“The Republican free-for-all to replace retiring GOP Rep. John Doolittle is ugly and getting uglier,” the San Francisco Chronicle wrote in 2008, referring to the race between Tom McClintock and Doug Ose for Congress.
This year’s congressional race between Sam Aanestad (whom McClintock is supporting as a campaign “co-chair”) and Doug LaMalfa is ugly and getting uglier too. The latest example: Aanestad’s “dirty tricks” allegations against LaMalfa over a political website Sam4Congress.com.
In fact, both men are staunch conservatives, and the race is splitting the GOP in small towns throughout the district (including ours). Some moderates are turning to the Democratic candidate, Jim Reed, but he doesn’t have much funding.
Here are some highlights of the McClintock-Ose race, which McClintock won:
•“GOP Split in Congressional Race”
“During the final debate, Mr. McClintock accused Mr. Ose of taking money from Jack Abramoff, the jailed Republican lobbyist whose ties to Mr. Doolittle are forcing the incumbent into retirement. Mr. Ose’s spokesman said later that Mr. Ose had never met Abramoff and gave the $1,000 donation to charity.” —Washington Times
•”The candidates have debated personal issues, including mutual accusations of carpetbagging and dirty tricks. McClintock fired back with a TV ad questioning Ose’s connection to farm subsidies on his land and demanding that he release his tax returns.” — “Wither Gold Country Conservatism” in National Review
•”The mostly rural district faces plenty of problems, ranging from ever-present water issues to soaring gas prices in an area where it can be a 30-mile drive to the supermarket. But voters aren’t likely to hear much about issues in the constant din of attack ads that are likely to land between now and the June 3 election.” — “War of Words in Race to Replace Doolittle” in S.F. Chronicle.
This time around it will be hard for Aanestad (McClintock’s choice) to topple LaMalfa, who has strong business and political ties to the district. In the meantime expect the ugly campaign to get uglier.
The battleground largely will be the Redding area — a reminder of our county’s marginal influence in this district.
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I can enjoy a political food fight however one of these guys will end up in Congress. As it stands today each will say no to anything the smells of bipartisanship. Each will be directed by national conservative dictates not the needs of this district. The fight may be amusing, the results will not.
I prefer Jim Reed to Aanestad-LaMalfa.
Brad,
Jim Reed to seems to be the candidate to vote for in this election for US CA Congressional District 1. Lets hope he makes it out of the primary.
Ain’t gonna happen Ben, but one can dream.
Michael,
The best news for the Reed campaign in this primary season is that the republican primary for president has basically been decided. If the race was still hot and heavy the republican turnout would have been high. The problem with Reed is he doesn’t get anyone outside the boots on the ground part of the Democratic Party excited. If he is going to have a chance at first getting out of the primary and then winning in the general he needs to get the roughly 20% DTS or third parties activated and voting. The 30% or so Democratic Party registration number hasn’t got it done in the past and will not in the future. Running conservative Democrats doesn’t excite or differentiate between the choices for voters.
“Given a choice between a fake Republican and a real one, the public will choose the real Republican every time.”
President Harry Truman
That is exactly why we must elect a new face, an intelligent voice, and a man of integrity. Vote DACQUISTO.
There is a internal battle for the direction of the republican party and the scariest thing about it is there is enough money to fund all factions of the battle. Hopefully 2012 the progressives will put the pressure on the Democratic Party creating the need to abandon the antiquated two party system. I don’t necessarily think any one party is the answer over another but rather having many parties and ideas at the table instead of the partisan stand offs we experience over the last couple of decades.
I hope Mr. Reed experiences some lift from his ability to rise above this right wing catfight. Today it was announced that President Obama raised 45 million in campaign funds for himself and the DNC. The reassuring news is the average contribution was about $50.00 contributed by over 500,000 people.
The bad news is that Obama’s SuperPAC funding is negligible so far, compared to the ginormous Republican SuperPAC war chest that has been amassed to date.
Get ready for some ugly Obama-targeted Swiftboating, probably beginning right after the convention in NC. Because the polling shows such a close race, the Citizen’s United decision could be the single deciding factor that tosses Obama out of office.
That’s where my my bet is, even though I claimed before that this presidential race would be decided based upon the unemployment rate — below 8%, Obama has it locked, above 9% Romney is the guaranteed winner; anything in between is a tossup.
I am now moving the goalposts due to the imbalance in SuperPAC funds: unemployment will need to drop to 7.5% nationally in order for Obama to be a shoo-in, which is highly unlikely.
Gird your loins, folks, for President Romney cum January 21st, 2013.
The only thing that can overcome the power of the PAC’s is the power of incumbency allowing the President to dominate any news cycle he is in. So, what we saw this last week, President Obama going after Romney’s ‘strength’, is likely to continue with little break over the summer, denying Romney the opportunity to define President Obama. If the Preidents team is smart, and they are, this will be the year without a summer.
Steve,
Romney has made his entire platform on his private sector experience and now is saying that experience should be off limits, what a joke. Once again the corporate media needs a horse race to pump up advertising spending so don’t expect to hear anything other than the campaign for the White House is close. Just like Romney in the Republican primary Obama is the choice of the status quo is he will have another term unless someone like a Ross Perot pops up. Just for the sake of it here is the Giant Sucking Sound prophesy that was 100% correct. We need to end our free trade agreements.
Oops prophecy
Michael,
Basically since we are living in a highly partisan time where those running for president need to win a half dozen states (5-10% of the vote) to receive the winning amount of electoral votes, every election is going to be closer than they really should be. This one is going to be no exception. I also think the super pac money and participation is going to be so huge and ugly we will see some major campaign legislation being demanded by the people. The key states in 2012 look familiar- Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado, and Nevada that will decide who will call the White House home until January 2017.
Quick question about Pelline’s oft quoted “social mediums changing the way we communicate” riff, (which I heartily endorse). Does anybody do the twitter gig? You all know I do but I’ve never asked youall…
Wrote a longer comment while in bed yesterday, but it disappeared. Simply, rec’d, like most of you probably did, LaMalfa’s campaign flyer.He’s posing with a shotgun and vows to protect 2nd amendment rights; reverse side just more, old NRA and NRA type endorsements. Glad to see he’s campaigning on vital issues.