The California Election Yesterday

[erpowers]

What do DUer think of the election yesterday in California? I am talking about the election for Duke Cunningham's seat. It seems that some people tend to think immigration was the issue that won the election for the Republican. Some people seem to feel the people sent a message to the Democrats that they would rather have a corrupt lobbyist in a seat who is against immigrants than a Democrats who is for immigrants. I did not see the election that way. I think the people in this district just were not willing to vote for any Democrat no matter their views were. I think this election moreso says the people in this district feel they would rather have corrupt Republicans than Democrats. It seems like some of these people just would not vote for a Democrat even if they knew is was the right thing to do. So what do other DUer think about the election?

[LeftCoast]

1. Whatever else, at least we made the Repubs spend millions defending a seat

they should have never had a problem holding in the first place. A Dem win would've been nice, but I'll take my victories where I can find them. :)

[BootinUp]

2. Its Taxes.

A well off district voting to keep their money basically.

[movonne]

3. Are we sure the votes were counted correctly?

[BeFree]

36. No we're not sure, We never can be w/machines

Is there anyone who wants to argue that point? Anyone?

[Joanne98]

4. My hometown Imperial Beach. It's a purple district.....Not red...

people hate immigration. Really hate it as you've just seen. It's even possible that CA could go RED! All because of the Senate Amnesty Bill.
I predicted this two days ago but nobody listened.

[sandnsea]

6. There's no senate amnesty bill

But thanks for helping to spread the misinformation and confuse people into believing that line of garbage. The senate bill does exactly what people always say they want, enforcement on business, border security, work program with a goal to citizenship so workers have a stake in this country.

[FreakinDJ]

10. Try convincing the Voters of that

As we all witnessed in CA50 it is the immigration issue ringing loud and clear amongst voters.

Call it dis-information or what ever else you can use to diffuse the issue, it won't win elections for DEMs

[sandnsea]

13. Dems help Repubs win again

I'm not surprised. It's a choice Democratic voters made. The truth was put out there and they chose to believe the right wing lies. Racism wins, even with Democrats. As does nuking them ragheads, welfare queens, lazy ******, and all the rest.

[Joanne98]

16. If you keep calling Dems racist, you're going to keep losing.

[sandnsea]

22. Oh I'm not calling Dems racist

I'm calling racists racists.

[Joanne98]

12. Goal to citizenship is amnesty. Denial doesn't win elections.

BTW! Black voters hate immigration too. If the "Immigration" Bill isn't dropped like a hot potato and fast Dems could lose seats all over the country. This is something I'm not going to shut up about because I really want the House back so we can impeach Bush.

[sandnsea]

15. Are you for deportation?

Is that what you're saying?

[Joanne98]

18. Yes. I've been for deportation, all my life. I grew up on the border,

so I'm not scared of the name calling. People who think this is racism are clueless about the issue. BTW! If you put the employers in prison immigrants go home on their own. It's really UNDRAMATIC!

[sandnsea]

21. Ah well

Then I've got nothing left to say. I grew up in central California, it was always pretty clear to me why immigrants were in this country. I'm sure if they left their children in Mexico, worked and lived in barracks, and nobody ever had to see them, there'd be no "illegal" issue at all.

[PsycheCC]

33. Exactly. I think people should spend time in the Southwest or other

heavily impacted areas if they really want to understand this issue. I grew up in Washington State, and until I moved to Southern California, I had no idea. Many people I know say now that they are so fed up with the problems immigration causes in their daily lives that they will vote solely on this issue. Dems will be in trouble this fall if they don't hear this message.

[FreakinDJ]

17. watch out - next they'll call you racist

forget even black voters and even legal immigrants oppose amnesty just call everyone racist and see how many seats that wins in the 06 cycle

[Joanne98]

19. I know. I'm not afraid. Unlike some people I actually want to win.

And your right about black voters HATING this immigration bill. Can you imagine the bloodbath this November if they get so pissed off they stay home? It's a total set-up.

[sandnsea]

23. Win what??

An election to implement right wing bullshit?? What would be the friggin' point.

[sandnsea]

25. No, not all

Not even most. Despite the fact that immigration may well hit the African-American community harder, they manage to put on their thinking caps and target their anger where it belongs, the corporate labor exploiters.

http://www.blackcommentator.com/181/181_african_americans_immigration_guest_uzondu.html

[PsycheCC]

32. "If the "'immigration"'Bill isn't dropped like a hot potato and fast Dems

could lose seats all over the country." I agree! And no one among the Dem elite wants to hear this truth.

[unlawflcombatnt]

34. Senate Bill Is an Amnesty Bill

The Senate Bill is nothing but an Amnesty bill. That's the correct interpretation of it. It's main purpose is to grant amnesty to as many illegal immigrants as possible, as well as grant amnesty to all employers who hire illegal immigrants. It's secondary purpose is to increase the number of immigrant workers in this country by the new "guest worker" program and by increasing the number of H1B visas.

