CA-10: Clinton to Campaign for Garamendi
Clinton will join Garamendi in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Bill Clinton will campaign for John Garamendi tomorrow with a public event in San Francisco. Garamendi, currently the state's lieutenant governor, faces a special election run-off against Republican David Harmer to replace former Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher. Both secured their place on November's ballot last month.
Conservatives are playing with the numbers in an attempt to write a narrative that is not supported by the facts on the ground. Harmer touted a poll in a fundraising e-mail to supporters that showed him ahead of Garamendi by seventeen points -- a ridiculous poll advantage in a congressional district where Democrats enjoy an eighteen-point registration advantage.
The major caveats on those numbers, however, are incredibly significant. Harmer's polling touted in the e-mail says he leads by that margin among those who know the candidates. This is presumably after the GOP pollster rattles off short bios on both candidates with push poll tactics employed. The campaign did not release cross-tabs to know for sure. In short, it is simply a fundraising tactic, as Brian Leubitz points out, "This is the trick every low name ID candidate uses to prove they can win if they only get the resources."
Contra Costa Times political reporter Lisa Vorderbrueggen said that claim was, "to put it nicely, a tad delusional." Tim Clark, Harmer's campaign manager, later followed up with Vorderbruggen to clarify that their polling actually showed Harmer losing.
There are two things observers will likely notice about Garamendi's campaign event with Bill Clinton.
First, expect Republicans to hit Garamendi on traveling out-of-district to San Francisco to campaign. It falls right into GOP attempts to capitalize on Democratic attacks on Garamendi as a "carpetbagging opportunist" during the primary. Second, Republicans will frame this appearance with a former president as some kind of "damage control" after Harmer's dubious polling.
Three years ago, then-Congressman Richard Pombo campaigned with John Boehner, Dick Cheney and George Bush. That was damage control. This isn't.
