I've been writing about the adventures of a married couple running for office. I'm as much a part of this as my husband, Gary Pritchard is (Gary is running for California State Senate in the 33rd district). My diaries here have been more for venting purposes and rooting him on, I don't think of them as official campaign communications. I'm writing as the Candidate's wife not adviser, campaign director or handler.
So, having said that, what would you think if we started calling Obama "President-Elect Obama"? Don't you think that would be rather arrogant and presumptuous of us? Isn't that reaching a bit since many are still referring to Obama as the "presumptive" nominee?
Well, when you run in such an upside district where the winner is assumed the day after the primary, it's not uncommon for Republicans to refer to said winner as "Senator-Elect". Yes.
I received an email regarding the local school board recall taking place in the Capistrano Unified School District. The recall is not supported by the local teacher's union due to it's cost, almost $800,000 to cast a vote for people who will only have to run again in five months. I'm serious.
CUSD Recall Email Update:
IMPORTANT NOTICE TO VOTERS FROM STATE ASSEMBLYWOMAN AND STATE SENATOR-ELECT MIMI WALTERS
PLEASE VOTE "YES" ON THE CUSD RECALL ON JUNE 24th
Hi, this is Assemblywoman Mimi Walters. The education of our children is one of my highest priorities. That is why I?m urging you to Vote Yes on the CUSD Recall on June 24th.
We need positive change in our troubled school district.
Please - mark your calendar for Tuesday, June 24th.
"Vote Yes" to recall the incumbents.
AND in their place,
Elect Sue Palazzo and Ken Maddox - two highly qualified reform candidates.
If you vote by mail, please return your completed ballot Today.
Thank you.
For more information, please visit the CUSD Recall Committee website at:
http://www.cusdrecall.com/...
Notice that Mimi Walters is already "Senator-elect" even though only 40,000 out of 520,000 registered voters in the district turned out to vote in the Republican Primary. 7.5% exactly and it's declared to be a win. A win and still five months to the General Election. This is how insignificant Democrats are perceived in this district.
Now if you notice when you go to the link it no longer states "Senator-Elect" but just Ms. Walters current office, Assemblywoman. I and others inquired as to why the designation had been used when as I pointed out the General election has yet to take place?
And here is the response I got. I found out that many others who inquired about this also received the same response. How convenient.
Dear Ms. Pritchard,
Thank you for your email message. The mistaken reference to Assemblywoman Mimi Walters as "Senator-Elect" was inadvertently made by us. We apologize. We merely intended to repeat an earlier phone call message by Assemblywoman Walters, who had nothing to do with our Email Update or the mistaken reference in its title.
Thank you.
CUSD Recall Committee
On 6/17/08 4:40 PM, "Heather Pritchard" wrote:
I received your email from someone I know regarding the CUSD recall and a Statement released by Assemblywoman Mimi Walters. I'm curious why she's being called "Senator -Elect" and is that her wording or yours? As far as I know the General Election has yet to take place.
Thanks for your time
Sincerely,
Heather Pritchard
But doing a little investigation shows that this is not the first time that the designation has been used after the primary. The local Republican blog has used it in two different posts and our local Democratic blog, The Liberal OC, pointed that out today.
Since our friends at Red County have twice used the phrase "Senator-elect Mimi Walters," even thoguh she faces an outstanding State Senate candidate in Gary Pritchard, and have pretty much dmissed Debbie Cook’s candidacy against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher because the voter registration numbers just aren’t there, I plan to start using the poll numbers on this site to justify using the phrase "President-elect Barack Obama." Because the individual state by state polls show Obama would win the election if it were held today by a margin of 335.5 electoral college votes to 202.5 for Senator John McCain.
Here are the two instances referenced by Dan, here and here.
I will also include some of the comments in the post, Steve Greenhut is a Libertarian commentator at our local paper's Orange Punch.
Steven Greenhut, on June 19th, 2008 at 12:30 pm Said:
Dan: While the presidential race is up for grabs (with Obama the favorite at this point), redistricting has made it impossible for a party switch in almost every state legislative race. At the congressional level, Cook does have a real chance, though, even if it is a longshot one. No one is Senator-elect until after the general election, as a matter of politeness. But you know that Walters is de facto senator-elect.
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Dan Chmielewski, on June 19th, 2008 at 12:40 pm Said:
Steve - as a matter of politeness, perhaps the Register could actually interview Gary Pritchard to show voters the start difference between him and Mimi? Disclosure: I have contributed to Gary’s campaign. Perhaps we should be asking Walters to debate Gary
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Bill Spaulding, on June 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm Said:
Declining the use of the designation Senator-elect at this point is not a matter of "politeness." Neither is it de facto because there’s no fact about it. It’s patently false because the election that awards the designation has yet to occur. If tomorrow, God forbid, Mimi Walters is hit by a bus, would her obituary in the Register list her as the Senator-elect? No. Because it is factually incorrect. Using this logic, it would be appropriate for Sen. Barack Obama to be referred to as President-elect. And that’s equally ridiculous. Walters being called Senator-elect is inappropriate, inaccurate, and arrogant and for a serious journalist to justify or rationalize it is unprofessional.
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Steven Greenhut, on June 19th, 2008 at 3:48 pm Said:
Don’t get me wrong. I do think that the newspaper should interview the challengers, even though they have ZERO chance of winning. I don’t think senator-elect should be used until Walters is indeed senator-elect. My point: redistricting has made most races a pre-ordained conclusion, which is why we don’t get debates or serious coverage of contenders. Even if a candidate died during the election, that candidate would still win if he or she had the right party affiliation for the district. It’s true. You know it. That’s why California needs redistricting reform. That’s my point.
Democrats understand what we are up against but we still feel the need to stand up and to fight for those who not in the 40,000 who voted for Assemblywoman Walters. Our campaign has been referred to as a "sacrificial lamb". But Gary and I want it to be more, even if others do not want to acknowledge it as such.
Sadly, when the odds are so against you, it's hard to get the help you need to run a successful campaign. That's money. People don't give if they think you can't win or if they think you can't raise money. You can't be taken seriously if you can't raise money and you most certainly can't compete. It's a vicious cycle and nothing will change until Democrats support their candidates by giving money, something. With 148,135 registered Democrats in this district there is a place to raise money. Just imagine getting $10 from each for all the races in their district. That would change a lot or at least make Republicans think twice about using the term "Senator-elect" or anything else that assumes a win in the primary is a win in November. I hope this can change.
Gary's website and our Act Blue account.
I want to note that we've gotten lots of advice and much of it contradictory and all of it appreciated. We know what we have to do and both Gary and I work on this campaign every single day. The odds are against us, but we don't care about that, we will do our best and Gary will continue to walk precincts and talk to everyone he comes across. Gary does not take any vote for granted and he's willing to go out and ask for each one if he has to. That's how you win an uphill battle, you climb.