Will it turn out like in 2009 in NYC:

I can understand Diane Feinstein not bothering to campaign in the primary. But I don't know what the Republicans are waiting for. I don't see any activity pushing Emken or anyone else, except for Orly's self-promotion.

She's gonna be on the general ballot and the Republicans will have let it happen.

I sure hope so. She won't harm Feinstein or the Democrats locally, but she can be used nationally as an example of how insane Republicans are in advertisements against other Republicans, especially ones who have a history of being "birf-curious."

In most cases a sacrificial lamb ends up with no political life after the election. If you were a Republican politician wouldn't you rather it happen to O'rly than yourself?

In this case, the Republican nomination wouldn't be something happening to Orly.

It would be something happening to the Republicans. A disaster.

Republicans manage to put up sacrificial lambs in other races. If they really want one here, they can find one. Currently, they have put up Emken as a sacrificial lamb. Personally, if I were going to be a sacrificial lamb, I would rather be one who lost to Feinstein than one who lost to a drooling, nitrous-huffing crazy.

O'rly will make that Carl Palladino guy (who ran against Cuomo for NY Gov) look like a piker.

Hey city slickers. The name of the street the Desert Sun newspaper building (not hotel) is on is Gene Autry Trail. That oughta clue you in on how impossible it is to interrupt anything there. It's the desert, darn it!

Another stupid question: why did CA go to this ridiculous primary system in the first place?

That's next Tuesday AM, at 10:00am, on the sidewalk?

This is certainly not ones' traditional debate venue.

THE VOTERS APPROVED IT.

Stern is more of a proponent. But the idea is that the two-party system in California is causing so much logjam in the legislature that this will help.

It was demanded by a Republican, then State Sen. Abel Maldonado, as part of a payoff to him the agreement for his vote on a budget deal a couple of years ago, as a state constitutional amendment referred by the Legislature to the people, who passed it. Described here. The idea was to shake up the current inbred system where the incumbents become more and more secure and radicalized.

The hope is that it will bring out moderates to run. It could work if California weren't so lopsidedly Democratic now. As long as an incumbent is in office s/he will continue to have a huge advantage. And Republicans are becoming as scarce as hen's teeth, thanks to Gov. Pete Wilson and his beloved Prop. 187, so all it will do is insure more Democrats win. (Hat tip to the law of unintended consequences.)

The bottom line is that the Republican Party doesn't matter in California any more. And it would be great for Typhoid Orly to be the perceived head of the Doesn't Matter Party. She'd be a perfect representative. If the Republicans allow her to be the top Republican vote getter in the primary, their path back to respectability in California will be set back 25 years.

IMO: Sacramento is one of the most polarized and paralyzed legislatures in the country -- if not the most of all. Voters have been so turned off to the paralysis, especially during budget stalemates which happen each year. We've even gone through multiple periods of vouchers handed out instead of cold hard cash when the state couldn't pass a budget and we were out of money. So some reformers came up with this idea to make candidates come from the center by increasing competition. What I think makes it most horrible is that as bad as it is, if there were a "50% +1 vote" component for winning flat out in the primary, we could at least avoid what most certainly will be additional vitriolic campaigns that are pretty much meaningless to anyone but ad sales people and union printers.

Because Louisiana led the way. I hope they don't get any other fine ideas from there.

Not to mention that with term limits, there's nobody competent left in any one chamber, and the rest are all playing musical chairs with the available posts.

I think the fact that we now have a open primary in CA has thrown the republicans off their game. It's a big change and I don't think they really thought through how to handle it.

Changes can throw a spanner into the system for even the most seasoned politician/machine. The last mayoral election in Oakland was the first time we had RCV in play. The politician with the machine behind him thought he was a shoe-in, as did most folks. He didn't run a campaign taking RCV into account (as in "hey make me your second or third choice if not your first") and watched his impressive lead slowly melt away as round and round was counted.

Emken has no money, and I doubt the Pubbies are going to waste any of their money on a doomed-to-fail campaign.

A friend of mine is running for Congress as a Democrat (unopposed in the primary) in a very competitive district (registration split almost 50-50) against a first-term Republican. The DCCC told him they wouldn't give him a dime unless he could first raise a large sum on his own. The parties are hoarding their money this cycle.

I hope they're thinking that. Because they can pay little now, or they can pay huge if they let Taitz be their standard-bearer. She could easily help screw up pug candidates all over the country.

That's a nice thought.

Not everyone thinks that O'rly is leading the GOP field opposing DiFi in the Senate race.



Not one mention of the Birther Queen in the article.

http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/20 ... ing/?tsp=1

I think they mean that Emken is leading the GOP field in raising moola, not in opinion polls.

I really do think Orly's name recognition could land her on the general ballot and the Republicans would be in sorrier shape than they are now. I agree that candidates in other races could point to the Feinstein/Taitz match up as an example of just how loony the Republicans have become.

Going down?

Sharron Angle.

Christine O'Donnell.

Orly Taitz.

Open up the checkbook, Yosi Orly.

Thank you for all of the responses to my last stupid question. The law of unintended consequences, indeed! If Taitz becomes the GOP candidate, think of all of the fun Tweety, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow and Lawrence O'Donnell will have. Night after night after night.

Wasn't April 15 a reporting deadline for candidates? Do we having anything on Orly yet? I'm rusty on this ... where do we find that stuff? Anyone got the link and when does it become available if it isn't already?

March 31 was the latest reporting deadline; Taitz (unsurprisingly) is tardy.

The FEC has the reports. Places like opensecrets.org also aggregate the data.