I remember talking to someone once about an election I was running in and I told him that if I lose I want to lose by a lot. He was taken a back and asked why? I told him if you lose by a little you kick yourself for not working a little harder, walking just a few more hours, raising a little more money etc… If you lose by a large margin there was nothing you could do, the people are stupid.

He laughed. But, you do see this happening with the Cooley race. 

I have already pointed out that the over confidence in Los Angeles County vote totals was mistaken. Cooley hadn’t run a TV ad or sent a mailer to the much larger general election electorate in ten years. 

Torey Van Oot reported about the feud between the Whitman campaign and the CRP over a mailer highlighting everyone on the ticket.

There is a little more to that story. At the CRP Convention in San Diego the initiatives committee (that I Chair) recommended on a 9-8 vote to support Proposition 22. Assemblymen Norby, DeVore, Gaines and Senator Bob Huff showed up to speak against the measure.

There was “allegedly” a commitment to fund a slate mailer from the Yes on 22 side. The next day on the floor the” No on 22” side prevailed in standing vote after a close voice vote was declared a victory to the yes side. We are talking about a couple handfuls of votes. The California Professional Firefightesr hasd successfully helped defeat the yes side with a very effective guerilla campaign. 

Defeating the committee recommendation did not place the CRP in the "No" camp but left the party without a position. That meant no money for the mailer. 

Every week for the next eight weeks I would be told there was an Executive Committee meeting to be called to see if the votes were there to support the No on 22 side. They wanted to fund the mailer. Every week would pass by without a meeting being called. A non-position means no money and no extra mailer. Just, another reason for people to be kicking themselves.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.