The election to replace Duke Cunningham is now just 40 days away--April 11, 2006--and our candidate, Francine Busby (D) needs all the help our community can muster.
CA-50 will be trumpeted as the test case for the effect of the GOP's corruption scandals on the 2006 House and Senate races. No other district (except for Delay's in Texas and the entire state of Montana, perhaps) has a more direct connection to the Republican corruption embroiling Washington D.C. than this slightly Republican leaning district in beautiful Northern San Diego County. If we cannot get a win here, where Kerry lost to Bush 45-55, the corruption scandal will be seen as a very weak issue to run a campaign on, unless the electorate in other districts is split much more closely along party lines.
We cannot let this seat be replaced with another GOPer. Sending Busby to Washington would send a strong, frightening message to the Republican powers that be, and another to the American people that the Democrats can and will win in 2006.
For more information on Busby's campaign, or to find out how to volunteer your time or finances, go here:
http://www.busbyforcongress.org
I hope that everyone here will do what they can to make our dream of a Democrat controlled House of Representatives a reality in 2006. The road to the takeover of Congress begins early this year. A Busby victory in CA-50 (which voted--just barely--for GWB in 2004) would send chills down the backsides of every Republican in the country!
You can also donate to Busby through Netroot's ActBlue page, here:
http://actblue.com/...
Right now, Busby's account there sits at $8,646 with 246 donors, but she recently announced that she has raised over $1,000,000 for this race, from over 6,700 individual contributors. Let's get that Netroots number up to $10,000 before the day is over!! Busby's campaign is strongly relying on grass roots efforts to fund her race--much to the contrary of the leading Republicans in the race. Compare Busby's totals to her closest Republican competitor (money wise) who only has such high funds because he donated over $500,000 to his own campaign!!
My three main reasons why Busby will win:
1. CA-50's Congressional seat has been in the hands of a corrupt Republican for the past 16 years. But Duke wasn't just any corrupt Republican. Duke is the only GOP member who has publicly admitted his criminal conduct and is facing a serious sentence of up to ten years in federal prison. The book on Duke is closed--the only matter still pending is how long he'll be sitting in his cell. Recent polls taken in CA-50 indicate that about 90% of the electorate there disapproves of Duke. In a district with slightly higher Republican registration than Democratic, this is surely a great sign. The voters will be eager to move away from Duke and the GOP's more general corruption scandals (Abramoff, etc.) will surely affect even ethical Republican candidates vying for this seat. The one and only candidate in this election who will not be linkable to Duke's and the GOP's unbelievable stench of corruption is Busby.
2. Busby is the only serious, funded Democrat on the April 11 ballot. Meanwhile, there are 8-10 Republican opponents on the ticket, all hoping that they will move onto the primary. Several of the Republicans are very well funded and it is inconceivable that any one of the many republicans would be able to capture the necessary 50%+1 of the vote, needed to avoid a primary. We can rest completely assured that the only candidate who can possibly win 50%+1 on April 11 is Busby, due to the huge number of serious Republican opponenents (splitting the conservative vote) and the fact that Busby is the only viable Democratic candidate.
3. If Busby does not capture 50%+1 of the vote on April 11, the run-off will be held as a part of the general California Primary. Currently, there will be no serious primary for the Republicans running for Governor of CA or for the Senate seat in 2006. Meanwhile, there is going to be a hot primary to select the Democratic opponent to face off with Governor Schwarzenegger in the fall. That means that Republican turn-out should be quite low while Democratic voters will be very interested in showing up at the polls in June. This can only help Busby as Republican turnout in the district will be depressed and Democratic turnout should be higher than usual.