The Democratic Candidates Page

Note: Contents of this page are solely the opinion of the author and do not necessarilly reflect the opinions, posistions, policies, strategies or beliefs of the candidates. - LGB

Tenth Congressional District.

Fifteenth Assembly District.

Why we can win

Tenth Congressional District:

For more information about Ellen O. Tauscher click here.

Is Baker Invulnerable?

One fear is of Bill Baker's ability to spend as much money as he believes will overpower the competition. We believe that he has established the ability to raise and a willingness to spend from $.5 to 1.5 million for a campaign. In other words, it is probably not possible to outspend Baker. However, given the expensive and diverse media market that we are in it will take a considerable amount of money just to get onto the playing field in each major form of media in this district. Due to a limited number of stations and wide cable coverage, a television advertisement must be bought for the entire nine county area and beyond - from Santa Rosa in the north to Gilroy in the south and San Francisco in the west. This huge market must be paid for even though we would like to address only our central and eastern Contra Costa County. Similar considerations apply to buying commute time AM radio spots. We do not need to answer BB dolar for dollar, since these messages will be reenforced by our precinct walking efforts

Bill Baker has been especially clever in using his congressional franking privelage to present an image that is quite false. Knowing that he cannot serve two masters (his contributors and his contituents), he has decided to serve one and deceive the other. These deceits are difficult but not impossible to expose. For one such deceit, see Bill Baker's Big Green Lie.

Choosing the Battlefield

In political campaigning as in war, the advantage goes to the side that can force the fight to a favorable battlefied. Bill Baker's voting record is in stark contrast to his letters to constituents. Getting the word out on Baker's lies while presenting positive aspects of our candidate can tip the balance in our favor. I believe that this can be done by working smart and efficiently at the grass roots level.

Click here for information about the 10th Congressional district.

Fifteenth Assembly District:

Gail Murray is the Democratic nominee for our local California State Assembly seat. Gail is experienced as a Walnut Creek City Council Member and Mayor and brings credentials and experience as a consultant in transportation and government. For a report and pictures of a recent campaign event of Gail's, click here

The 15th A.D. seat is currently occupied by ex-sheriff Richard Raney, who is vacating this seat to run for State Senator. Lynn Leach, promoted by our (un)representative Bill Baker, is the Republican nominee. impossible voter distribution for a Democrat, registration being 50% Republican, 37% Democrat, with the remainder minor parties and "Declines To State" (DTS). A third candidate, Martin Spraul, will be on the Natural Law Party ticket.

The election of Democrats to the Assembly is especially important since the Speaker of the House is now an extreme right wing Republican from Orange County. Since the Speaker has control over asignments of both members and bills to comittees he has sufficient influence to force moderate Republicans to conform to the right wing agenda. This is especially dangerous for California should the Congress convert Federal programs into block grants. Clearly, the power to spend money without being responsible for the associated taxation will lead to a significant empowerment of state legislators, particulary those who can control the direction of that spending. For more information about Gail Murray click here.

Click here for information about the 15th California Assembly district.

Why We can Win both the Congressional and the Assembly races:

The Simplified Primary Factor

It appears that the Democratic primaries for Fourteenth AD and Seventh SD will be uncontested. It appears that the primary contest for the Tenth CD will not be divisive or damaging, but will be interesting and informative. We can use the interest in these primaries to focus on building awareness of our candidates.

The Early Primary Factor

Another factor in our favor is the early primary, in March of this year rather than June as is usually the case. This will give us additional time to organize for a summer grass roots initiative. For several reasons based upon personal experience I believe that June, July, and August are the best months to be on the streets, even though it can get a bit warm in our area.

A Simplified and Interesting General Election

If this Congressional district is to be won at all it will likely be done in this particular election cycle, when strong national and state issues will bring out Democrats aware of the importance of restoring the House of Representatives and State Assembly to Democratic control. Having neither of our two Senators nor the Governor up for election this year greatly simplifies the messages that voters will hear and read this year.

CCRI

The so called "California Civil Rights Initiative" was designed by Republicans as a "wedge" issue, intended to divide off white male Democratic voters from the party. They may find, however, that the CCRI will be a strong motivator for many voters (women in particular) to come out and vote against it. These same voters are likely to be favorable to Democrats. This may also be a strong motivator for voter registration.

Minimum Wage Initiative

An initiative to raise the minimum wage from its present 40 year low (in inflation adjusted dollars) is currently being circulated. This is a quite modest raise, simply performing a task that would normally be expected of our state Assembly and Senate. It will be difficult for the Republicans to stand up and fight this initiative openly, but necessary for them to do so on idealogical grounds. We can use this initiative as a motivator for the registration and voting of young and minimum wage earning people.

You are needed this time

If this Congressional district is to be won at all it will be likely done in this particular election cycle. A similar favorable alignment applies to Gayle Murray's candidacy for the Fifteenth assembly district.

You are needed for the long haul

Another important reason for building a strong grass roots Democratic effort is that even if we win this year, the CD and AD seats must be held through the off year election in 1998. To hold either seat requres getting the Democratic votors to the poles and voting in what historically have been weak years for us in this district (fewer than 25% of eligable Democrats voted in many precincts in 1994). While these may never be a "safe" seats for Democratic officholders, we must do much better than in the past if we are to have a chance at holding the position we can gain in 1996.