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Thursday, December 15, 2005

CA-50: Special Election Dates Set

Posted by DavidNYC

As I expected, Gov. Schwarzenegger decided to consolidate the special election in California's 50th congressional district - necessary because of the resignation of bribe-taking felon Duke Cunningham (R) - with the statewide primary on June 6th. This means that the first round of this election will take place on April 11th. As with CA-48, the top finisher in each party will advance to the general election, unless one person takes 50%. Our candidate is Francine Busby (though some other small-time names might get into the mix), while the GOP side is unsettled:

Sen. Bill Morrow, R-Oceanside, former South Bay congressman Brian Bilbray and former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian of San Marcos, all Republicans, have said they intend to seek the 50th District seat.

I would like to know why this news hasn't yet been posted to Busby's website or blog.

Anyhow, there are also some special elections coming up in January for VA state legislature seats as well. Plus, in a few days, the recount for the VA AG race will begin - but it should be a quick, two-day affair. Good luck, Creigh Deeds!

Posted at 07:40 PM in California, Special Elections, Virginia | Technorati

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Comments

The Announcement is now up now with little detail. It appears Francine is the only poster on the Blog. She needs a Campaign Blogger. It takes too long to write well and in-depth. She has better things to do.

She would be better having her own Candidate Diary where a few lines on the days activities would be great.

The timing has some pluses and minuses. It makes the Primary, as usual, a real important point. I hope she took the lesson from the CA-48 seriously and has a full time, non-stop, 7 day a week Absentee Ballot operation going. And I hope she bought the best ground campaign operator that money can buy. They are that important. Those Absentee Ballots are as close to guaranteed votes as a person can get. And until now the Democratic Party hasn't really gotten how important they really are...

I hope she has the funding to do what Campbell did which was to focus on X targeted households, a number than can (when combined with expected votes) win the election, and bombard them with Direct Mail with attached Absentee Ballots. It won him the election.

Done right, since the Primary will be a light turnout, it might even win it for her.

Posted by: Stuart O'Neill at December 15, 2005 10:12 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

For those of you having trouble keeping track of your wingnuts, Kaloogian is co-chair of the "nonpartisan" Move America Rightward -- er, Forward -- of Truth Tour, "Cindy Sheehan Doesn't Speak for Me" Caravan, and Freedom Walk fame.

Posted by: KCinDC at December 15, 2005 11:44 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

In theory, wouldn't there be more free people to bring in to try and get as many votes as possible in the first round? Since there wouldn't be any other big elections on the date. As well, do the people who worked with Frye have a good reputation to help out? (sure, they're out of district personel)

Also, I think that a line should be put out to moderate voters that a hardcore right-winger is going to finish #1 out of Republicans, so they would be best served by voting for Busby.

So, under this schedule, will a June election involve an election for the last 6 months of the seat and a primary election for November?

Or what's the routine here?

Posted by: RBH at December 16, 2005 01:22 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

RBH,

My understanding is that if a candidate get more than 50% of the vote in the special election, they finish Duke's term. Then we will have an election anyway in 06.

There will be an election in 2006, if no candidate gets 50% then the top two candidates from each party will have a run off in November.

Pretty wierd.

BigDog... I know what you mean. The absentee ballot is crucial. From what I've seen and heard, Busby's campaign will have no shortage of money - how they are using it is of course their secret. I like your plan - blogging campaign, and absentee, and nail down the swing voters. There needs to be a bit more reachout to the community. It is appearing stand-offish. My guess is that they are waiting to see who the Republican front runner is.

Posted by: macromayhem at December 23, 2005 12:59 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment