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John Garamendi upsets the California primary lineup
“Garamendi is the man to beat,” said Antioch City Councilwoman Martha Parsons, who says she will endorse DeSaulnier. “It’s a special election, so you have to get out the vote, win name recognition. That gives Garamendi an advantage over Mark DeSaulnier.” “I think Garamendi will have an advantage,” said Craig Cheslog, a DeSaulnier backer who is president of the Lamorinda Democratic Club. “Anytime a statewide candidate runs for something, it shakes things up.” Garamendi has been a presence on the California political scene for more than three decades, beginning in 1974, when he won a seat in the state Assembly. He then spent 14 years in the state Senate before winning statewide positions as insurance commissioner and lieutenant governor. He launched a bid to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010 but left the race after polls showed him badly trailing his prospective Democratic rivals, Attorney General Jerry Brown, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. California Lt. Governer John Garamendi served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia in the 1960's.
John Garamendi upsets the California primary lineup
John Garamendi upsets the California primary lineup
By ALEX ISENSTADT | 5/22/09 4:37 AM EDT
For a time, California state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier seemed to be on a glide path to the House, a favorite to succeed Democratic Rep. Ellen Tauscher when she officially steps down to take a State Department position.
He wasted little time securing the support of Tauscher, Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), a top lieutenant to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who represents Tauscher’s adjoining district, and the Contra Costa County Central Labor Council.
But the calculus changed when Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi unexpectedly parachuted into the contest for the comfortably Democratic Contra Costa County-based seat late last month. Now, even DeSaulnier’s supporters concede that Garamendi, who dropped his bid in the 2010 governor’s race to join the House special election, is the new front-runner.
“Garamendi is the man to beat,” said Antioch City Councilwoman Martha Parsons, who says she will endorse DeSaulnier. “It’s a special election, so you have to get out the vote, win name recognition. That gives Garamendi an advantage over Mark DeSaulnier.”
“I think Garamendi will have an advantage,” said Craig Cheslog, a DeSaulnier backer who is president of the Lamorinda Democratic Club. “Anytime a statewide candidate runs for something, it shakes things up.”
Garamendi has been a presence on the California political scene for more than three decades, beginning in 1974, when he won a seat in the state Assembly. He then spent 14 years in the state Senate before winning statewide positions as insurance commissioner and lieutenant governor. He launched a bid to succeed Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2010 but left the race after polls showed him badly trailing his prospective Democratic rivals, Attorney General Jerry Brown, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
DeSaulnier, who spent 13 years as a county supervisor before moving on to the state Assembly and later to the state Senate, admits that a candidate like Garamendi presents a unique challenge.
“I think voters know who he is. He’s got high name identification, which I will have to overcome,” he told POLITICO.
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And Garamendi is not all that DeSaulnier must worry about. Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan also has joined the 10th District race, and she expects to line up the backing of women’s groups like EMILY’s List, which helped fund her 2008 Assembly campaign.
But in a special election that is expected to be a low-turnout affair, Garamendi’s unusually high name recognition presents a significant problem for his opponents, both of whom are now racing to introduce themselves to voters and raise funds. The primary date has not yet been set — because Tauscher has yet to officially resign — but California insiders expect it to occur during the summer.
“The sooner it is, the more it is going to favor Garamendi,” said David Latterman, a San Francisco-based independent pollster. “Garamendi is obviously going to have that name recognition and that kind of kick.”
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: May, 2009; RPCV John Garamendi (Ethiopia); Figures; Peace Corps Ethiopia; Directory of Ethiopia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Ethiopia RPCVs; State Government; Politics; California
When this story was posted in May 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
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