I hate to interrupt all of the well-justified venting over the appointment of Susan Kennedy as Governor Schwarzenegger’s new chief of staff, but I figured FlashReport’s readers might be due for a little distraction. This magazine cover, believe it or not, was published by the first Democrat candidate to announce against 26th District Republican Congressman David Dreier in the 2006 election.
The publisher, Russ Warner, is from Rancho Cucamonga, and he’s absolutely loaded. Obviously this means there’s a possibility he could self-fund. Rancho Cucamonga, in San Bernardino County, is the most conservative part of the 26th district. Having been added to the district in the last reapportionment, it’s not Dreier stomping grounds (the reigning House Rules Committee Chairman is from the Los Angeles County side of the district). Still, I’m not sure how Warner’s magazines, some of which are even racier than the one posted above, will play in Peoria–er, Monrovia–or Alta Loma.
Of course it’s widely believed that Dreier
could face a tough reelection bid in ’06 after a closer-than-usual showing in ’04 due to a three-month 50,000-watt carpet-bombing campaign by L.A.’s mega-rated talk radio show, John and Ken from AM radio station KFI 640. Challengers could come from a number of parties — Democrat, Republican and others — since many have smelled blood in the water. I mean come on — a stupid radio show managed to knock 10 points off of Dreier’s most recent margin of reelection victory? What’s this world coming to?
Warner’s announcement came on November 11 — Veteran’s Day — at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post in Monrovia. This leads me (a Life Member of the VFW) to wonder what the Monrovia Post was thinking by lending its name and credibility to an unknown, non-veteran candidate on Veterans Day, and at the same time cheapening one of the revered observances of our past and present service members. If it were just a situation where the VFW hall was rented, then I think the VFW should put limits on what its facilities can be used for and when. Anyway, my objection to Warner using the VFW and Veterans Day is relevant considering the fact that Warner is running on a platform that criticizes the war effort in Iraq. The excuse Warner uses to "honor" veterans by announcing his candidacy on Veterans Day is to claim that his son, an Iraq war veteran, urged him to run for Congress. I believe that announcing a candidacy on any holiday pays disrespect to the observance of that day by attempting to exploit it. Labor Day (to throw a bone to my Democrat friends) might be an exception.
So this Warner guy, who vaguely criticizes the Administration’s policies in Iraq, apparently doesn’t understand a basic tenet of the American military: If America is at war, all Americans need to support that war effort, with very few exceptions. It also means that you can’t "support the troops but not the war". Warner’s son would probably be the first to agree with me were it not for the fact that his dad is running for Congress on a contrary platform plank. Hey, what good son wouldn’t back his dad? So let me tell you why you can’t have it both ways in this regard — why you can’t support the troops but not the war: The troops are their mission. Their mission is to win the war. Therefore if you don’t support the war, you don’t support the troops’ mission, and don’t support them. Period. Just in case that statement doesn’t satisfy anyone intellectually, let’s try this reasoning: When the people at home don’t support the war, Congress and the Administration tend to be less inclined to provide all of the necessary resources — funding, manpower, equipment — to ensure ultimate victory. That could mean less combat power where it’s needed. Or worse, the mission doesn’t get accomplished and those we’ve already lost will have died in vain.
Joining Warner at his Nov. 11 announcement event was former Democrat presidential candidate Wesley Clark, the retired Army general. Presumably this stunt was intended to woo voters from the 26th District’s heavy veteran population, including crossover votes from Republican veterans. Presumably appearances by the likes of Clark and boatloads of personal money from Warner could make him a real factor. If Dreier gets through the primary (and perhaps depending on how well he does in the primary), the Dems could come out for Warner big time. They realize that in the 2004 general election, Dreier spent about $1.5 million, in addition to about a half million spent by the California Republican Party, while his Demo opponent, Cynthia Matthews, spent only $25,000. Still, Dreier only managed to win by a 53.6% to 42.8% margin. Consider the fact that Dreier’s margin of victory in the general election just two years before against another unfunded candidate was 63.8% to 33.5%, and you start to get the idea. Although Republicans hold a 13-point registration advantage in the district and President Bush carried the district by almost 20 percentage points in 2004, the numbers tell us that many voters in 2004 turned out to vote for Bush instead of Dreier.
Sonny Sardo, a Republican businessman from La Canada, plans to take another shot at Dreier in the ’06 primary. This is despite the fact that he ran very unsuccessfully in the 2004 primary. But the real question on most minds is whether a prominent Republican will challenge Dreier in the primary. According to Adam Aleman, Executive Director of the San Bernardino County Republican Party, a viable Republican candidate would likely garner the full support of John and Ken, who learned last year that with California’s current "safe" district maps, elections tend to happen in the primaries, not the general elections. Said Aleman: "If Dreier works hard dealing with illegal immigration issues, and if he spends two-plus million dollars on a good campaign effort, he can probably get reelected."
[Publisher’s note: The FlashReport will be reaching out on Monday to Congressman Dreier to get his reaction and candid feelings about the Governor’s appointment of Democrat activist Susan Kennedy as Chief of Staff – we’ll let you know what he says! – Flash]