The enforcement aspect of the Senate Bill is deliberately designed to be unenforceable. The only reason this bill was pushed by the Bush Corporatocracy and his shills in the Senate was to ensure the unrestricted flow of cheap labor into this country.

The "enforcement" provisions are just a ruse to get the AMNESTY and guest worker aspects passed. This farce of a bill will dramatically worsen the illegal immigration problem, and every Senator who voted for it knows this.

It's a purely "fake" immigration reform bill.
In reality it's a "comprehensive amnesty" bill.

unlawflcombatnt

EconomicPopulistCommentary

EconomicPatriotForum

___________
The economy needs balance between the "means of production" & "means of consumption."

[sandnsea]

5. There's more Republicans in the district

That's the way it is. From looking at the numbers, it appears a lot of them just chose not to vote and that's something at least.

Busby was against the war from the beginning, which is supposed to be the magic wand in beating Republicans according to the left. Funny how none of them are mentioning that today. If she'd won, they would be crediting her anti-war politics.

In order to get Republicans to consider voting for a Democrat, we have to rebrand nationally. That will have to include toughness on national security and a foreign policy that builds countries economically and demands cooperation in ending terrorist support. The left can play out in the CIA terrorist conspiracy sandbox all they want, this country is never going to believe a President arranged for our Pentagon and Congress to be bombed or have planes flown into them. We are going to have to prove we have protected this country in the past and can do a better job in the future before we flip any Republican votes.

[MsUnderstood]

7. it was an immigration and slander double hit

The republicans found the weakness in the democratic candidate and exploited it.

According to what I've read, the democratic candidate misspoke about volunteering for her campaign by saying "you don't need papers to vote" when she meant to say "you don't need papers to volunteer".

From that statment the republican force pushed their way back up to win.

First, democrats need to learn how to win. Democrats can do no wrong. They cannot misspeak during their events. They cannot try running by running against a person (instead of for ideas).

It isn't about people feeling that they'd rather have a corrupt republican (have the democrats proven the republican running was corrupt? Is he up on charges?). By democratics running against the corruption as their main focus they hampered themselves--they needed to find out what the population there cared about and talk about their views.

[brook]

14. The fact that her mis-statement

is what folks are said to have been influenced by just shows me that people are too lazy to think for themselves, to do any fact finding and stand on their own two feet. We're a nation of lemmings.

It's obvious to me that the GOP/God goon squad have done a fine job of switching off the thinking mechanisms of the general public. They've injected our society with a virulent germ called 'hatred' and it's a far more threatening epidemic than 'bird flew'.

For those of you who are turned off, fightened or made timid by comparisons to Hitler's Germany, I refer you to present day Ireland and the ravages of the past 20-30 years of government/political/sectarian treachery. Spying, imprisonment, curtailment of civil liberties, lies and double-talk. It's what we are on our way to becoming.

A song just came to mind: "You don't know what you had 'til it's gone".

[a kennedy]

8. It's Immigration, Stupid.......by Newt

(This is from his column) Don't normally read this junk, but thought it very interesting.

The Democrats lost in San Diego last night in a special election many thought they would win. After all, the race was to fill a seat left vacant by a Republican congressman who had to resign when he pled guilty of corruption. President Bush’s approval rating in a California Field Poll this week is around 28% percent (the lowest in that poll’s history since just before President Nixon resigned in 1974). And in the first round of voting, the Democrat, Francine Busby got 44% of the vote and the Republican Brian Bilbray, a former congressman, led a big field of Republicans with only 15% of the vote.

But with 96% of the vote reported, Brian Bilbray has 49.48% of the vote and the Democrat has 45.28% (there are two minor candidates). With a margin of almost 5,000 votes, Bilbray seems certain to win.

So what happened? Why was the Democrat only able to go from 44% to 45%? How did the Republican go from 15% to victory?

Here’s the bottom line: A conservative reform-candidate won in San Diego last night. The result of this election speaks volumes about what will succeed and what will fail for Republicans this November.

http://www.humaneventsonline.com/winningthefuture.php?id=15420

[OzarkDem]

24. He's correct

The GOP can win by running their own "reform" candidates and using wedge issues against Dems. They're going to try to show themselves as being "independent" of Bush. There's nothing magic or even new about the strategy. Why didn't this Dem candidate figure it out?

It wouldn't be possible if Dems had a unified cohesive message instead of the cacophony of a dozen Dem candidates running for 2008 with their own message, agenda and spin.

[skeeters2525]

9. What It Proved To Me

What it proved to me is Democrats are good at sitting at their computer doing nothing.

Political Action, nah.

We are smart, we are cool, we hate everyone that isn't as radical as Che Guevera.

Get ready as the Republicans sweep the next election and Jeb Bush takes the White House.

And meanwhile Democrats will sit home and rip Rahm Emanual and Hillary and god knows who else.

Democrats are the party of all talk, no action. California 50 thanks for proving it.

