Sometimes a surprise is just a surprise
06/12/2008
Lost amid the news of Barack Obama’s primary victory last week was news closer to home of another unexpected election win.
Ventura and Santa Barbara counties woke up June 4 to news that Marta Jorgensen had secured the nomination to be the Democratic Party’s candidate in the 24th congressional district. Jorgensen beat out party establishment opponents Jill Martinez, the Democrat’s candidate in 2006, and AFL-CIO-endorsed Mary Pallant, a vocal anti-war voice from the suburban Oak Park enclave. With 16,514 votes to Martinez’ 11,495 and Pallant’s 8,116, Jorgensen secured the opportunity to compete against incumbent Republican Elton Gallegly in November.
What does this mean for the county as a whole, including those that don’t pay as much attention to politics? It means there are new forces at work, that power may be shifting from the status quo to new minds. It means new ideas may enter the public discourse, but it also threatens a nasty backlash. It threatens a new climate of bitterness and resentment, rather than a community working together to improve its representation in the federal government.
Perhaps unfortunately for local Democrats, the party unity that quickly formed around their presidential standard bearer did not extend locally. That could be good news to area Republicans who are still licking their wounds from losing their registration edge among local voters.
It has, however, been handled horribly by both the local media and supporters of some of the losing candidates.
As first reported in the VC Reporter April 24 (see “Congressional race tightens,” Briefs, 4/24/08), Jorgensen at one point bowed out of the race the day before to announce her endorsement of Martinez. About a month later, the Solvang resident re-entered the race (see “Jorgensen’s re-entry shifts congressional race,” News, 5/22/08) after voters in Santa Barbara County and some parts of Ventura County (such as Santa Paula and Fillmore) urged Jorgensen to reconsider her decision. Those voters felt they had been neglected by the other candidates, who focused on the money and visibility available in more populous areas such as Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo and Ventura. At the time, Jorgensen expressed concern that residents of areas such as those along the Santa Clara River and around the Santa Ynez Valley have felt neglected by Gallegly during his 22 years in Congress.
Pallant vociferously rejected the claim she wasn’t campaigning hard enough in those areas and Martinez expressed surprise about the turnabout.
Now, as evidenced by a letter to the editor this week and comments in the Ventura County Star after the election, supporters of these candidates cannot accept the possibility that Jorgensen won the race on her own strengths, and not because of meddling by Gallegly’s campaign (who they claim would welcome competing against the lesser-known Jorgensen) or an unfair ballot designation.
These claims only gained more momentum with the shallow analysis done by Star political reporter Timm Herdt, who in two stories immediately after the election pinned Jorgensen’s victory on her identification as an “educator” on the ballot. Herdt provided scant support for his claim, save a brief reflection on the race by a Sacramento-based political consultant doing a comparison similar to a Pepsi/Coke blind taste test on Jorgensen’s ballot description instead of providing in-depth looks at the district’s demographics, exit polling or other research into voter trends.
In the same article, the stunning bitterness expressed by Pallant, who said the Democrats “don’t have a shot in the district now” may explain why she lost. If Martinez, the one who actually lost Jorgensen’s endorsement, was also bitter, she didn’t show it publicly. The sheer arrogance of some candidates and Democratic leaders is appalling, and may explain why they’re unable to secure voters’ interest.
It’s far safer to claim Jorgensen won because Pallant and Martinez were too busy trying to distinguish themselves from one another and fighting each other that they beat each other, while Jorgensen appeared to campaign on her own merits and for voters who felt disenfranchised.
If Democrats truly desire victory in November, they will support her. If they’d rather nurse their own egos and attack each other, Elton Gallegly can feel more comfortable about another term in office.
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Comments
I didn't see Jorgensen campaign at all. Did she say she did? Did you see anything? I only witnessed her comment in the Ventura County Star where she stated she didn't have money for gas to reach the eastern points of the district.
Personally, I do desire replacing Gallegly but I'm also interested in replacing with someone that does something. I attended several of the events where candidates and spoke out. I never saw Jorgensen. On what grounds do you think voters chose? I don't know anyone that even knows of her.
Jurnei - you do seem to blog a lot against Marta. That is one of the problems - everyone did focus on the Oak Park, Thousand Oaks, Ventura area. And they didn't take the voters seriously in the middle of the district and the north.
In the meantime Marta was genuinely saying - ok you guys, I will bow out if you have more money so we can turn this district blue. And instead of listening to this well organized regional coordinator from the Draft Al Gore movement, they treated her as the newbie with no money - to be ignored.
But Marta harnassed all of that energy that she has, and she gathered all of those people that she had coordinated to get out the Gore signatures last fall. She got out the vote on a shoe string budget when she saw that her district was again being ignored.
I am proud of Marta. Marta runs a clean campaign. No, she doesn't have a lot of money - she chose to get out the VOTE rather than go after the money. I think it was a pretty smart move.
So now that she has the attention of the Democrats, if you really want to have representation in Congress, donate to Marta's campaign. Send her to Congress to represent you - and the rest of the American people.