Posted on 05/14/2015 10:52:46 AM PDT by Kaslin
The Sacramento Bee and the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Rep. Loretta Sanchez, D-Calif., would announce Thursday she would be running for retiring Sen. Barbara Boxer's seat. At last, it seemed as if California Attorney General Kamala Harris, the only name Democrat in the race, might face some competition. Then Sanchez claimed that the announcement email had been sent out by mistake. Oops, as former Texas Gov. Rick Perry would say.
Then Team Sanchez sent out a press release that promised "a significant political announcement" Thursday. If Sanchez does throw her hat in the ring, she flubbed her entrance. Harris may be the luckiest politician in California.
Not so California voters. Political scolds have been warning that senior incumbent Democrats -- Dianne Feinstein, Boxer, Jerry Brown -- have been hogging coveted political seats and depriving ambitious young Democrats of oxygen. When Boxer announced she would not run for re-election three months ago, that should have signaled a stampede of Democrats elbowing one another to win. Instead of a contest, a coronation of sorts followed.
Harris quickly announced she would run. California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom ceded the field, as he announced his planned run for governor in 2018. After San Francisco Chronicle columnist Willie Brown wrote that former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa would do well to leave the primary to Harris, Villaraigosa kindly stepped aside. Facing no Democratic opposition, Harris raised $2.5 million last quarter.
If Sanchez or Rep. Xavier Becerra does not enter the fray -- it's unlikely Becerra will forfeit a chance to be House speaker someday -- the California Democratic Party will vie for statewide office without a Latino on the ballot. Hector Barajas, a Latino GOP consultant, sees a message here: It's as if the party is saying, "It's OK for me to help you as long as you're not in the club." Democratic consultant Garry South acknowledges that when a party doesn't put up candidates who look like its voters, "that's a problem." Nationwide, Republicans have two Latino governors. Democrats, nada.
During her 10 terms in the House, Sanchez has established herself as an important female voice on the House Armed Services Committee. Mention her name in Washington and most insiders think of her coquettish Christmas cards, which featured her cat, Gretzky. Kitschy, yes, but Sanchez has shown she knows how to win since she beat Rep. Bob Dornan, a GOP institution, in 1996.
The chance of a Republican's winning in November after the top-two primary is slim. Moderate Democrats have been left behind, as well. Without a single vote cast, party biggies made the progressive Harris the establishment candidate. During the 2010 election, she nearly lost to Republican prosecutor Steve Cooley, who ran an abysmal campaign. In 2014, Republicans failed to produce a serious challenger. Bay Area voters know Harris as San Francisco's former district attorney -- the one who wouldn't pursue the death penalty for a cop killer -- but she is not so well-known in Southern California.
"Nobody here knows who Kamala Harris is," California Target Book Publisher Allan Hoffenblum huffed. As if to prove his point, the former GOP strategist mispronounced her name, as many people do. Allow me to assist. It is KAH'-mah-lah, emphasis on the first syllable.
The only thing I know is Harris is a hot looking Babe and the Republican party of California is extinct.
Most law abiding Californians are very much afraid of Ms Harris. She will meet only token opposition from other Dems. The Republicans may consider it a waste of money to run anybody for the senate seat. Harris will ignore a law if she personally doesn’t ‘like it’. Seems to me that should be a crime. Of course her Governor does the same thing too.
I agree she is not to shabby
She is gorgeous that is for sure. Her politics might be ugly if she is Democratic. I guess she will win since all the Republicans have left California years ago.
Well, the Dems are good at organization — when it’s splitting spoils amongst they selves!
I don’t think anyone is afraid of her.
Fellow Dems may be scared of because of all the money she’s raising.
Republicans have little chance of winning any statewide election in the one-Party People’s Republic of CA.
Harris as a US Senator will be a carbon copy of Barbara Boxer in terms of ideology. Hopefully her personality will prove to be less abrasive and obnoxious than the senator she will be replacing.
Val-Jar? Yuck. No want! Kamala Harris can seduce a lot of folks by being attractive and ladylike on camera. She provides a pretty mask for Valerie’s Black Socialist Voo-Doo Economics.
I wonder if Laz would hit it
guess Sanchez is in the senate race now, now if a repub would run
Harris eventually ousted Hallinan and became the city Attorney General, and then California Attorney General.
She is a leftist who is for gun control, against the death penalty, for lenient sentencing, for same-sex marriage, supports sanctuary cities for illegal aliens, and strong on environmental protection laws.
-PJ
If CA runs out of water all bets are off.
The old fashion way of course, just cheat.
That’s the only way the rats win elections
Kamala Harris started her political career in the bed of Willie Brown (former Mayor of San Francisco, Speaker of the California Assembly, and an all-around corrupt bad guy).
I’ll say this for Willie Brown, he has never been worried about being PC, especially now that he’s retired. I remember he used to be a regular guest on the Savage Nation, and he and Michael really seemed to like each other.
I saw and got a hug from Sanchez at a 4 th of July parade in Huntington beach ca. she was such a hot mess back then
OH man!!! she ok to look at
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