[lynne]

11. Immigration is and will be the #1 issue at the polls this year -

- The proof was in the pudding last night in California as well as in the town of Herndon, VA where - in May - the voters handed walking papers to the mayor and entire city council who had voted in favor of a much opposed job center for immigrant day laborers. BTW . . . Herndon is in Fairfax County - a very BLUE portion of Northern Virginia near DC.

Details Here>
http://www.dailypress.com/news/local/virginia/dp-va--herndonsnewmayor0527may27,0,2949466.story?coll=dp-headlines-virginia

We can pretend immigration is not an issue and we can ignore it and we will lose. Plain and simple.

[Joanne98]

20. Yep! Sounds about right. I've been trying to warn people but

they don't listen. I'm going to start calling them "the Chanters"

Sexist, Racist, anti-gay. Power, money go away.

[OzarkDem]

26. and GOP candidates will run away from Bush

OMG, I would have thought the Dem in this race could have dealt with that one.

You have to take every GOP candidate running for office and hang Bush around his neck like an albatross.

[PsycheCC]

31. That's it in a nutshell. n/t

[Sawkrates]

27. Mostly disappointed...

(I'm a Bay Area resident FWIW...)

Of course sorry that Busby lost, both because of the seat not gained and also because it may indicate that the country isn't quite angry enough yet to spark a sea change. True,it's not surprising that she would go down in a heavily Republican district-- but by now the country is so heavily gerrymandered that if the Dems want to take back the house they're probably going to have to win races in districts where the demographics are against them. Even if CA-50 is more conservative than most, the average Republican congressman won't have been sent to prision by the time the election rolls around. Hope I'm wrong obviously...

In CA-11 Pete McClosky (a former liberal Republican congressman from the Penensula) challenged Dick Pombo for the Republican nod. Nobody was expecting him to actually win, but it would have been nice if he'd managed more than 32% of the vote.

Angelides won. Not really impressed with either Dem gub candidate, but it might have been nice if we'd sent someone other than a Eugene Levy doppelganger into combat with Ahnuld.

The library bond initative failed (argh...)

Oh and my absentee ballot didn't show up in time for me to vote (I'm in Bethesda MD at the moment). My own stupidity for not having sent in the paperwork soon enough, but still...

[dweller]

28. immigration aside

and correct me if i am wrong, but i've heard on the radio that Busby lost by 5000 votes, fairly close for this district.
But that there were still some 58,000 absentee votes yet to be counted?

perhaps i am rolling different stories together, but i figured over the next day or so it would all come to light, i'd read the facts here and know what was the outcome.

can she ask for a recount?

dp

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. I live in the area

no, not the 50th, but one of the surrounding ones.

I will tell you what I thought of it.

The seat was not assured or on a platter as some seem to believe. It was not. The fact that they had to spend these many resources in what IS a safe saat speaks volumes

Do the Demos have to get better with the messaging? Absolutely, but that is a NATIONAL problem.

But are the Pubbies in trouble? In my assetment, yes they are

Now here is the REAL problem... we had a dismal turnout... 30%... I had people telling me, there is an election today? My favorites were... nothing ever changes why vote and it is a waste of my time. Until those attitudes change, no matter what happens, the majority, which is truly the minority will continue to win. Look, this is gonna be very unaplatable for many, but given the level of civic commitment in this country... they can go ahead and suspend the elections tomorrow... you know what? Most folks will not notice or for that matter care. So the real lesson is... we need to start by GOTV efforts, the GOP is good at this... but we also need to make sure people understand voting ain't a right, nor is it a luxury... IT IS A FUCKING DUTY!

Oh and there probably was some hanky panky with the machines. No I don't trust them... never have, and never will... but the true problem is... people are not showing up to vote.

[Awsi Dooger]

30. My opinion

* We're not going to win districts like this, where the GOP has considerable registration and partisanship edges. They will be much closer than typical but reversing is another matter. That's why the pundits talking about a 30-50 seat gain are wacko. Many of those districts are even more red than this one. Busby actually came a bit closer than my projection of a 6 point loss.

* By far the most underrated factor heading toward November is Republican strength in GOTV. Rove may be a despicable soon to be indicted thief but he revamped and dramatically improved their GOTV beginning in 2001 and utilizing many of Ralph Reed's ideas from 2002, notably the 72 hour blitz to the wire.

* Unless our brand name is associated with one or two big idea positives on election day, the gains will only be moderate.

[natrat]

35. it was the gaffe

the republican operatives then flooded the media with very well organized swift reaction force and presto 5 points. They might be scummy but they are organized and own the media. fuckers

[Andromeda]

37. Sorry, but I disagree.

Busby had a good shot at winning until she opened her mouth and insinuated that illegal immigrants should vote.

After her fatal statement she apologetically said she misspoke and tried to explain herself but you can't unring a bell and those words sealed her fate.

In my heart of hearts I want Democrats back on top but if they continue to ignore the wishes of their constituents and dismiss legitimate concerns of middle-class American citizens they won't stand a chance of regaining the House or the Senate.

This saddens me and weighs me down with a sense of hopelessness because I feel like I have no representation at all.