CA-11: Few Differences Between GOP Candidates
Matt Ortega | Uncategorized12 Jan 2010
GOP candidates assemble in Manteca. (Photo by Clifford Oto/Stockton Record)
Last night’s 11th Congressional District candidate forum proved rather uneventful — there was few differences on the issues, like on Afghanistan.
(Brad Goehring supports Obama’s efforts to send more forces to Afghanistan. David Harmer believes 30,000 forces are not enough. Jeff Takada said the nation needs someone better at the helm than Obama to deal with the war, however, he’s previously staunchly opposed the war altogether believing it to be a “death wish,” and stated he would sponsor legislation bringing American forces home.)
Goehring needled on Harmer’s carpetbagging, which the latter responded to, but Robert Beadles spiced things up a bit in his final two minutes as he confronted Goehring as behind the raid on his business:
But candidate Robert Beadles took off the gloves during closing statements when he accused fellow candidate Brad Goehring or one of his supporters of accusing Beadles of stealing property. “Brad, would you please do something about this?” Beadles said before a large crowd at Crossroads Grace Community Church in Manteca.
Stockton Record reporter Zachary K. Johnson adds:
He said it appeared his political competition was working alongside business competition against him and that he had filed lawsuits earlier that day.
“This was all politically motivated,” he said. “This is why honest, hardworking individuals don’t want to get involved in the political process.”
Goehring, however, deflected the charges.
Goehring didn’t respond during the forum, but he said afterward that he wants to run a clean campaign. He said he’s been told by advisers that as the front-runner, competitors will take shots at him.
Regardless, Beadles plans to file a lawsuit.
Beadles said that he filed lawsuits Monday morning against who he believes was responsible, but did not name any specific names in relation to the pending legal matter.
It appears this race comes down to establishment-backed frontrunner Harmer and self-funder Goehring until another candidate can make a move in the fundraising game. Goehring’s challenge will be to solidify support of the base and fashion himself as the candidate of the grassroots fighting the D.C.-picked Harmer.
Update See here for clarification.
Tags: Brad Goehring, CA-11, David Harmer, Elizabeth Emken, Jeff Takada, Robert Beadles, Tony Amador
Goehring didn’t make a single comment. It appears that reporters and bloggers who were there are shying away from mentioning that Beadles also alleged that a candidate has hired illegal aliens and cheated on taxes. Since Goehring is a farmer, little doubt was left in the room as to whom Beadles was referring.
JimF – http://buhbyejerry.blogspot.com/
Jim -
He was, in fact, speaking of Goehring, who had boasted of his use of undocumented labor. Cook Political Report reported last October:
You think Harmer’s the establishment candidate? I’m not so sure. He’s got a lot of mormon support and not much else from what I can tell. If it comes down to Harmer and McNerney then McNerney and Garamendi can high-five each other in the halls each day for the next 2 years.
Here’s what we know:
(1) According to Charlie Cook, each announced candidate in October was considered flawed and national Republicans were unable to determine who to get behind.
(2) Harmer claims national Republicans reached out to him to run likely because…
(3) Harmer is the only candidate among those in the Republican field that’s ever ran for office. Goehring, Beadles, Emken, Takada, and Amador are all novices.
The reason why it comes down to Harmer and Goehring is because Harmer has established financial support that got him to an election. He’s won a race before — the CA-10 GOP primary. Goehring has shown he’s willing to drop large amounts of his own wealth into the race. Nobody else comes close in the money race and it appears unlikely they will.
Goehring’s challenge is to show he’s viable by raising money and to do that, he’d have to run as the candidate of the grassroots. Otherwise he’s just like the other candidates but with a checkbook.
The sleeper among “the rest,” I think, is Emken. She seems much more polished for a novice than the rest. Certainly more so than McNerney looked in his first campaign. She’s got her story with her message and doesn’t diverge much, but she needs to raise money to compete, otherwise the polish is a moot point.
Anyway, that’s my read of things having followed the candidates for several months.
Interesting, I appreciate the analysis. I can’t say I disagree much. Although listening to their statements (video posted online) It looks like the extent of Harmer’s support is Dean Andal and Wally Herger. Not sure if that counts as the establishment. We’ll see if McCarthy etc. line up behind him as well.
Hey Frank – see here for clarification on what was meant by the term “establishment” with regards to Harmer and his claims of encouragement to run for the seat by “prominent Republican leaders.”
That said, I think the dynamic described above is correct. We’ll see how it plays out.