I'm not sure whether this has been blogged at all--I was out this weekend, but I didn't see anything searching. If so, I apologize.
At any rate, Rep. Elton Gallegly, the GOPer who represents the 24th District, which is Ventura County and part of Santa Barbara County (excluding a narrow strip along the coast which was appended to neighboring Dem Lois Capps' 23d district), announced this weekend--after the filing deadline had passed--that he would not seek an 11th term. Election officials sid that Gallegly's name will remain on the ballot and that they would not reopen the filing period to allow for more candidates. Gallegly says that he is considering going to court to challenge that ruling (he thought his withdrawal would trigger a five-day extension of the filing period). At any rate, it appears that if Gallegly wins the primary, the GOP can replace him on the Nov. ballot.
One other GOPer, an unknown named Michael Tenenbaum, filed for the seat along with the two Dems: the Rev. Jill Martinez (
http://www.jillmartinez2006.com/) and Insurance Agent Mary Pallant (
http://www.maryforcongress.com/).
The district is a GOP district, but not overwhelmingly so (like the 22nd). Bush beat Gore 56-44 in the two-party vote there, and beat Kerry 57-43. For comparison's sake, these numbers are almost identical to the 50th district, where Francine Busby is in a tossup race to succeed Duke Cunningham.
At year end, Martinez reported $3K raised and $1K on hand; Pallant raised $7K and had $3K on hand. Tenenbaum did not file a report. If this is to be made a competitive race, our candidates will need much more cash. In this environment, there is no reason why this race cannot be very competitive--the national advantage the Dems hold over the GOP offsets the institutional advantage the GOP has in the 24th District.