Tuesday, December 27, 2005
Cunningham's Woes Could Mean Gains For Dems In Repub Area of SoCal
The San Diego County race for the seat of disgraced former congressman Randy "Duke"Cunningham may be competitive for the first time in many years, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.
However, the prospect of Democratic gains is by no means a sure thing:
"The bipartisan gerrymander of the state's congressional districts after the 2000 census all but wiped out competition between the two parties. As a result, none of the state's 33 Democrats in the House faces any viable threat next year from the GOP, strategists say, and only two of the 20 Republican incumbents seem to stand even a slim chance of trouble in November: Reps. Richard W. Pombo of Tracy and, to a lesser extent, David Dreier of San Dimas.
"Nationally, independent analysts say that plausible Democratic scenarios for taking over the House assume the party will capture not a single Republican seat in California, or perhaps just one: Cunningham's."
By next November, the fortunes of the Republicans may look quite different than they currently appear. The NSA scandal, the Abramoff scandal, the DeLay scandal, the Iraq war, etc may exact a heavy toll on the GOP.
A Battle Looms To Succeed Duke
