News of Congressman Duncan Hunter’s likely announcement later this morning that he will form a presidential exploratory committee buzzed across the San Diego political landscape yesterday, turning an otherwise lazy Sunday into a day of much interest, with several political watchers sputtering and panting on the phone.
For those of us who live in Hunter’s district, a wide area of East San Diego County we sometimes call God’s Country, the news was even bigger.
It’s been twenty-six years since Duncan was first elected to Congress, knocking off Lionel Van Deerlin in a Reagan-led 1980 surprise. In all that time the conservative spirit of Ronald Reagan has been alive and well in Duncan Hunter. There are few people — and fewer politicians — that I would call great Americans. Duncan Hunter is among them.
**There is more – click the link**
October 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Short of Steve Baldwin moving back, may I suggest Barry Jantz for Congress?
October 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Joe, I couldn’t agree with you more. Barry would be an outstanding candidate for Congress. While for many of his close friends, his candidacy would be financially inconvenient for us (we’d all have to write him checks) — he would be great.
Colleen, can he run?
October 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
I am on the same page as Joe & Jon,
Barry Jantz is my top pick…and he would defintely be the most expensive choice for all of us.
Colleen is probably OK with this – I worry about getting Kayleigh’s buy in.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
There are several great conservatives who would do a great job representing the East County in Congress. The key is for Conservatives to settle on one candidate so as to avoid a liberal Republican from winning with only a tiny fraction of the vote; as happened when Bilbray won the primary in the 50th district with about 15% of the vote. Unfortunately, San Diego County conservatives are notorious for forming that circular firing squad.
October 30th, 2006 at 12:00 am
Running for President in 2008 does not mean that Duncan Hunter could not run for re-election that year as well. The precedents on that run from LBJ to Bob Dornan to Joe Lieberman. But given that Duncan can’t chair the Armed Services Committee more than another two years, he might be planning on leaving the House after 2008 anyway. Perhaps this is Duncan’s way of going out with a bang.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am
There’s a fairly conservative attorney named Carl Starrett that might be interested. He lives in Rancho San Diego and has an office in El Cajon.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Assuming my first choice doesn’t run (Barry, of course, but probably highly unlikely), I’d like to throw out the name of Merrilee Boyack, Poway City Councilmember, a good conservative and a female. Very strong community involvement and knowledgeable.
Jay LaSuer is a great choice too, but he might be enjoying retirement too much when 2008 comes around.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Barry Jantz is finishing out his successful tenure on the La Mesa
City Council this year, and is settling into a dream job in the private sector.
While I’m sure he is flattered by the many “nominations” here, why would
he want to turn his family’s life upside-down with a new campaign?
October 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Former Congressman Lionel Van Deerlin as subcommittee chair was very involved in opening up competition with the U.S. telephone companies, as I recall from my time on Capitol Hill in the late 1970s. He helped unleash enormous innovation by technology companies in San Diego and other parts of the state that employ thousands of Californians in networking, semiconductor chip, Internet and computer software. We need new elected leaders with genuine high-tech credentials who will see the big picture, especially as it relates to future economic growth.
BTW — I really appreciate the Godfather movie references.
October 31st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Barry Jantz would be GREAT in the seat. He has shown he has his priorities straight by putting his family first over politics, but with his kids getting older and the chance for a great education in DC, it could fly.
dr gary
November 2nd, 2006 at 12:00 am
I think Mr. Jantz may be pulling a Dick Cheney in this situation.
Remember Mr. Cheney was the Chairperson of George Bush’s VP Nomination Committee, who after careful analysis of all the candidates, picked himself.
Barry’s article examines everyone but Barry himself, and who in all retrospect would make an excellent choice against all those listed. – Steve