Republican Goodness in California(!)

I live in Rancho Cucamonga. Our congressman, for years, was David Dreier, who decided to retire after redistricting. The "nonpartisan" team assembled for redistricting in my state decided that Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands, and San Bernardino have a whole lot in common, so the overall district moved several points leftwards. So much so that prognosticators changed the status of my district to "lean Democrat".

But a funny thing happened yesterday. See, Democrats attempting to consolidate power with ball-less moderate Republicans pushed a "top two" open primary to the voters two years ago. All candidates from all political parties compete in the same primary for all state and local races. The incumbent Republican, Gary Miller (moved from another district thanks to the clowns who shook up the map), won 26.7% of the vote with all precincts in. The Democrat expected to finish as the contender for November, Pete Aguilar, won 22.82%.

But Bob Dutton, who I voted for, finished with 24.86% of the total vote, bumping Aguilar out of the top two, and giving us a choice between a Republican and a Republican for November. This was supposed to be a prime pickup for the Democrats this year, and it blew up (so far) gloriously in their faces.

I had to screencap, for my personal enjoyment, the fail here. CA31 was supposed to become Democrat-leaning, and the jungle primary sent that idea off to Failtown:

Pension reform measures in both San Diego and San Jose passed, focusing on cutting pensions for you-know-who. Walker was only the beginning, it seems. Taxpayers like keeping more of their money instead of flushing it away on the overpaid and the bloated. Who knew?

Speaking of pension-busters and spending slashers, Carl DeMaio won the jungle primary in San Diego, and will face off against Democrat Bob Filner in November. While his lead was only by about 2% over Filner in the primary, almost 70% of the overall vote was divided amongst three Republicans, so barring a scandal DeMaio looks favored to become the next mayor.

Since the Senate race here is a dud and we aren't going to beat Obama in my state, I'll take great news where I can get it.

posted by CAC at 11:54 AM

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