Earlier last week, U.S. Senator John McCain campaigned in Santa Barbara as part of a swing through the Golden State. We asked longtime FR friend Mike Stoker, a former Santa Barbara County Supervisor, if he would be our "eyes on the ground" and pen something for us. Unfortunately some personal issues came up, but despite that Mike was able to rise to the challenge..
A Birds-Eye Account of Senator McCain’s Santa Barbara Swing
By The Honorable Mike Stoker
Senator McCain by all accounts, hit it out of the park on his recent trip to Santa Barbara. The campaign, wanting to help hold State Senator Tom McClintock’s seat, arranged to have former Assemblyman Tony Strickland greet the Senator as he deboarded from his plane after arrival in SB. (Tony Strickland is running against Hanna Beth Jackson in a race that all political pundits agree will be the hottest state senate election in the state.) The Senator and staff then headed off for an hour downtown at their hotel, the Fess Parker Doubletree before heading to a fundraiser at the home of Bill & Carol Foley. I was joking at the event with Bill that he has a 1000% batting average on hosting Presidential nominees who are successful in winning the General Election…the last fundraiser being around the same time of year in 2000 for then Governor George W. Bush. My inside intelligence tells me the fundraiser, which had been targeted for raising $500,000, may end up ultimately hitting the 1 million mark.
The next day showcased a Energy/Environment Forum with Governor Schwarzenegger and former Director of the CIA, James Woolsey, headlining with the Senator. The Senator made it very clear where the country needs to head to deal with our pending energy crisis. We need to give states the right to develop offshore oil. We need through tax credits and rebates to significantly speed up the process for rolling out the next fleet of automobiles that will be hybrid, flex and/or electric. And we need to significantly expand electrical production through nuclear energy. When local SB activist/environmentalist Mike Feeney questioned the use of nuclear McCain retorted that the technology is there, the French generating 80% of their electrical needs through nuclear have proved the feasibility and viability and that it is time that America provide our nation’s electrical needs through one of the cleanest forms of energy production…nuclear. The crowd cheered and Feeney, to the crowd’s delight admitted he knew very little about the subject. (The point to me underscored how the opposition often supports policies and initiatives that they haven’t done their homework and know very little about! Upon leaving the event, this point was further underscored to me as I asked one of the protesters outside the venue who was holding a "No Offshore Oil" sign what his solution was and he responded, "I don’t know but its not oil." So there you have it!!!)
**There is more – click the link**
July 1st, 2008 at 12:00 am
Great update and helpful to see what is really going on, instead of what the media ignores or spins!
Obama coming out against the Marriage Amendment draws a clear contrast and should put California in play much like Ohio was in 2004 when they had the marriage amendment on the general election ballot.