Like a small replica of the United States
Presidential election, the race of California’s US Senate features another
inevitable nominee: Democrat Attorney General Kamala Harris.
![]("http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/Kamala_Harris_Official_Attorney_General_Photo.jpg") |
| "Inevitable" Kamala Harris |
defining California, Harris represents the resurgence of Northern California-Bay
Area politics reaffirming its preeminence in the Golden State. Her rise in
California Democratic ranks has been just as mixed as her heritage, starting in
1994 with help from the influential yet controversial Willie Brown, forty-year
Assembly Speaker who clutched power for another year by forcing a moderate
Republican to tip his hand and vote for him for another term.
controversy and consternation. Before statewide lawless law enforcer, she
relied on her San Francisco connections to unseat another incumbent and become
the City’s District Attorney. not just for her arbitrary discretion in choosing
which cases to file and which judgments to appeal, including the offensive
remark that illegal aliens are not criminals.
accounts between public and private, then the numerous records of purported
pay-for-play among international activists, diplomats, and the Clinton
Foundation. Clinton Cash is not only damaging
Hillary’s chances, but has put pressure on the not-so-unbiased mainstream media
(George Step-on-all-of-us losing credibility, and fast!)
Kammy is not so inevitable. Within months of Harris’ announcement for US
Senate, allegations of corruption and cronyism have dogged her campaign, including
her efforts to kill
the sale of six hospitals to a for-profit company. She has proffered
misleading initiative statements to remove caps on civil judgments. Prosecutors
in the Attorney General’s office have falsified confessions, and an aide to AG
Harris was arrested for her role in falsely impersonating a police officer in
connection with an underground cult.
controversy swirling around Harris, Southern California centrist Democrat
Loretta Sanchez announced her bid for US Senate last Thursday (May 14, 2015). A representative from the heart of Orange County,
Republican-turned-Democrat Sanchez first defeated high profile incumbent
Republican B-One Bob Dornan (who had represented Torrance in the late 1970s,
early 1980s.) Losing in a stunning yet close upset, despite allegations of
voter fraud, Dornan lost a comeback opportunity in 1998.
![]("http://www.jpattitude.com/IHTM/LorettaSanchez.jpg") |
| Loretta Sanchez (ihatethemedia.com) |
Dornan and Harris, Sanchez
has been no stranger to controversy, from hosting a fundraiser at the Playboy
mansion, to quirky Christmas Cards, to her more business-friendly politics, representing
a conservative-leaning district). For her latest gaffe, within days of
announcing her bid, she made a
war-whoop, mocking Native Americans. She apologized, yet now has made
herself vulnerable as well as embarrassing.
voted in California, why should ambition liberal denizens sit out the Senate
race, especially during a Presidential year, with their chances growing in line
with a near-certain rising voter turnout? Sanchez has broadened some room for
other Southern California Democrats to jump in, and no doubt liberal lawmakers
in the background are mulling a bid.
one. For nearly two decades, ambitious Democratic Congressmen, who now dominate
California Delegation 38-14, have longed for a US Senate retirement. With Boxer
out, their chance had arrived, until Inevitable Kammy stepped up. Her missteps
have prompted Sanchez to step in, and now her faulty stepping off may induce
other Democratic lawmakers to reconsider their considerations and chase the US
Senate seat.
ring?
a run for the upper chamber. A considerable candidate who had unseated a
vulnerable Republican in 2000 (James Rogan, who prosecuted Bill Clinton in
1999, with full knowledge that he would lose his seat for standing on principle),
Schiff recently featured prominently on a number of Sunday news programs, where
he took bold positions opposing the White House. He has decided not to run.
![]("http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/88/Jackie_Speier,_official_photo_portrait,_111th_Congress.jpg") |
| Jackie Speier) |
Bay Area nonentity Congresswoman Jackie Speier may
put her foot in. Never heard of her? Most Californians haven’t either, another curse
of easy incumbency in liberal California.
![]("http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/John_Garamendi_113th_Congress.jpg/220px-John_Garamendi_113th_Congress.jpg") |
| John Garamendi |
Background sources have also
suggested that former Lieutenant Governor and current NorCal Congressman John Garamendi
(Yuba City) could launch a bid. He faced a close win in 2014, and the National
Republican Congressional Committee will actively target his seat in 2016. Why
sit under the pressure of another major local onslaught? A statewide figurehead
until his election to the House, Garamendi could pull some strings and raise
some money throughout the state (including San Pedro, CA, where he made a key
visit toward the end of his tenure).
snubbed, unhappy with Shaky Sanchez. Are they still looking for a Liberal Latino to carry
their cause? One likely contender for that mantle is Congressman Xavier Becerra
of downtown Los Angeles.
![]("http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92xUm4b22bk/VVvO3XA6KZI/AAAAAAAABKw/jXDuYGZiCBg/s1600/Xavier.jpg") |
| Xavier Becerra |
A vocal liberal on national talk shows as well as in
the House, Becerra has irked his own caucus and the opposition while pushing progressive
politics. He stands out also because of his routine jabs at once-inevitable
Kamala Harris, including
demands on the media to probe her stances on key positions. Incidentally enough,
he voiced these concerns the same day Sanchez declared her candidacy. Serving
in Congress since 1992, Becerra has a longer pedigree than many of his
colleagues, and deep connections in one of the strongest (and staunchest) Democratic
machines in California. Could he announce any time soon? His campaign office
indicated he would not decide until July, after key votes in the House have
been taken up. Why rush an announcement when Kammy and Loretta are already tearing
each other up. This early infighting will assist a third candidate to take up
the disillusioned elements on both sides of the Democratic Party and win the
nomination.
Democratic Party bosses, the race for the Golden State’s US Senate seat is
heating up, and not for the better for the Democratic Party or its affiliates.
.