The runoff is in June.

Fixed.

Little Scotty Mac is blaming the media AGAIN for discovering more Bush lies.

Keep the heat on, Howard.

Where are the fighting Dems now?

There should be MASSIVE AND UNIFIED OUTCRY from the party with such an unrelenting voice that Bush himself is made to answer.

Murtha, Gore, Feingold, Kerry - somebody - get a damn microphone and demand an end to the idiocy.

Lies about bio weapons trailers today, nukes on Iran, America headed south and -

only the Busheviks would use nukes to save their asses. Please do not let it come to that!

Lots of opinions out there today on why Busby didn't avoid a runoff in June. Here's Hotline on Call's analysis:

Where's The Outrage?

[...]

Turnout was underwhelming yesterday in CA 50. And Spring Break notwithstanding, it comes on the heels of low voter participation in IL primaries (IL 06 specifically) a few weeks ago. Weather's the official explanation in IL.

But what if the "angry" voter is more "fed-up" than angry and decides to protest by not voting? (It's something Dem bloggers are fretting about ). Frankly, it's a strategy the GOP may prefer under these conditions. In CA 50, for instance, the NRCC attack on Busby was essentially, "she's just like any other politician" when it comes to ethics. The ad was designed to turn off casual voters so they'd stay home.

It seemed to work. The NRCC says they were trying to soften Busby for the runoff, but the timing and the cost of the buy suggest they feared she could have reached 50%.

In '92 and '94, angry voters made their voices heard. A "change" election is fueled by these voters, and if they stay home, it can re-level the playing field.

Hotline seems to concur with Kos' analysis:

Not enough voters voted for change and we'll have to do this again in June. Democrats need to be given a reason to vote so they turn out for Busby during the runoff. This is very much a winnable race. But like any such races, much depends on our ability to motivate and turnout our voters.

Republicans possess NO ETHICS when it comes to campaigning and even less when they are elected.

That point needs to made in every district, in every state across the country.

For example:

In the 19th Congressional District in New York, Sue Kelly votes to cut $12 billion from federal student loan programs -- as she's done three separate times -- and then makes a big show out of finding $1.14 million to help the Dutchess County Airport, it makes us wonder about Sue's real priorities.

While it is wonderful to bring some money back to the district, why has there been no money brought back for the students who need it to further their education.

Sue Kelly has no ethics. VOTE FOR JOHN HALL!!

Democrats have ethics!!!

Kos was crying about underwhelming turnout when 1/5 of the precincts were reported. I think he jumped the gun then, and I think all of these bloggers are jumping the gun now.

Not one poll ever had Busby above 50%. The highest poll was 47%, the one before that was 45%, and Busby ended up with 44%, and this is now before the provisional and absentee ballots have been counted. Therefore, I don't know why anybody expected anything better than she got based on the polls that were taken before the election.

Also, it was a special election. People are typically used to voting in November, and in order to bring people out in April, you have to climb an uphill battle. In a district that leans Republican, obtaining 44% of the vote, nearly 30% more than the next best candidate, is pretty impressive in a special election.

Overall, however, I think the reason people like Kos and others are up in arms is that it chips away at their own credibility, for they have worked incredibly hard for Busby as they did for Ciro Rodriguez and neither came out to as successful as they claimed they could be. In this specific race, they worked incredibly hard at the grassroots level but didn't get the voter turnout they wanted. You have to keep in mind that Kos is trying to sell his "Crashing the Gate" book about how grassroots is everything, and should the whole grassroots thing not work out as planned(as it apparently didn't in their minds with Busby), it's tough to sell books for plans that fail.

And your point is KDJ??

Scotty is crying over the media covering the fact a Pentagon field report transmitted to Washington on May 27, 2003 “had already concluded that the trailers had nothing to do with biological weapons.”

But what did Bush do:

On May 29, 2003, he said “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories.”

And scotty expects the media to apologize...BLAH!!

via Think Progress

As Chairman Dean pointed out the Busby WIN was a major victory for our side. California's 50th has been up until recently, a conservative stronghold considered unwinnable for any Dems. Now that Randy "Duke the Crook" Cunningham has been frog-marched off to jail for taking bribes and other crimes, the people of conscience in his district let it be known CLEARLY that they want change.

If you needed validation that Chairman Dean's 50 State Strategy is the right way for this party to go, there you have it!

You can whine about the turnout figures all you want (the national voting record STINKS) but fact is the people who voted are those who traditionally vote conservatively and they OVERWHELMINGLY chose progressive Democrat Francine Busby. It is a good day for us donkeys and don't you forget it!

Kos was crying about underwhelming turnout when 1/5 of the precincts were reported. I think he jumped the gun then, and I think all of these bloggers are jumping the gun now.

Not one poll ever had Busby above 50%. Therefore, I don't know why anybody expected anything better than she got based on the polls that were taken before the election.

