Two items in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary of interest to California politicos — the first on Duncan Hunter’s son, and his candidacy for dad’s seat…  The other about how Lance Armstrong has brought on an aide from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s shoppe…

In the Hunt

Regardless of who tops the Republican presidential ticket next year, Rep. Duncan Hunter will have long coattails in at least one congressional race — that’s because the leading candidate to replace the 14-term House Member is also Duncan Hunter, his 30-year-old son.

The elder Mr. Hunter may be floundering in his presidential campaign at 3% in the national polls — his bleak third-quarter fund-raising report showed him with just $200,00 in the bank. But his son is already the instant front-runner based on name recognition and endorsements. Plus, he’s raised a respectable $171,730, and even more impressively, did it while serving 8,000 miles away with the Marines in Afghanistan.

Capt. Hunter had already served a tour in Iraq when he was unexpectedly ordered back into action after announcing his candidacy. Marine lawyers eventually signed off, so now his wife Margaret and various aides are handling stump duties until he returns in January. But even with the Hunter name and a great military backstory, he’s expected to face at least three strong opponents in the June GOP primary: wealthy swimming-pool installer Ken King, Santee City Councilman Brian Jones and Republican activist Bob Watkins.

Normally, a Republican would be considered a shoo-in to win the conservative San Diego-area district, but Democrats may also have a ringer: Retired Navy SEAL Mike Lumpkin, just back from serving as deputy commander of Special Ops in the Arabian Gulf region.

Capt. Hunter’s military experience will be a major calling card. He’s been critical of the military bureaucracy and of political micromanagement of the war. One story has him cursing into a satellite phone because of higher-echelon dithering while his men were trying to capture Fallujah. The recipient of the call? His Congressman father.

Is Lance Armstrong, the retired seven-time Tour de France champion, planning a political run? He seems to have taken a page from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s playbook in preparing for a career change. Indeed, he has hired Mr. Schwarzenegger’s speechwriter and communications specialist to help him craft his public persona.

The Dallas Morning News says the 36-year-old Mr. Armstrong plans to focus his time and energy on attracting more federal funding for cancer research over the next year, much as Mr. Schwarzenegger developed his knowledge of public policy by promoting fitness and after-school programs for young people. For his part, Mr. Armstrong plans on taking his own story of how he licked "the big C" to a larger stage. "Let us send a message to the federal government," he told an audience in Texas on Election Night last month. "It’s time to elevate the priority of cancer in our funding and our national debate on curing life-threatening diseases."

Mr. Armstrong has long expressed an interest in politics, traveling to Boston on Election Night 2004 to spend time with his candidate John Kerry. Mr. Kerry reciprocated the next year by attending Mr. Armstrong’s final Tour de France victory celebration. At the time, Mr. Kerry said he would be thrilled if his friend entered politics — "as long as he joins the right party."

He need not worry. Mr. Armstrong is a Democrat who dated singer Sheryl Crow for several years — the same Ms. Crow who made a habit of appearing on TV wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words: "I DON’T BELIEVE IN YOUR WAR, MR. BUSH!" Since then, Mr. Armstrong and Ms. Crow have gone their separate ways and the former cyclist is busy honing a more non-ideological image that could appeal to voters across the political spectrum — just like Mr. Schwarzenegger.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.