Democrat ahead in special election in California stronghold

[Judi Lynn]

Democrat ahead in special election in California stronghold
32 minutes ago

SAN DIEGO (AFP) - A Democrat running for a seat in the House of Representatives pulled ahead of her rivals in provisional results of a special election in a Republican stronghold left vacant by a corruption scandal.

With two-thirds of the 445 precincts counted in San Diego's 50th Congressional District, Francine Busby had 43.28 percent of the votes.

Brian Bilbray and Eric Roach, Busby's two closest Republican rivals were trailing with 15.32 percent and 14.31 percent of the votes respectively. Five other Republicans received between 1.62 and 7.40 percent of the vote.

Unless Busby gains a majority of votes, however, she will have to square off with the runner up in a June 4 runoff vote.
(snip/...)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060412/pl_afp/usvotejusticecorruption

[expatriot]

1. wow, now that's good news. so much for the lock-step Repugs!

[Lasher]

2. U.S. House Race in Southern California to Be Decided in Runoff

April 12 (Bloomberg) -- Southern California voters will return to the polls for a runoff after Democrat Francine Busby's lead fell short of a majority in yesterday's special election to fill the U.S. House seat vacated by Randy "Duke" Cunningham, a Republican who is in jail for bribery.

Busby, 55, a local school board member and one of two Democrats running, will face Republican Brian Bilbray in the June 6 runoff election. Busby had 44 percent of the vote to 15 percent for former House member Bilbray, 54, according to final results posted at 1:13 a.m. local time today on the Web site of San Diego County's Registrar of Voters.

The Republican vote was divided among 14 contenders. A Libertarian and an independent also were on the ballot.

The winner of the runoff will complete the final eight months of what was Cunningham's eighth term. The seat will be at stake again in the November election.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a.z6JSIT2uG0&refer=us

Edit: Here's a link to the results http://www.sdvote.org/election/special.xml

[SoCalDem]

3. This is a TOTAL waste of time and money..

Dukie Baby is cooling his heels in jail and there's an election in November anyway.. the House will probably not even BE in DC more than a few weeks between now and November anyway..

They should just wait until November..

[salin]

4. I would agree, but the horse is out of the gate; Interesting the GOP

picks a (pay to play) lobbyist to run to replace the bribee of many a pay-to-play schemes in congress.

[Kutjara]

5. On the face of it you're absolutely right, but...

...it does send a powerful message to the country that the tide is changing. And, with enough of those messages, the tide can become a storm surge that washes the repubs right out of office in November.

[rodeodance]

6. congratulations for now---but 2 months is a LONG way off. !!

[MaineDem]

8. It'll be tough for the Democrat to win the seat

I know she "won" the open primary but it's a VERY Republican district and in a head-to-head race against the GOP candidate she'll have a tough time winning. That being said, she has name recognition for one thing and she's replacing the poster child for the Culture of Corruption so that should carry some weight. But it is winnable and the message her victory will sent is utterly fantastic! It's going to be a difficult race and both sides will be fighting.

Good luck to her!!!

[yellowcanine]

11. She outpolled the top two pubbies by 18,000 votes (13%). That is a

good sign that there is not a lot of enthusiasm for either of the top two pubbies and there is some enthusiasm for her. In the runoff election and in November that could translate into stay at home Republicans and motivated Democrats and Independents. I think she has a good shot.

[WhiteTara]

13. special elections have low turnouts

tradtionally and so whoever gets the strongest GOTV campaign wins. Maybe the dems will be very motivated and the pukes will be very demoralized. It's possible. Then in Nov, the incumbant has the advantage. Go Busby!

[worldgonekrazy]

16. DUers should help with the GOTV campaign for the run-off

MoveOn.Org did a GOTV calling campaign for the special election, hoping to get Busby over 50% to avoid the run-off. Well that didn't quite work, but I imagine they will do a similar campaign for the run-off now that it has become necessary. DUers ought to help with it if possible because it would send a pretty strong message if Busby wins.

[xchrom]

7. i agree -- but we did make a good concerted showing

in a place where that's sometimes difficult to do.

i take comfort in that -- also i think there is writing on the wall for ah-nuld in this.

[Binka]

9. This Is La Jolla & Rancho Santa Fe For Fuck Sake

Money Money Money and I mean BIG fucking money the median price for a home in La Jolla is 1.75 MILLION bucks. The Ranch is even higher. Back in my former life when I was a Stepford Blow Up Doll I lived in La Jolla. Good gawd my ex used to spend $350 bucks on a tie and this was 1986! These people love their money more than their children. I am amazed Francine did as well as she did there.

BTW Brian Bilbray is a fecking asshole. I played on his over the line team back in the 70s and he is just a gross person. :hi: X.

[xchrom]

10. i know la jolla well.

a hundred years ago -- my drug dealer lived down there -- i flew down every weekend to party and play.

and i remember the time you're talking about very well.

any way -- hi binka!
:hi:

[Mark E. Smith]

12. Sierra Madre, California

A small city just outside of Pasadena, and one noted for it's rich Republican tradition, elected two Democrats and an independent to the city council yesterday. The two Democrats received the lion's share of the votes, with the independent coming in third. 3 seats were up for grabs.

Sierra Madre is just one of the supposedly Republican towns within the gerrymandered district of loathsome Representative David Dreier.

2006 could be a year of change in this part of the world.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

15. 1st time in > 40 years that a Democrat represents this PA district...

There was a special election for a Pennsylvania House seat yesterday and for the first time in over 40 years a Democrat won this seat.

Sounds similar to the California situation...let's hope it's the beginning of a major trend in 2006!

<snip>
Complete but unofficial results showed Mr. Flaherty defeated Republican Mike Dolan, 26, of O'Hara by a count of 5,545 to 5,437. It will be the first time in more than 40 years that the district, which includes Fox Chapel, Hampton and parts of Ross, Shaler and O'Hara, will be represented by a Democrat.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06102/681367-179.stm

[Mark E. Smith]

17. Lovin' It!

You can feel the earthquake building.

[xxqqqzme]

18. don't say 'earthquake' around here.

BTW - That is tremendous news about the Sierra Madre elections.

[Strelnikov_]

14. Kaloogian - 7%

Think he knows the difference between Baghdad and Istanbul now?