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The primary in California’s 48th district this month showed that the Republican party lacks brains. It may have revealed a missing soul as well.California has a unique top-two or “jungle†primary, in which the top two candidates regardless of party make it to the general-election ballot. With the right strategy, a party can use this system to its advantage, especially when it already holds a seat: An incumbent is almost guaranteed to make the top two, so a strong showing by a primary challenger from the same party can shut the other side out of the general election entirely.The GOP had the opportunity to do this in California’s 48th. Instead, it sunk hundreds of thousands of dollars into attacking a credible Republican primary challenger, joining the Democrats’ $3 million assault to edge him out of the general election. The result is that a weak and feckless incumbent will face a multi-million-dollar onslaught from a Democrat and a potential loss in November.That incumbent is Dana Rohrabacher, a 30-year member of Congress; the district is a wealthy and conservative one based in Orange County. With his weak legislative record and head-scratching views, Rohrabacher made this safe Republican seat vulnerable. Rohrabacher hasn’t passed a bill in 14 years, and his colleagues roll their eyes at his public statements — such as that dinosaur flatulence causes global warming and that people should be allowed to refuse to sell homes to homosexuals — not to mention his cult-like fixation on marijuana and his unwavering defense of Vladimir Putin . . .. . . With Rohrabacher’s weak record and quirky fixations, and the fact that Hillary Clinton won the 48th in 2016, Nancy Pelosi made that district her No. 1 target for November of 2018.A well-known former Republican assembly leader and former ten-year chairman of the Orange County Republican party, Scott Baugh, recognized the disaster looming for Republicans and filed to run in the jungle primary. Overnight, polling reflected that Baugh and Rohrabacher would take the top two spots, the optimal outcome for the Republicans. Regardless of whether you liked Baugh or Rohrabacher, the seat would remain in Republican hands.Rather than acknowledging the shortcomings of the incumbent or the wisdom of securing an all-Republican general-election match-up, the GOP stood squarely behind Rohrabacher. They also attacked Baugh. GOP elected officials from Orange County, including U.S. House majority leader Kevin McCarthy, sent a letter to Baugh chastising him; to make the point clear, the letter was distributed to all Republicans in the party’s database. This embarrassing assault on Baugh exposed the soul of the Republican establishment and showed rank political incompetence . . .
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Topic: Republicans Could Have Shut Democrats Out of a Key House Race Entirely. Here’s How They Failed To. (Read 228 times)
