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"Scam" ads the norm Trail Mix: Hillary haters spam cyberspace Gunning for the center Democrats make Hillary legit The blundering pundit Don Giuliani Campaign video: |
Golden State warriors
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Jan. 12, 2000 | SAN FRANCISCO --
For most of those upcoming races, Republicans will be playing defense. Republican Reps. Jim Rogan, Brian Bilbray and freshman Steve Kuykendall are at the top of the Democratic hit list for 2000, and Dems view the seat vacated by liberal Rep. Tom Campbell of San Jose as one of the best opportunities for an open seat pick-up this year. Democratic efforts have been boosted by top-notch candidate recruitment. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Patrick Kennedy, would-be speaker Richard Gephardt and President Clinton have all made personal efforts to recruit top-rung candidates to take on Republican incumbents. Republicans, meanwhile, have had mixed results in their recruitment efforts in a state where Republicans are still shellshocked from their wholesale defeat last November.
"We've had successes all across the country in recruiting top-notch candidates, but we've had exceptional success in our efforts in California," said John Del Cecato, spokesman for the DCCC. "We could potentially win the five seats we need to take back the House all in California." Del Cecato said that Republicans "have four times as many open seats as we do nationwide. This is the best open-seat environment for Democrats since 1958, when we picked up 14 seats." Political trivia notwithstanding, California promises to be a key congressional battleground with both parties dumping millions into a small cluster of hotly contested races. But just because it's going to be high-stakes politics doesn't mean voters and reporters can't have a little fun. A few California races promise to be among the most entertaining congressional matchups in the country. Exhibit A: It appears George W. Bush will not be the only Republican on the March 7 ballot who is running to avenge the electoral sins committed against his father. Though former Rep. Bob Dornan took a pass at challenging fellow Republican Dana Rohrbacher, B-1 Jr. has decided to enter the family business. Mark Dornan, who calls himself a more outspoken version of his famously outspoken father, will take on multimillionaire car alarm magnate Darrell Issa in a safe Republican district currently represented by Ron Packard, who is retiring. In 1998, Issa found that $8 million could not even buy him the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, but is hoping to have better luck with the smaller prey. State Sen. Bill Morrow, who has the support of much of the Republican Party establishment, is also running. The state will host its share of entertaining primaries in both parties, but perhaps none as potentially explosive as this one. On the Democratic side, an old feud between warring Los Angeles Latino factions will have new political relevance as state Sen. Hilda Solis takes on nine-term incumbent Matthew Martinez. Martinez, who was once ranked as the most shallow-pated member of the California congressional delegation by California magazine, has been abandoned by many of his supporters, including organized labor, and many of his fellow Democratic members of Congress. Among those is Rep. Loretta Sanchez, a fellow member of the House Democratic Hispanic Caucus, who broke with tradition and endorsed Solis. Sanchez, herself a perennial target, faces a possible battle against Gloria Matta Tuchman, the state's most visible conservative Latina and author of the state's 1998 bilingual education reform initiative. Matta Tuchman shocked California political watchers last year when she forced schools Superintendent Delaine Eastin into a runoff and came within 6 points of the incumbent, whom some have tapped as a rising star among California Democrats. And 2000 will also mark the eagerly anticipated return of Rep. Jay Kim, the only incumbent congressman to campaign while under house arrest when he lost the Republican primary in 1998. Kim, who was driven from his seat in the 41st Congressional District after he was placed under house arrest for excessive campaign fund-raising violations, is attempting a political resurrection in the neighboring 42nd District. This seat is held by Joe Baca, D-Rialto, who won a special election last year after the death of longtime Rep. George Brown. Washington Republicans reportedly had to beg Elia Pirozzi, who lost to Baca last year, to run again. Though aware that the seat is not winnable, the party is propping up Pirozzi to avoid the embarrassment of having Kim on the November ballot. But despite the sideshow atmosphere, there is a big-time political game developing in California. With four key seats currently held by Republicans, the state is poised to be a multimillion-dollar partisan battleground for congressional control. Gephardt knows this year is his best, and perhaps last, shot at becoming speaker, and he's doing everything in his power to take back the House for Democrats. And for the lame-duck Clinton, who saw the House slip out of Democratic hands for the first time in 50 years on his watch, the California campaign may provide a last shot at redemption.
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