote for
myself in this congressional race," said Winograd.

According to the Times, "McPherson's office plans to launch a
campaign in April to educate Californians about the new registration
rules." Winograd is not impressed.

"Before investing time, energy, and taxpayer money into this
misguided education program," she said, "McPherson should
acknowledge the potential for disaster and scrap the program
altogether."
...

It sounds like Debra Bowen and Marcy Winograd have worked together before on things and are on the same page. Hopefully they work together on the strategy of taking Harman's seat and not split each others votes that would lead to a Republican getting in instead.

When I met Ms. Bowen at Democracyfest I talked to her afterward and asked her if this DB matching problem issue might be connected to the issue at the time of the voter registration scams that were going on in Orange County where GOPers were trying to get Democrats reregistered as Republicans. I noted that perhaps the real objective wasn't to get them registered as Repubicans as the press and other reports they were caught doing, but to get them registered in a way such that McPherson's evil DB matching program would throw them out altogether as registered voters. Debra smiled at me knowingly and responded in a way that had me believe that she was already a step ahead of me and was looking in to this possibility as well then. That convinced me she was the BEST SOS option for Democrats and is so valuable in that position.

Earlier as a legislator she also was well known for having pioneered putting Legislature's meeting notes and other information online on web sites to increase that body's transparency to the California voter. That also in my book is the mark of both competence understanding of newer methods and technology and creativeness to do the right thing for us too. I'd like to think that most Californians want that set of ethics and intelligence representing them in the Senate!

[lonestarnot]

25. I like! I like!

Thank you.

[shanti]

16. i know she'd be awesome and would win

but i don't want her to leave as SOS!!! she has saved out election system!

[Le Taz Hot]

23. I would rather her

run for Feinstein's seat in 2012. She would be an incredible Senator AND 2 Democratic women from CA remain in the Senate.