San Diego Politics Blog

I was tipped off to check out FEC filings by the candidates for the 50th congressional district, and sure enough the latest filings are now coming online.  The shocking thing is to see some of the leading Republicans are now broke!

Here’s where the candidates stand in these last critical days before the April 11th election:

Francine Busby (Democrat): She’s raised over $1.3 million. Owes debts of just $9,000 and has about $363,000 cash on hand.

Brian Bilbray (Republican): Raised $328,349 so far in the campaign.  Has $107,704 left.  (Bilbray had also transfered over about $195,000 from his previous congressional account which has helped his campaign financing).

Eric Roach (Republican): He’s spent over $1.8 million.  He had cash on hand of $96,748 but debts of $1,917,388.  Of course he can always write another check to his campaign.

Alan Uke (Republican): He reports just $58,056 with debts of $234,667.  (This explains the reports that Uke was considering withdrawing from the race.  He can write himself a check at any point but he has already spent over $1 million in the race and still has debts of over $200,000).

Bill Morrow (Republican): He has raised $391,000 but now has just $55,768 with debts of $54,500.  Basically he’s broke.  It looks like this is the end of the line for Morrow and his campaign.

Howard Kaloogian (Republican): Kaloogian has raised $419,000 and has just under $143,000 cash on hand.  He reports debts owed of $79,340.

Bill Hauf (Republican): He’s funded his campaign with mostly his own money and has cash on hand of $347,000 but debts of $978,000.

Brian Bilbray has the backing of the San Diego Union-Tribune.  Now Francine Busby has the backing of La Prensa.

At a time when many Latino activists are motivated by the wave of immigration protests this could help Busby get supporters to the polls as she works to pull off a 50%+ victory on April 11th.

Excerpts from La Prensa’s endorsement of Busby:

For too long now Hispanics have had to struggle in the shadows within the 50th District. The issues that are vital to their well being or becoming a solid member of their community are not represented by the continued right wing attitudes of most of the candidates for public office!

Hispanics are looking for a representative who will be more comprehensive and compassionate in dealing with the daily issues that they face daily, In this regard, Democrat Francine Busby is the candidate that represents our concerns and interests the Best! Busby has served as a trustee of the Cardiff School District Board, is past president of the Cardiff Education Foundation. She is the founding president of the Casa Theresa Central Guild that provides assistance to pregnant women, and is currently an adjunct Professor of Women’s Studies at California State University, San Marcos.

Francine Busby opposed the war in Iraq from the outset, she would work for an improved health care plan, and her position on immigration encompasses a comprehensive approach to dealing with the issue, reflecting the importance of the border to San Diego and the North County.

It is time, to step away from extremism and elect a candidate that will represent all the residents of the 50th District and bring a practical and sensible approach to the issues affecting this community. It is time for a fresh face in the 50th and one that is not tied to old way of doing businesses via the back room. It is time to elect Francine Busby as Congresswoman for the 50th District.

The North County Times has an article about Howard Kaloogian’s use of a photo from Istanbul that was labeled on his website as Baghdad.

The quotes by Kaloogian are pretty tough.  He’s not backing down on this one, and I repeat again this seems to be dividing people.  Those against the war are incensed that he has advanced his message that things are better in Baghdad than you hear about, with a photograph NOT from Baghdad.

But conservatives are now hearing Kaloogian repeat over and over again he went to Iraq and he stands by the mission there.

"As to whether he feels embarrassed about the caption blasting the news media that he posted next to the photograph, Kaloogian said he stands by those statements.

"When the only thing that comes out of Baghdad is the car bombings, that is the exception, and yet that is all we hear about," he said.

In a separate e-mail message to his supporters on Wednesday, Kaloogian blasted bloggers and journalists for using the photograph as a way of "attacking (his) campaign."

"The liberal journalists who dominate the ranks of the media want American troops to pull out of Iraq before the mission there is completed," he wrote.

That mission polls quite poorly nationally.  But in San Diego County, among Republicans at least, I would suspect it enjoys pretty strong support.

All Vista schools are closed today in the wake of immigration protests.