Also, it was a special election. People are typically used to voting in November, and in order to bring people out in April, you have to climb an uphill battle. In a district that leans Republican, obtaining 44% of the vote, nearly 30% more than the next best candidate, is pretty impressive in a special election.

-KDJ

If you needed validation that Chairman Dean's 50 State Strategy is the right way for this party to go, there you have it!

You can whine about the turnout figures all you want (the national voting record STINKS) but fact is the people who voted are those who traditionally vote conservatively and they OVERWHELMINGLY chose progressive Democrat Francine Busby. It is a good day for us donkeys and don't you forget it!

-VannaB

So thank you KDJ and Vanna for reminding people of that and thank you for keeping the sprits on this blog optimistic and positive, b/c we apparently still have some pesstimists and naysayers on here that like crashing the party! This was a great election for us, we beat the strongest Republican opponet by thirty points in a strongly Republican district! Now, w/ all that momentum, we're in great shape for the main election in June! So keep the sprits up people!

And your point is KDJ??

Point is don't get upset just because some individuals in the San Diego area didn't rush to the polls and vote Democrat for the first time in their life in an election held seven months before they usually are.

Oh my I'm a-blushin Joe_U thanks for the kudos. Pessimism will sink this party, we have to keep fighting for what we believe in, no matter the difficulties because we are fighing for justice and peace. Both are noble goals dontcha think? Personally I think we'll win our country back a lot sooner than it took the GOP to steal it out from under us, (thanks to bloggers and grassroots activists). We should learn a lesson about complacency from that fact.

As Democrats, sometimes we tend to see things that aren't really there. And sometimes we lose extremely important seats that way. Francine Busby did not get more than half of Democratic registration in the District. The campaign made an aggressive new voter drive and had 30,000 more voters for a total of 137,000 registered Dems in the 50th. Her 44% majority coincides with exactly 44% of all registered Dems in the district. If conservatives were going to crossover and vote for her, they would have. It does not look like they did.

The total Republican turnout was very low for Repubs at 54%. They were disgusted but they didn't vote for her. They stayed home. Why? Because for that conservative district they view her as too liberal. Busby is in two more elections, the runoff and the primary (on the same day) and then if she wins the primary, she goes up against the Republican in November. Think for two seconds, that is THREE losses in a row for Democrats.

The other Democrat is also in the primary (sign up for one at the registrar, sign up for both). Chris Young, the other Democrat, had zero Democratic help. She had zero budget, she had no ads, and Busby's campaign tore down the few signs she had and still she beat 8 Republicans. Because there was such an aggressive get-out-the-vote campaign for Busby that told Dems to not vote for Chris Young, the Dems think all of her votes were crossover. Who knows?

Chris Young is a lifelong Democrat who appeals to conservative voters because she is fiscally conservative. She came within 230 votes of a Republican who had the endorsement of the most powerful conservative talk show host in San Diego.

If we Democrats were smart, if we were really keeping an eye on strategy, if we had someone in charge who could see the big picture, really look at the big picture, we would support Busby 1000% for the runoff BUT put Chris Young through as the nominee for November so we are not running the same old tired candidate who didn't win outright in April and lost in June. If Busby wins in June, then no problem, Young, steps aside.

We need a viable candidate to run in that area over the long summer, one that won't have lost four times by that point (Busby lost in 2004,too). Repubs will hit 3x loser hard against us. And they are going to hit Busby hard as the unqualified candidate in the runoff. Busby's charity work hasn't been long or especially stellar and the last time she had a real job was more than 20 years ago. They are coming for her. Young is a retired bank executive with a juris doctor. In a very conservative district, conservatives like her. Are we Democrats capable of long term strategy? Can we really look at the big picture and make the right choices for long term gain?

Bob Filner will have serious trouble in two years. His district is being developed at an astonishing pace, and as it builds out its registration is changing to red. The Repubs are prepping this young ex-Charger football player to likely take a very serious run at Susan Davis in two years. He could do well. We need to be more than the party cheering a candidate that won't win. We have to put forward candidates with crossover appeal.

Although we can hope for it, it is highly unlikely Busby will win against a Republican because she is perceived as too liberal. They are already calling Busby's picture in the paper her "Howard Dean" moment. I still don't understand why that was the end of Dean's campaign. But I know this much, they are viscious, they don't take prisoners and they are coming for Busby. Do we let them keep pounding her in San Diego and our party nationally for 6 months? Or do we give them someone else more qualified? Are we capable of long term strategy?

We need to make real long term plans for the summer of 2006 and the elections of 2008 in San Diego County. Our local Democratic leadership put forward Busby because she was in their clubs. She is not the most qualified candidate. She doesn't have good TVQ. Being at the clubs is neither a sound analysis nor a qualification for office. Are we going to let them keep calling us the lunatic fringe because we make poor choices for candidates? Republicans don't make these kinds of mistakes.