The battle for Congressional District 10 will be a battle for the ages. Three heavyweight Democrats locked in a titanic death struggle for the ultimate prize—to succeed Ellen Tauscher and gain a permanent government job.
Nothing brings out the blood lust than a life time of full employment and taxpayer paid benefits. Ellen Tauscher is an incredible woman so maybe it is only fitting that the person who wins her seat has to earn it. After all, Tauscher was the Democrat who made history by vanquishing conservative Republican Congressman Bill Baker from the Contra Costa political scene.
In the main ring we have:
John Garamendi: I believe he has run for every office in California. He embodies the party of government. He seems to go from one government job to another, either being elected or appointed. Garamendi has been elected to state wide office several times but never wins the big job. It kind of makes me wonder what G. W. Bush apparatchik Jerry Parsky’s political career would have been if he was a Democrat.
I remember Garamendi talking to a group of Labor Democrats in San Francisco after a debate with Kathleen Brown in 1994 when they were both running in the Democratic primary for governor. Now mind you, this is was a couple of years after the Riots in Los Angeles. As the Huey Lewis song Working for a Living played in the background, Garamendi was talking about there being more riots and polarization if things were not fixed racially in this country. I guess he sincerely felt this way but it was a rather stark statement in light of the fact that there have been no more rebellions in Los Angeles and last year we elected Barack Obama as President. So it makes me wonder about this fellows long term outlook. He might be a shade on the wacky side.
Joan Buchanan: The Arlen Spector of the Democratic Party. Or the WWE’s Edge (the ultimate opportunist). For the life of me I cannot understand what she is doing. The state Democratic party dropped a huge bundle of cash on her race to remove Republicans from their last partisan elected office in Assembly District 15 and now the thrill is gone from that win. With Emily’s list wispering in her ear it is time to trade cow town (Sacramento) for Washington D.C.
Buchanan is setting the stage for—crazy as it seems—a Republican comeback in AD15. The Republicans really believe they only lost the seat because of the Obama landslide. They ignore the fact that the voter registration in the district has shifted dramatically and that moderate Republicans are no longer voting for conservative Republicans in the Tri Valley.
That said I am not sure who the Democrats have to replace Buchanan. It is a shame for the voters of AD15 because they have never had the opportunity to be represented before by a member of the majority party to see what they could do. I believe that Joan should step aside and endorse DeSaulnier.
Mark DeSaulnier: If he wins, he will assume the mantle of Contra Costa’s Greatest Living Politician, by virtue of the fact that he has been elected to more highly partisan offices than anyone in Contra Costa’s political history.
The people of Contra Costa have trusted him and elected him over and over again. The interesting thing about DeSaulnier is that he has the personality and the leadership skills to go as high as he wants. He does not even realise his talent.
When he was running for assembly I told him the world is your oyster buddy and you can go as far as you want. He told me I was crazy. I guess I am still crazy and his stock is still rising. I hear a lot of grumbling about how DeSaulnier is untested in a competitive race. Now we’ll see. I remember when DeSaulnier fought like a dog in 1994 and crushed far-right conservative Grace Ellis twice in a primary and general elections for county supervisor. Remember that Ellis almost beat Sunne McPeak a few years before in a race for the same job.
I just wonder how this is going to work out. How much money are the candidates willing to spend tearing each other apart? I know Buchanan is saying this will be a love fest but these are politicians competing for a job. This could get ugly fast. After all Garamendi has nothing to lose if he runs hard at Buchanan and DeSaulnier. He will never have to run again in the district. Where as DeSaulnier and Buchanan are natives. DeSaulnier will have to spend biz-oodles of money and he will ultimately win even if the election has to go to a run off.
So sit back and enjoy political junkies as we watch these high profile Democrats battle for the wealth of riches they have inherited from the collapse of Contra Costa Republicans.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I would also add that there are other aspects with Garamendi, there was an effort to push him to run in the 3rd Congressional District, however, that is in 2010, so he has a sort of free shot at this Congressional District and then can still run there. He is sitting on a lot of campaign cash from his Governor’s campaign which is not going anywhere. I do not know the rules on shifting campaign money when the campaign shifts office focus-that would be an interesting subject sometime. So taking a shot at the CD10 has no influence on the fall back on the 3rd District.
Garamendi gives a great speech and has been in both the Assembly and the State Senate, but is he good for Concord? On core Democratic issues such as Woman Rights, Civil Rights, Social Security, Health Care, there is not going to be any real difference between the individuals, which is why the Republicans keep losing, so it may be the local issues and what can they or have they done for the communities that will count. Garamendi and Buchanan are not anyone’s local radar, DeSaulnier has positives and negatives and it may be in the portrayal of that history that some swing in the votes will come. Otherwise, I think it is going to come down to name recognition of a local (+ for DeSaulnier) vs name recognition for a State Office holder (+Garamendi).
To the Editor:
The blood and guts issue for any Democrat running for Congress is Israel.
The President of Iran has said that Israel should be wiped off the map.
Ask any Democratic candidate if he or she would support Israel if Israel attacked Iran. Such an attack could be undertaken to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
If President Obama did not support an Israeli attack on Iran would Democrats in Congress oppose the president?
Where do you stand on Israel, Mr. DeSaulnier, Ms. Buchanan, and Mr. Garamendi?
Richard S. Colman
Orinda, CA
May 4, 2009