Last night, I had the opportunity to sit next to Tony and Audra Strickland at the wedding reception of a mutual friend. Tony, of course, is a former State Assemblyman and was the GOP nominee for State Controller last year. His wife, Audra, currently represents the 37th Assembly District as a member of the California legislature.
The wedding was at the stately and amazing Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where there is so much history — this hotel was the epicenter for much of Los Angeles’ rich political and ‘Hollywood’ history (the Academy Awards were held there for many years back in the Golden era of motion pictures.
In chatting with Tony, he shared with me that on Friday, he had opened up a campaign committee and will be seeking the Republican nomination to succeed State Senator Tom McClintock in that Ventura County-based district, that stretches up into Santa Barbara County. Needless to say, the Strickland name has become quote familiar to residents in that area, and Tony becomes the immediate front-runner. His recent run for State Controller has helped to keep his name ID ‘current’ in the minds of voters — in addition to having his wife, Audra, serving as the State Assemblywoman for much of the district.
Strickland is jokingly referred to as the "Energizer Bunny" because he is tireless and relentless as a campaigner. He won his first election to the Assembly because he was so tenacious, and rumor has it that he walked virtually every precinct in the entire district! Strickland is also not shy when it comes to asking friends and political allies for contributions — so consider yourself fore-warned if you are close to Tony — he will be calling you soon.
It is unclear at this point if Strickland will ‘clear the field’ for this safe GOP seat — right now the most-often talked about challenger for that primary is former Santa Barbara County Supervisor Mike Stoker, who many years ago ran as the Republican for Congress on the Central Coast. That said, Stoker’s disadvantage is that most of the district is south of Santa Barbara, away from where he has higher name I.D. While Stoker is not as conservative as Strickland, in the new ‘post-partisan’ era of Arnold, even the most moderate of GOPers starts to look like Attila the Hun.
A Stoker-Strickland primary would be unpleasant news for Senator McClintock. A few years back, when Audra Strickland ran for the Assembly the first time, one of her primary opponents, Michael Robinson, had been a staffer for McClintock. McClintock, who considers the Strickands close friends, was in a pickle — reluctantly endorsed both Robinson and Strickland. Well, guess what? Mike Stoker is a field representative for McClintock now. So we might have a yet another tough call for McClintock — though perhaps months on the statewide campaign train with Tony will have made it easier for the popular conservative Senator to endorse just one candidate, a Strickland, this go-around.
Of course, to add a little bit more drama to this particular primary — this action is all taking place in the part of California where Elton Gallegly is the Congressman. Last year, Gallegly infamously played footsie near the close of filing, quietly going to supporters to see if he could get someone to quickly file for his seat if he didn’t run for re-election. We won’t replay out all of those details here, but suffice it to say that Gallegly did end up running for re-election. But some question remains about whether he will file for re-election again next year, now that the GOP is in the minority in Congress. You can be sure that if he retires, Mr. Strickland will retool and refocus his efforts on a House seat for which he has long-coveted. But that alone may keep Gallegly, who is not close with the Stricklands, in Congress a wee bit longer.
Oh, I should add in closing, because you should never assume anything in politics — Assemblywoman Strickland has endorsed her husband’s bit for the State Senate. So for all of you who were looking for a gnarly inter-family GOP primary, you’ll have to wait to see if Assemblywoman Sharon Runner takes on her husband, Senator George Runner, when he is up for re-election!
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