Editor’s note: “Craig Huey ‘gets it,’” wrote our Congressman Tom McClintock in endorsing him for Jane Harman’s seat in a closely watched race in Southern California. Huey lost to Democrat Janice Hahn in a contentious race on Tuesday.
Once again, social views — on gay marriage and abortion, for example — are hurting the hard right at the California polls. Many Californians are fiscally conservative but socially moderate. This could be a “bugaboo” for Gov. Rick Perry, too, in a presidential run. “When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?”
“In a hard-fought special congressional election marked by sharp divisions in ideology and even sharper personal attacks, Democrat Janice Hahn defeated underdog Republican Craig Huey on Tuesday,” according to the L.A. Times.
“Unofficial election night returns showed Hahn won 54.6% to 45.4%.
“Democrats hold an 18-point registration edge in California’s largely coastal 36th Congressional District, based in the South Bay. Jane Harman, a Venice Democrat, gave up the seat in February to run a Washington think tank.
“Most observers had expected Hahn, a member of a prominent local political family, to have little trouble winning after Democratic Secretary of State Debra Bowen was edged out of the runoff by Huey.
“But Huey, 61, owner of a marketing firm and publisher of Christian voter guides, mounted a stronger-than-expected campaign, in large part by putting in more than $800,000 of his own money. He rallied ‘tea party’ members and other conservatives and, with his cut-spending/grow-jobs message, tried to appeal to independents and others he felt were fed up with the federal government.
“The race was contentious. Huey dismissed Hahn as another ‘career politician,’ and she criticized his ‘extreme’ views opposing abortion rights and gay marriage. He distributed videos of a local Fox News affiliate’s 2008 report linking her to gang members — subsequently discredited by at least two other news organizations and L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck.
The rest of the article is here.
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Jeff,
This was an interesting introduction to the new primary system that will be in use next year. I have to wonder what would have happened in this race if Mr. Huey had run under the “independent” label rather than Republican in this type of district?
With new maps and new rules, next year is going to be very interesting.
John
John,
Maybe now the SoS will have some answers on how exactly prop 14 works. I will give them a ring this week.
Congratulations to Ms. Hahn and my condolences for your family’s loss. Time to “take the hill”, God willing and the creek don’t rise…Kate
If I were the Democrats, I wouldn’t get too cocky with a result like this. They have a 16% registration edge, but won by only 9.2%. The DTSers must have broken sharply for the Republican in what is a safe Democratic district.
Tony: You are very correct in your assessment.
Democrats actually have an 18-point registration advantage in the 36th Congressional District. Democrats are 45% of the electorate while Republicans are a mere 27%. Decline to State (“DTS”) voters are 22% of the electorate. Republicans and DTS voters combine for just 50% of the voters in the 36th Congressional District. Craig Huey received 45% of the vote.
Based on simple mathematics, one can conclude that a conservative, “Tea Party” candidate, Craig Huey, received over 81% of the DTS voters!
That does not bode well for Democrats in 2012.
Barry,
No offense, dude, but if you ever hope to win, you’ve got to shuck the homophobia, anti-abortion, and global warming denialist candidates. It doesn’t play in California like it does in Indiana and Kentucky. You’ll always lose. Every single time. California is the most beautiful, diverse state in the nation, and we like to keep it that way.
No offense taken. You need to tell that to the 80% of independent voters in the 36th Congressional District (gerrymandered liberal district), because they did not get the “Sierra Foothills Report” memo.
Barry,
When was the last time you visited Manhattan Beach? I spent much of my youth there and know the landscape well. You’re a “fish out of water” to say the least. Coastal California is not Indiana!
Jeff,
Perhaps it is you that forgets that Senator McClintock representing a coastal district!
John
Barry,
I suspect that the new districts and open primaries may give Mr. Huey another chance!
John
Congressional upsets are most likely to occur in special elections because turnouts are always the lowest in off year special elections, especially in July when lots of voters, including students are out of town and when there’s little focus by the media on the election, especially in such a massive media market like LA. A Republican won a special election in the heart of New Orleans, which is overwhelmingly Democratic…he lost in a landslide in the next general election.
How about thinking of it like this? A moderate GOP might have won the race! But the hard-right TP candidate (with his hard-right stand on social values) couldn’t attract enough moderate votes to win. “Woulda, coulda, shoulda.” After all, this is California, not Indiana.
Gov. “Rick” will do the same thing for the GOP in 2012. You can bet on it! Too bad for the TP that there isn’t a “place” or “show” bet, like in horse racing. We’re a moderate nation, not an extreme one.
Jeff,
I have found down through the years that it does not much matter where the Republican stands, the Democrats and their friends in the media paint them as right-wing extremists, so you might as well run real conservatives!
John
Nope. There’s a big difference between moderate GOPers and the hard-right ones. A lot of it is defined by positions on social issues — gay marriage and abortion rights, for example. The environment also is a big deal in California. Running “real” conservatives doesn’t fly in California and never will. This isn’t Indiana or Kentucky.
John,
I don’t think that the media have painted Jon Huntsman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mitt Romney (2008 version), or even the pre 2008 John McCain as extremists. They are all Republicans who have won races, and been good coalition builders.
Tony
Jeff,
Meg was as left wing as you could get on social issues and yet she was portrayed as a liberal. The extra ten points that a conservative could have drawn in that race might have made the difference.
John
OOPS, it is getting late: That should have said she was portrayed as an extremist.
John
John,
With these bursts of posts, you’re sounding a little flustered. Don’t fall into the Barry Pruett trap!
The ongoing story in our county, California and the nation is how the hard right is dividing its own party. It’s the proverbial “elephant in the corner,” and the voters are catching on.
While that may be the story that the liberal media is trying to push, clearly the voting patterns of independents in the 36th Congressional District do not reflect such analysis. Voters are certainly catching on…and they are breaking hard right…even in California.
Jeff,
I was greatly encouraged by the letters-to-the-editor in the Bee this morning with ALL in support of our right to choose light bulbs!
What the voters are “catching on to” is the fact that Washington DC is out of control.
John
You’re joking, right?
Kate
But hey Stoos, we really coulda used all those letter writers when Bush was showering all that TARP money on his Dubya “friends for life” wall street Facebook friends. I wonder if they chat together on LinkedIn, ya think? Hey, Perry’s on Tweeter, ya know…Kate
Kate,
I have always contented that IF Senator McCain when he suspended his campaign as a dramatic show of concern for the finances of our nation, had actually gone back to Washington and OPPOSED the bailouts he might be president today and our nation would have been MUCH better off fiscally as well.
I am told that Iceland is doing pretty well today and back then it was the end of the world for them: Let let the banks suffer and now their people, apparently, are doing just fine.
John