The most important election for a seat in the U.S. House of Representives is happening about 7 months ahead of schedule. Amid recent, embarrassing GOP scandals comes a very real opportunity to flip one seat in California's delegation to the House from the Republican to the Democratic side of the aisle.
I'm talking, of course, about the April 11, 2006 election to replace former congressman "Duke" Cunningham (R, CA-50), who recently pled guilty to accepting millions of dollars in bribes from defense contractors.
More, under the fold.
The Democratic candidate is Francine Busby, who last faced Dukey boy in 2004 and captured an admirable 37% of the vote (Duke received 58%)! With the obvious advantage of incumbency taken away from her new Republican opponent (Duke held this seat for years), in addition to the the American (and San Diegan) public's distaste for the recent charges of corruption embroiling the GOP, this could easily be a pickup for us. The district is just slightly more Republican than Democrat, meaning that turnout could be the deciding factor in this race! The road to a Democratic majority in the House of Representatives could begin with this election. Of course, this seat may still be an uphill battle for a member of our party, so the candidate will need all the help she can get. You can find out how to contribute or get involved with the campaign here:
http://www.francinebusby2004.org/
A little bit about our candidate (from Busby's website): Francine is an adjunct Professor of Women's Studies at Cal State U-San Marcos, is currently serving as the elected trustee of the Cardiff School District Board, is the Past President of the Cardiff Education Foundation where she lead the effort to raise $450,000 for Cardiff Schools to improve technology in the classroom and hire educational specialists. Francine is also the founding president of the Casa Theresa Central Guild to provide assistance to pregnant women (Busby is pro-choice). She also serves as a Board Member of Friends of the Cardiff Library, Board Member of Cardiff Soccer Club, Past President of the Parent Staff Organization of the Cardiff School District and Scout Leader of Girl Scouts.
