California Senate Primary: Welcome to Crazytown
Fourteen Republicans want a chance to run against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in November. None of them is above 2 percent in the latest primary poll.
—By Asawin Suebsaeng
Wed May. 30, 2012 3:00 AM PDT
A birther, a LaRouchie, a tea party rabbi, and a Christian fundamentalist walk into a bar.
Actually, no—this is a list of Republicans competing in next Tuesday's Senate primary in California. Thanks to big changes to how the Golden State conducts its primaries, 23 long-shot candidates—a Libertarian, an American Independence Party member, two Peace and Freedom Party members, five Democrats, and 14 Republicans, including the four mentioned above—are battling for a chance at a high-profile face-off with Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein in November. And the Republicans are so weak in the state that their side of the contest has become something of a political clown show.
This year, California is introducing a "top-two primary" system for its legislative, congressional, and statewide elections, including the Senate race. Under the new rules, the Democratic and Republican parties are no longer guaranteed a spot on the general-election ballot. Instead, the two candidates who receive the most votes in the primary on June 5, regardless of party, will compete in the general election. In theory, two Democrats, two Republicans, or even two Peace and Freedom Party members could end up advancing to the main event.
Feinstein, a three-term incumbent Democrat running for reelection, is all but certain to make it through the primary. In the most recent public poll of the primary, more than half of the likely voters surveyed said they planned to vote for her. But it's "impossible to know" who will face Feinstein, SurveyUSA, which conducted the poll, said in a press release. In the poll—conducted, appropriately, over April Fools' Day weekend—none of Feinstein's 23 aspiring challengers registered more than 2 percent support statewide. That means the GOP has not been able to field a credible candidate for this seat in a year in which Democrats are playing defense ...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/05/california-republican-senate-race-clusterfudge-orly-taitz
= new reply since forum marked as read
...I think the top-two thing statewide could potentially screw it up in the future. Good idea for local races, bad idea for Senate seats. I don't like her on all issues, but there really isn't a credible alternative.
(For non-Californians: CA primaries now contain a single ballot with the top two vote going to a run-off)
