Before people get too carried away on Congressional District 36 (Harman) and how this is a potential pick up district for Republicans please consider the following —
2010 November
Jane Harman (Democrat) — 59.7%
Mattie Fein (Republican) — 34.7%
Herb Peters (Libertarian) – 5.6%
The registration in this coastal district is pretty tough.
Democrat registration is high at 45.33% with Republicans at 27.57%. I can’t remember the last time a Republican in California won a partisan seat where Republican registration has been below 30% but I think it was Bruce McPherson in a special election against a flawed candidate in 1993.
This is a district that will need to have the right match up for us to have any chance.
The timing for this seat is not good. When the seat gets redrawn later this year by the commission this is a seat that could end up being one that Republicans have a shot at. There are plenty of Republicans in this area of the state… they are just split up among several districts.