This story was reported for the San Diego News Network on May 18, 2010.
On tap for the Campaign Corral this week are independent campaigns that are still breathing, and a recap on what’s happening in the 53rd Congressional race.
Normally, I begin CC by featuring a race in which I ask the candidates a nonpolitical question. The featured race, which was selected by readers in the last edition of CC, is the Chula Vista Mayor race. However, the three candidates — incumbent Mayor Cheryl Cox, Councilmember Steve Castaneda and Board Trustee Jorge Dominguez — did not offer an answer to the question: If you could have a room full of any one thing, what would it be?
But a campaign helper for one of the candidates did ask me how I would answer the question. What did I tell him? A room full of children’s books to assist a local nonprofit with a focus on literacy development among economically and socially disadvantaged children.
See, candidates? Now how hard is that?
Third partiers:
As we’re only a couple weeks away from Election Day (or as I like to call it, Hoa’s 2nd Christmas), I decided to check in on a some of the independent campaigns to see how they’re doing.
Chris Chadwick — a Libertarian running for State Assembly District 75 against incumbent Nathan Fletcher and Democrat Paul Garver – doesn’t seem to be too active with his campaign though he did make the ballot. His last Facebook update on May 6 asks voters to consider him and to “Vote for LIBERTY!”
Mike Paster –a Libertarian who is running for Rep. Darrell Issa’s seat in the 49th District — attended a Fallbrook Tea Party meeting last Thursday in an attempt to garner support.
Greg Stephens — an independent in the race against Assemblymember Joel Anderson for the State Senate 36th seat — has a Meetup group, titled “Citizens for Stephens.” So far, he’s had nine “meetups” with one scheduled Tuesday evening. The sweet thing about Meetup is that group members can leave comments and Lisa Carol Jorden thinks this particular Meetup group is a “chance to get involved and make a difference.”
Kristi Stone — a Libertarian running against incumbent Mark Wyland for the 38th State Senate seat — is continuing to share her thoughts with the Facebook world. Her latest status update came Monday morning with thoughts from her friend John Howell, who said “Regardless of your religious affiliation, or lack thereof, there is one principle that will increase your circle of friends, will expand your network, and will enhance your success in life. Love your neighbor.”
Other indies seem to be nonexistent but check out Joe Ryan’s campaign. Ryan, who is running for Rep. Duncan Hunter’s seat, launched five websites recently. No, seriously.
Dirty politics:
A Twitter account called “SusanFreeCa53” is tweeting against Rep. Susan Davis. So, who is the particular Tweep behind the account rooting for? It’s unknown as the tweets don’t seem to be supporting one candidate or another.
However, the Twitter account links to an interesting video by C. Mason Weaver who uses the following terms to describe his primary opponent Michael Crimmins: “dirty old man,” “racist,” “disgrace” and “certified liar.”
Talk about dirty politics!
Hoa Quach is the political editor for the San Diego News Network.