With less than 8 weeks to go before the June Primary, the 4th CD race is heating up. Doug Ose’s campaign has TV and radio ads in heavy rotation on the airwaves. And it seems that every day the mailbox contains another mail piece attacking Tom McClintock for “carpet bagging” into the district. The carpet bagger red herring must be polling well for the Ose campaign because that is the message being drummed into voters’ heads. It is very ironic that Ose would focus on this particular campaign tactic when he isn’t a resident of the district either. A Sac Bee weekend article reported on that aspect of the campaign.
Last Monday I heard my first radio ad for the McClintock campaign on a local talk show station. The spot features Placer County Republican Party Chairman Tom Hudson encouraging voters to support McClintock and not vote for another liberal tax-and-spender like Ose. Both Ose’s and McClintock’s radio ads are in heavy rotation on local FM/AM radio.
Recently it was announced that Ose has dumped so much of his own cash into the race ($1.4 million) that he triggered the “millionaire amendment” that will now raise the limit on McClintock donations to $6,900. However, despite the massive self-funding from Ose, McClintock won the fundraising battle with $300,000 in the last few weeks of March alone. According to McClintock’s campaign, the donations “came from 2,892 contributors and small donors who support his conservative philosophy.” This is an incredible amount to raise from individuals, as opposed to Ose’s million dollar donation to himself, and voters should take notice. Both candidates were in Washington, DC, last week and apparently the battle for attention in the capital was just as heated between the two camps as it is here in the district.
Absentee voters begin voting in the 4th CD on May 8th so Ose has only a few weeks left to chip away at McClintock’s commanding lead. From what I’ve heard, voters are growing weary of the one-sided campaign Ose is waging against McClintock. They want to know where both candidates stand on issues, not a non-issue like residency (neither candidate can legitimately claim residency). If voters stick to the most important purpose of any campaign—how a candidate would vote and represent them—then McClintock will win overwhelmingly. But in this truncated election, Ose seems to be sticking to his tactic of convincing voters not that he’s the better candidate, but that McCintock shouldn’t be a candidate at all.
Wednesday night McClintock and Ose will face off in their first major debate. Dubbed the “Lincoln-Douglas” debate series, the Lincoln Club of Placer County will host the event. 500 tickets were made available to the public. I plan on attending and will bring you coverage of the event. McClintock is a highly skilled debater so it should be quite entertaining.
I should also mention that another TV ad is also pounding the Sacramento-area airwaves right now. Last week I saw the two ads about the Jeff Denham recall. The first is a ridiculous ad claiming that Denham is sleeping through his duties at the capitol. The second, very professional, ad features Bill Jones talking directly to voters about how the recall is a politically-motivated revenge tactic on the part of Don Perata and the Democrats. I know I’m biased, but I found the Jones ad very appealing and effective. Let’s hope the majority of Denham’s constituents do as well.