2008: Game On in CA-11
Cross posted at MyDD, Swing State Project, Calitics, and Daily Kos
[UPDATE: Josh Richman of the Contra Costa Times now has a story about this.]
Last Thursday, Jerry McNerney took the oath of office as a member of the 110th Congress. A scant five days later, with what must surely be unprecedented speed, the NRCC has sent out its first anti-McNerney campaign mailers of the 2008 election to voters in CA-11.
It’s worth noting that in the run-up to the 2006 elections, the NRCC spent over $1.3 million to prop up threatened incumbent Rep. Richard Pombo, all to no avail. In the days leading up to November 7, the NRCC sent out no less than 20 anti-McNerney mailers (strikingly, they couldn’t think of one single pro-Pombo message). Looks like old habits die hard.
So if anyone out there thinks that McNerney’s 2008 re-election will be easy simply because he won in 2006 by a 6% margin — er, not so much. Expect a steady drumbeat of anti-McNerney disinformation over the next two years. The only real question is, what are we going to do about it?
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posted by babaloo @ 1:59 PM
5 Comments:
Ironically, even though the NRCC seeks to sow discord over this issue, the news of the last few days has revealed that it's been the Bush Administration that has worked to provide Social Security benefits to illegals:
After numerous refusals over three and a half years, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has released the first known public copy of the U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement. The government was forced to make the disclosure in response to lawsuits filed under the Freedom of Information Act by TREA Senior Citizens League, a 1.2 million-member nonpartisan seniors advocacy group.
The Totalization Agreement could allow millions of illegal Mexican workers to draw billions of dollars from the U.S. Social Security Trust Fund.
The agreement between the U.S. and Mexico was signed in June 2004, and is awaiting President Bush's signature.
NRCC says they mailed this in September. I guess that is possible. Mail does get delayed. But then again, all the articles say the Repubs are hot to get this seat back.
Did they or didn't they (send this out post-election)? Hard to tell, but in any case, it did produce one irate letter to editor in CC Times today :
"GOP garbage pushes voter to McNerney
I received in the mail on Jan. 4 a flier mailed by the National Republican Congressional Committee. It is a political propaganda besmirching my just-elected representative in Congress, the day that he took office.
It contains a bunch of baloney about Jerry McNerney supporting a plan that would supposedly let illegal immigrants receive Social Security benefits. It says, "That money belongs to U.S. citizens, not illegal aliens."
I am a U.S. citizen, but I find it necessary, first of all, to correct the National Republican Congressional Committee: Social Security money does not belong to U.S. citizens. It belongs to those who contribute Social Security taxes, whether citizens or not. Second, I need to remind the National Republican Congressional Committee that the election was in November, and that their candidate lost.
They sure are not going to recapture the seat they lost by mailing this kind of garbage to constituents. I am not a partisan voter, but keep sending me this kind of junk, and the effect will likely be that I will vote for McNerney again when he is up for re-election.
Istvan Simon, Ph.D.
Pleasanton"
Coverage on this on TV last night. Rita Williams on KTVU. The RNCC push back... that they have a receipt for the mailing of that mailer prior to the election and that it was the post office's fault it only got delivered now. Interviewed Jerry in his office.
Huh?
There was also a quick shot of SNTP home page.
You can see that interview and story at http://www.ktvu.com/video/10737032/index.html.
Sorry, new blogger here, I don't know how to make a link of it. Please copy and paste if it doesn't happen automatically.
From today's Hotline:
Is A Retread The Best Recruit For A Rematch?
To date, at least three ousted House GOPers are pondering comebacks (Ryun, Bradley and Pombo).
http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/
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