I am fond of telling people that you have to have a minimum amount of money to get your message out. You don’t have to have all the money, but enough. That amount needed has dropped dramatically.
As of now pending the results of provisional ballots, Tim Donnelly leads Chris Lancaster by 40 votes in the 59th. Lancaster had the most money, endorsements and mail. He had the most baggage having been recalled for raising taxes in the early 90’s as councilman.
Claremont City Councilman Corey Calaycay followed him in the balloting.
And Hesperia School Board member Anthony Riley who had the endorsement of the Adams recall committee and much of the San Bernardino political establishment came in fourth. Came in fourth doesn’t quite explain it. Riley was supposed to win in the San Bernardino County portion of the district; there he came if fifth. He did better on the LA side of the hill. (Lancaster came in second on the SB County side).
Donnelly spent under 50K and I don’t know anyone who says they saw a mail piece. Donnelly did do radio ads and signs. He also had a grassroots network. This all paid off as Riley and Lancaster did a lot of mail attacking each other. Lancaster and Calaycay dueled in mail and robo calls at the end as well. This left Donnelly unscathed and he racked up huge margins in the San Bernardino party of the county.
The good news for conservatives is that Donnelly is good on issues. Guns, babies, taxes, good on all of it. He is a Minuteman and plans to introduce a Arizona style law here. He is not going to grow government. I have no fear he will vote for tax increases. Check out his site. If the lead holds he will be a very conservative Republican in the Assembly GOP caucus
June 10th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Perhaps, Donnelly will give the Assembly GOP caucus a wake up call.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:00 am
It wasn’t just the circumstances and the grassroots network, as Mike suggests. Donnelly was also clearly identified with an extremely important issue — immigration. His “outsider” sincerity came through to those who met or heard him, and those people talked. I’m sure that was part of it.
June 10th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I did get a Donnelly mail piece, in Claremont. It was a glossy postcard with small type — professionally designed, however.
June 12th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Actually, true to his conservative beliefs (and not to nitpick Mr. Spence’s campaign spending fact, but just to put a sharper point on it), Tim spent roughly $24,000 on his entire campaign. This includes his signs, his unimposing 4×6 postcard and his radio spots. Imagine how this prudence must irritate the entrenched political-elite who believe that money is all it takes to move public opinion. Further, if Donnelly’s election is a sign of things to come – and I hope it is – perhaps his fiscal conservativeness will inspire other likeminded officials to take a hard line on reigning in big government and its blatant squandering of taxpayer money. What a novel and long overdue idea.
June 12th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Definitely an impressive outcome and definitely a low-budget campaign.
June 14th, 2010 at 12:00 am
This must really scare the high flying consultants.