These protests have generated an enormous amount of debate in the public square.  The North County Times reports that things had cooled off as of Thursday, but the order to close the schools went forward.  Meanwhile in Oceanside middle and high schools remain closed for a second day.

Read the story here.

These protests have left me with mixed feelings.  On one hand there is an arrogance to those illegal aliens (I know that term offends some here, but it is not derisive but a technical term that is accurate) who have said "it’s our country not yours".  I think that drives a great majority of Americans wild with resentment and anger.  That would seem to embolden those who push for tougher immigration policies.

On the other hand the news reports out of Washington, D.C. suggest that the protests are motivating many lawmakers to advocate for greater compassion and foregiveness towards those here illegally.

The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that Vice President Dick Cheney appears to have played a major role in securing approval for the sole source contract awarded to Bajagua Project LLC.

The newspaper reports that both the Department of Justice and the U.S. International Boundary and Water Commission (part of the State Department) had opposed the deal.

A report by the Project on Government Oversight says that the objections were reversed following a meeting at Vice President Dick Cheney’s office.  The Union-Tribune says that Bajagua investors and principals have contributed $10,000 to the Bush-Cheney campaign.

The story mentions the role of Brian Bilbray (Republican) and Bob Filner (Democrat) in advancing the Bajagua project.

The story is online here.

Republican congressional candidate Eric Roach is crowing about a big endorsement he received.  Roach has earned the backing of former Congressman Ron Packard.  Packard is a respected Republican.  While a close supporter of Duke Cunningham’s, I suspect most Republicans still admire Packard greatly.

Read more on the endorsement, which will be mailed out to Republican voters (according to Roach) here.

The progressive bloggers have made a big push to expose the fact that a picture that used to be on Howard Kaloogian’s campaign website was not Baghdad, Iraq as he claimed, but Istanbul, Turkey.  The daily violence in Istanbul is apparently much lower than it is in Baghdad.

Left-leaning blogs such as Daily Kos and websites drove this issue and forced the news media to cover this story. 

Now conservative radio talker and Kaloogian ally Melanie Morgan is pushing back.  Morgan writes a column at the right-wing news website Worldnetdaily in defense of Kaloogian and notes that conservative bloggers are now rallying to Kaloogian’s defense.

Yesterday Roger Hedgecock dimissed this photo scandal during his radio show.  And reading the comments to this blog and on many other active left-leaning and right-leaning blogs it seems to me that almost all of the rage on this issue is coming from the left.  

Had this scandal erupted in a runoff or general election campaign with Kaloogian and Busby it could have really hurt him.  Many moderates and Democrats would have been turned off by the conservative pro-war Kaloogian.  But I wonder if in a close GOP primary if the attention Kaloogian’s gotten on this won’t solidify support for him among conservatives who still support the war in Iraq.

I guess we’ll all find out together.

The Wall Street Journal’s online commentary site, Opinion Journal, says:

"Francine Busby is the anointed Democrat in the race. The 55-year-old former Sunday school teacher and current trustee of the Cardiff School District Board won 37% of the vote against Cunningham in 2004 (John Kerry won 44% in the district). Ms. Busby faces a choice of whether to go all out and try to win the 50% in April versus husbanding her resources for the June runoff (she’s a lock to be the leading Democrat). More and more, she appears to have decided to go for the outright win in two weeks."

The article says that Busby would probably be defeated by her Republican challenger in a June runoff, but she could win on April 11th if none of the Republican candidates catches fire.

A story in the San Diego Union-Tribune says that San Diego is in danger of losing its eligibility to apply for anti-terror funding.  The Department of Homeland Security is currently reviewing the formula it uses to allow cities to apply.  Our mayor, Jerry Sanders, has flown to Washington, D.C. to lobby the federal government to preserve San Diego’s funding. 

Read the story here.

Alan Uke’s campaign website has been updated to feature a letter in support of Uke’s campaign signed by Supervisor Pam Slater-Price.  Might we see this mailed to voters?

Also, a more expansive report on Slater-Price’s support for Uke including this good photo: