California's House members make their picks

Tuesday's presidential primary in California will be, to a large extent, the tale of 53 different races.

That's because the allocation of actual convention delegates -- on both the Democratic and Republican sides -- is based heavily on the outcome in each of the state's 53 House districts. A candidate who wins in a lot of those districts is going to emerge with a lot of delegates, regardless of the statewide tally of votes.

Especially in Southern California, it is not uncommon for even conscientious voters to have no clue who represents them in Congress. There are, after all, so many House districts to keep track of -- easily more than for many states. Add that to the countless diversions that mark life in California, and it becomes virtually impossible for most House members to establish a high profile.

Still, there are some who have done so over the years. And each, to a certain degree, has a political machine he or she can kick into motion. Here's how these lawmakers have lined up in the primary competition:

DEMOCRATIC RACE

HILLARY CLINTON (16 total):

Mike Thompson (District 1, St. Helena); Doris Matsui (#5, Sacramento); Lynn Woolsey (#6, Petaluma); Ellen Tausher (#10, Alamo); Tom Lantos* Jackie Speier (#12, Burlingame); Dennis Cardoza (#18, Atwater); Brad Sherman (#27, Sherman Oaks); Hilda Solis (#32, El Monte); Diane Watson (#33, Los Angeles); Lucille Roybal-Allard (#34, East Los Angeles); Maxine Waters (#35, Los Angeles); Jane Harman (#36, Venice); Laura Richardson (#37, Long Beach); Grace Napolitano (#38, Norwalk); Joe Baca (#43, Rialto); Loretta Sanchez (#47, Garden Grove).

* [UPDATE]: Lantos passed away on Feb. 11; Speier won a special election to replace him.

BARACK OBAMA (7 total):

George Miller (District 7, Martinez); Barbara Lee (#9, Oakland); Anna Eshoo (#14, Menlo Park); Zoe Lofgren (#16, San Jose); Adam Schiff (#29, Burbank); Xavier Becerra (#31, Los Angeles); Linda Sanchez (#39, Lakewood).

UNDECLARED (11 total):

Nancy Pelosi (District 8, San Francisco); Jerry McNerney (#11, Pleasanton); Pete Stark (#13, Fremont); Mike Honda, (#15, San Jose); Sam Farr* (#17, Carmel); Jim Costa (#20, Fresno); Lois Capps (#23, Santa Barbara); Howard Berman (#28, Valley Village); Henry Waxman (#30, Los Angeles); Bob Filner (#51, Chula Vista); Susan Davis (#53, San Diego).

* Had supported Chris Dodd, who ended his candidacy after a poor showing in Iowa.

REPUBLICAN RACE

MIKE HUCKABEE (1 total):

Duncan Hunter (District 52, Alpine).

JOHN MCCAIN (2 total):

Dan Lungren (District 3, Gold River); Darrell Issa (#49, Vista).

MITT ROMNEY (5 total):

Wally Herger (District 2, Chico); Buck McKeon (#25, Santa Clarita); Dana Rohrabacher (#46, Huntington Beach); John Campbell (#48, Irvine); Brian Bilbray (#50, Carlsbad).

UNDECLARED (11 total):

John Doolittle (District 4, Roseville); George Radanovich** (#19, Mariposa); Devin Nunes** (#21, Visalia); Kevin McCarthy (#22, Bakersfield); Elton Gallegly (#24, Simi Valley); David Dreier** (#26, San Dimas); Ed Royce** (#40, Fullerton); Jerry Lewis** (#41, Redlands); Gary Miller (#42, Diamond Bar); Ken Calvert** (#44, Corona); Mary Bono** (#45, Palm Springs).

** Had supported Rudy Giuliani, who ended his candidacy after a poor showing in Florida.

-- Don Frederick

UPDATE: Monday evening (nothing like waiting until the last minute), Miller cast his lot with Romney. So make that 6 Republican House members backing the former Massachusetts governor, with 10 sitting the race out.

Comments

[George Vreeland Hill]

The Republican Party is a sick joke, and the people of this country are fed up with them.
From Nixon to Bush, and from Scooter to Larry "Toilet Stall" Craig, the Republicans have proven themselves to be a bunch of lying, corrupt, evil, perverted, over-spending crooks.
When you look at all the money Bill Clinton left this country, it makes us all cry to know that Bush spent it all.
When the money was gone, Bush went to China for help.
Just think, we owe money to China!
That is the Bush way.
Cheney is no better.
You can't trust either of them.
No one does.
Why are we in Iraq?
The war should be on terror, not in Iraq.
Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, and yet Bush has spent all that money to fight "his" war.
Yes his, because many Republicans have backed off from the war.
By the way, the war in Iraq has cost the U.S. almost five hundred billion dollars.
Forget Rudy.
Rudy Giuliani is no hero.
While he is often called the hero of 9/11, the truth is that Rudy was a terrible leader during his years as mayor of New York City.
He made bad decisions and took a girlfriend while being married.
In fact, he even wanted his lover to live in the same house with his wife.
Most people would call this perverted.
New Yorkers were so sick of his antics, that they wanted him out of office.
Then came 9/11.
The only reason people call Giuliani a hero today, is because he just happened to be NYC's mayor during that bad time.
Any mayor would be looked at as a hero if they showed their face under those circumstances.
If there was no 9/11, Rudy would have become a joke.
This is not the kind of leader we want in the White House.
In closing, the New York Post reported in their paper on April 23, that Giuliani spent more than 48,000 dollars of campaign money on posh hotels while claiming to have spent the least of all the Republican candidates.
Rudy is a good time leader, and does it with other people's money.
Forget Mitt.
His ads look bad.
He can't seem to get his facts right, and will say things to make himself look good.
Red flags go up around him.
I spoke with his son Tagg at the New Hampshire debates back in June (2007), and while he seemed like a nice man, Tagg could not get his facts right either.
The worst Republican as of late, though, is Larry Craig.
He is a lying pervert who wanted gay sex with a strange man on a dirty toilet seat.
He pled guilty, then said he was not guilty.
Say what?
He is another Republican moron.
Did you hear about Washington State Republican Rep. Richard Curtis?
He offered $1,000 to a young man for unprotected sex while dressed in women's lingerie.
This sort of thing just goes on and on with them.
Remember Mark Foley?
Here is a letter I wrote that was in many newspapers and Web sites:

Once again, the Republicans have turned my stomach with shocking and repulsive behavior.
Mark Foley, a Republican member (now ex-member) of Congress, has sent many e-mails with perverted sexual content to a sixteen year old boy.
This is the same man who while in Congress, backed a bill that was meant to protect children from child predators.
Foley himself, is a man who preyed on a child with lust.
What is also incomprehensible, is the fact that some Republicans knew of Foley’s behavior, and yet, did not take a hard stand against this until it became public news. If I had a teenage son and/or daughter, I would not want them to go near any Republican leader for fear of either or both becoming a victim of a sick Republican pervert.

George Vreeland Hill

There were more than three hundred such letters in newspapers in 2007 alone.
Many of them in New Hampshire.
There are thousands on the Internet.
No lie.
THOUSANDS!
This does not even include articles, ads, radio, TV and other areas where the public takes notice.
In fact, one Republican in California wanted me stopped once, because I was hurting some Republicans in their elections.
I just want to do my part in helping to get rid of every Republican scumbag.
From phone scams to the Union Leader (NH) covering up for Republicans, the garbage never ends.
But the Republican Party will end.
Did you know that George W. Bush once made fun of the issue of Weapons of Mass Destruction?
He did, and in front of some shocked people during a black-tie event in 2004.
He said.... (While looking under a piece of furniture) "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere."
Then, while pretending to look out of a window, Bush laughed as he said..... "Nope, no weapons over there."
While he was laughing, there were men and women fighting and dying in Iraq because of WMD.
George W. Bush should be removed from office because of that alone.
Face it, Bill Clinton lied about having sex, and was impeached because of it.
George W. Bush however, did far worse, as he laughed at the very people who are fighting for the United States of America!
That about sums it all up!
(By the way, this Bush/WMD was part of an article and letter I wrote as well.)
This leads us to John McCain.
All he seems to do is attack other candidates.
His Woodstock ad against Hillary Clinton was boring and without the facts.
He tells of Hillary wanting to spend a million dollars on a museum while he (McCain) supports spending more on the war in Iraq.
He wants you to believe that the Democrats are the big spenders, while it is McCain's Republican Party that has spent all the money Bill Clinton left us to a point where Bush had to borrow money from China.
Think about that again.
We owe to China.
That is the Republican way.
Also, it must be noted that McCain even laughed at war.
Remember when McCain changed the words of a Beach Boys song to Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Iran?
McCain even laughed when he was done.
He thought starting a war with Iran was a laughing matter.
That is the real John McCain.
He just can't be trusted.
He is another George Bush, and you know what we got with him.
The Republican Party is a mess, and getting worse.
People do not trust any of them, and we are all tired of their act.
I am doing my best to make sure that no Republican wins an election.
Thank you for your time.

George Vreeland Hill

[Abe Froman]

I love how the LA times endorsed a candidate. Its like judge claiming to preside over a fair trial, however he's really good friends with the defendant and he's pulling for him!