PCCC Poll of CA-36 - Supporters of Social Security and Medicare

Here's the poll that PCCC did which showed that a lot more people would prefer to tackle the deficit by reducing military spending that cutting Social Security or Medicare.

The PCCC's statement:

QUOTE FROM PCCC:

“This race is neck-and-neck among the top two contenders, Deb Bowen and Janice Hahn. Voters in this district overwhelmingly want a bold progressive candidate who is willing to crack down on Wall Street, embrace government investment in jobs, fight hard for Social Security and Medicare, and make government accountable to the people instead of the big corporations. The PCCC will continue our due diligence in this district in order to assess the most progressive, competent, and viable candidate.” -- Adam Green, PCCC co-founder

What is really important is that the PCCC did this poll now, before the candidates have staked out their positions. It's pretty well known among those outside of the beltway that people don't want to cut Social Security, but now the candidates in the 36th District have no excuse -- the district's voters have been polled and to the extent that they want to "tackle" the deficit, it's by cutting defense spending.

This sends the message to the candidates that it's good policy and good politics to be a solid supporter of Social Security and Medicare too. Money very well spent.

Ted Lieu - hopefully to be elected by 50% plus 1 tomorrow

There's been a fair amount of outreach, from what I can tell. I got a live caller to ask for a vote for Ted a couple weeks ago. More recently, I have received a call from the LACCCC leader to return my absentee ballot, a subsequent message on Sunday from another Dem (I don't remember who) saying if I hadn't returned my ballot yet, not to mail it. And I got a pro-equal rights for LGBT folks in support of Ted.

I regretfully didn't get myself set up for phone banking sooner. The online tool was really impressive; you could plow through numbers really quick, making the 60-70% of wrong #'s/no answers really easy to code and move on to the next. And mercifully, the text was short and sweet.

If Ted can get to the magic number tomorrow, then we can fill the seat and be only 2 short of 2/3 majority in State Senate.

CA-36: Jane Harman Quits; Janice Hahn Hand-Picked Successor?

Just documenting a little bit that flew by too quick with the news of Harman stepping down to pursue a think-tank job. I put the part in the headline about the speculation that Janice Hahn is Jane Harman's preferred candidate, but there are others.

Per CalBuzz:

Janice Hahn – The L.A. City Council member was Harman’s guest at last month’s State of the Union address; the fact that she announced her candidacy and had endorsements lined up about 12 seconds after Harman publicly made it known she was leaving, leads to the surmise that she’s the favorite of the imperious departing incumbent.

- Garry South is working under-the-radar on her campaign as an unpaid advisor. Not exactly someone who inspires confidence in the judgment of anyone who wants advice from him. (Just a taste of why in case you're not familiar).

- Parke Skelton is Debra Bowen strategist.

Also, I think the last part of the post is important about why the unhappiness of Harman's leaving - because of the possibility that she waited until after the election to be able to control who would take over.

A final word: Harman has never been one of our favorite people, not least because of her overbearing air of wealthy entitlement, and we can’t help but suspect her think tank deal has been in the works for some time, given that her predecessor announced he was leaving last May. So we agree with Huffpost blogger Richard Grenell that G.I. Jane ought to pay the cost of the damn special election to succeed her. What better way to spend some of Sidney’s zillions?