GOP outnumbers Dems by three points, and Brian Bilbray was a long-standing Republican in the area, anyway. San Diego is home to Pete Wilson and Jerry Sanders, too, GOP with a strong fiscal bent which cannot be ignored, and is much needed in Sacramento and Washington DC.
Too bad that Bilbray did not overcome the Obama-rama in 2012
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| Brian Bilbray |
So, who won the primary in June? I had hoped that the Republicans would do well enough that perhaps incumbent Peters would not survive to the run-off.
Instead, the stand-off is Peters and DeMaio, with the Republican tally topping Peters' vote.
This week, this article was printed in the San Diego Union-Tribune:
Poll: DeMaio leads Peters
Former City Councilman Carl DeMaio is the Republican and Scott Peters is the incumbent Democrat, one of five CA Dem freshman who rode the Romney fallout and Obama pushback on Election Day 2012.
Brian Bilbray was a good Congressman, but his wife was ill, so his campaign was hindered somewhat from the outset.
He lost to Peters by a slim margin, and it looks as if Peters will lose to DeMaio by a greater margin in November.
In San Diego, the Republican resurge has a precedent.
GOP Kevin Faulconer won the San Diego mayor's 2014 special election even though the city is trending Democratic, and even after the Dem machine spent ten times as much trying to keep the SD Mayor's seat in Dem hands.
Didn't work out for the Democrats, and the liberal political pundits told the California Democratic Party to be afraid, very afraid.
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| Scott Peters |
Well, not exactly rainbows, since some of Faulconer's victory banners had bands of six colors, not seven: the banner of gay pride, in other words.
Faulconer is liberal on the social issues.
And guess what? So is Carl DeMaio.
Openly gay, pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, pro-gun control, pro-amnesty. Still, unions hate him, and he blasted the pension issue (using plagiarized info . . .)
Let's look over this once again -- what is GOP about this DeMaio guy, anyway?
Fiscally conservative. OK.
Granted, gay activists have slammed DeMaio savagely, refusing to let up because he is a member of the pro-tradition marriage, pro-life Republican Party.
Except that San Deigo GOP Leaders decided to endorse him (by a slim margin, just barely past 2/3 of county delegates).
Still, there is a deeper cultural current which voters cannot ignore. All of this talk about fiscally conservative yet socially liberally is morally bereft. Conservative radio host Dennis Prager made the argument so succinctly, that I am now more committed than ever to stand on principle rather than waffle for a win with a moderate who is actually trending leftward.
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| Carl DeMaio |
But GOP means standing on principle, and this DeMaio go, aside from his asides on the fiscal issues, is quite liberal.
What a dilemma.
A local activist in San Deigo, a Kirk Jorgensen supporter, quit the GOP after DeMaio's primary victory. The same person informed me that she would campaign against DeMaio and endorsed either not voting at all or voting for Peters.
Not because of his homosexual conduct, but because in her words: "He's a sleaze and he will ruin the Republican Party in California."
I understand the frustration. I have no idea what I would do in that situation.
While I am not so concerned about one election win ruining the party brand outright, the accommodation on these cultural countercurrents cannot be ignored.
Homosexuality is a choice (or an induced form of conduct) and a bad one, not a genetic lifestyle (confirmed by a ex-homosexual Oxford academic among others) one which hurts people's bodies and minds. The agenda has impacted young people in places where gay marriage is legal (by judicial fiat, of course)
Abortion must be a limited resort, for life is the right from which all other rights depend. Prager's exhortation to honor "social issues", when in fact they are moral and economic issues too, deserves more attention.
Is this debate within the GOP over should DeMaio win the CD-52. It depends.
If DeMaio is the only upset in the statewide Congressional conference, conservatives should be concerned. If other upsets take place, depending on the values of the winners, then the DeMaio victory won't mean too much.
I would like to see Republicans win more seats in Congress, but not this Republican.
For my part, I have no idea what I would do if I lived in CD-52. None. Nevertheless regardless of the candidates, CD-52 is very much a GOP pick-up as Peters' chances are petering out without a doubt.
The Congressional election in the 52nd CD will be won or lost by Decline to State voters. The CD is one-third Republican, one-third Democrat, and one-third DTS (or other). The "moderates" in this CD trend in large part to vote for Democrat candidates. Peters is far from "Petering out."
ReplyDeleteRepublicans are unquestionably going to retain the House Majority after November, so Peters' next two-year term will be basically ineffectual.
However. if elected, DeMaio would be in the position of voting for yet another weak Republican Majority Leader and perhaps Speaker, Kevin McCarthy. DeMaio owes McCarthy big time for his maxed-out donation to his campaign. Who else would he vote for? Certainly, not a real conservative. That should be totally unacceptable to Republican voters in this CD, considering McCarthy's pro-amnesty stand. We'e had enough of that.
Also, DeMaio's election would send a message to the Republican Party that Republican voters are okay with removing from its platform its strong statements supporting life, traditional families, and legal immigration. That should also be unacceptable to Republican voters in the 52nd. Most Republicans don't want the Platform changed in that manner and won't vote for candidates who do.
Nah. For all those reasons and more, Republican voters will reject DeMaio. DTS voters will largely support Peters, and he will be re-elected. Then we can run an even better candidate like Kirk Jorgensen against him in two years.
I am inclined to disagree at this time regarding the long-term impact of a DeMaio victory. . .Still, I want a GOP to win, but not that one.
DeleteTough situation. I offer for what individuals can do regarding the culture war. The political front does not seem to be enough at this point.
DeleteLocal 1442, huh?
DeleteI think Karen Grube, along with that other old fascist hag Celeste Greig who's been in this country for 50 years and still can't speak proper English, would find a welcoming home in the American Fascist Movement (http://www.americanfascistmovement.com/). They are certainly much more in tune with their political ideas than the Republican Party will ever be in the 21st Century.
ReplyDeleteProsecutors claim Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was at the center of a plan to illegally coordinate fundraising with an array of outside conservative groups to help him and several Republican senators survive a 2012 recall election, newly released records show.
ReplyDeleteIn the documents unsealed Thursday, prosecutors from five Wisconsin counties allege an effort by Walker and top aides to circumvent state law and raise money and plan spending by a dozen outside groups during the election.
The prosecutors' filings include a quote from an email in which Walker tells Republican strategist Karl Rove that a top campaign aide, R.J. Johnson, was leading the coordination effort and praises Johnson's work.
"Bottom line: R.J. helps keep in place a team that is wildly successful in Wisconsin," prosecutors say Walker wrote in the May 4, 2011, e-mail. "We are running nine recall elections and it will be like running nine congressional markets in every market in the state."
Johnson also was a top adviser to Wisconsin Club for Growth, one of the organizations helping to fight the recall. Prosecutors claimed Johnson used the Club has a hub for coordinating political activities of Walker's campaign and other groups, including the Republican Governors Association and Americans for Prosperity, a national group tied to billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch.
DeMaio changes tune on immigration policy (?): "Send them home!"
ReplyDeletehttp://voiceofsandiego.org/2014/07/09/demaio-send-them-back-peters-the-law-says-they-get-a-chance/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+voice-of-san-diego-all-articles+%28All+articles+voiceofsandiego.org+--+full+feed%29