Holy cow! This is fun. Fifteen comments on my “boring” blog an hour before I made it to work. As far as who I am and whether I’m qualified to offer an opinion on local politics, Google me. There’s not enough room for me to list all the (successful) campaigns I’ve run since 1986.
The fact that Carl DeMaio has endorsements and contributions from the same folks that support Brain Mainsheim, Jim Madaffer, and Jerry Sanders may make his claim of being an outsider who will “hold the line on taxes” (like that’s original), quite suspect. As to “the Republican base” and “grassroots” support of DeMaio, I can only say that I’ve been working for Democrats for 20 years. We never had as much money as the Republicans and the only way to win was through a grassroots field operation. I don’t see anything materializing for DeMaio yet. He is much more impressive on paper than in person. Oh, and last time I checked, Tom McClintock had his butt kicked by John Garamendi in last year’s race for lieutenant governor.
As to who is “anti-DeMaio,” I can’t reveal my sources. However, I suggest you look at his contribution reports and match them against Jerry Sanders. There are many Republican donors quite conspicuous by their absence.
Actually, I have seen a poll in the 5th District. Neither Carl nor any other candidate has any name identification. Voters like the “no new taxes” and “fiscal responsibility” messages, so by linking Carl to that messaging, of course his numbers improve. However, if you look at high-propensity voters (who are the ones who actually vote next June) as opposed to all voters and non-registered residents, it’s anybody’s race.
As to how boring this blog is, Larry, I wanted to write about how the hundreds of Democrats for whom I worked last year and who took back the House and Senate might have trouble next year with Hillary as the Democratic presidential nominee, but I was asked to keep it local. Besides, I don’t take anyone seriously who has nothing better to do at 5:32 a.m. than to rag on my little blog.
As for Phil Thalheimer, can someone please explain to me why supporting keeping the Mount Soledad Cross makes someone a credible candidate? In fact, to me, Phil’s involvement is suspect. I think he joined the fight (which has been going on since the late 1980’s) to raise his political profile. And he certainly didn’t do it for religious reasons.
Dan, please don’t take this personally. You ran and lost to Ben Hueso in the 8th City Council District in 2005, receiving fewer than 800 votes. Mike Aguirre was elected City Attorney with about 206,000 votes. In addition, Mike’s positive poll numbers still hover in the 50 percent range and he has the proven ability to raise a ton of money.
Hey, Captain, good question. Sunroad and other Sanders foibles in and of themselves are harmless. However, if things start piling up, Jerry could be weakened to the point where Francis might be willing to take a shot at him, thus opening things up for Donna. However, we’re about eight months out and Tom Shepard is smart. Look for a Sanders announcement about improved city finances in the next month or two. That should stop the bleeding long enough for Sanders to make it to another term.
— CHRIS CROTTY