Republican Leads by 10 Points in California District that is 67% Hispanic: Canary in a coal mine

The Weekly Standard ^ | October 26, 2010 | John McCormack

[2ndDivisionVet]

A new SurveyUSA poll shows Democrat Jim Costa trailing Republican Andy Vidak by 10 points, 42% to 52%. Obama won the Fresno-based district with 60% of the vote in 2008, and Cook Political Report has the race rated "Leans Democrat."

An interesting fact from Cook (subscription required): "This district is now 67 percent Hispanic, but it also has a serious cultural conservative streak. Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban passed statewide [in 2008], garnered 72 percent of the vote here." The provision to fund abortion coverage in Obamacare is probably hurting Costa in this district--SurveyUSA reports that 56% of likely voters in the district are "pro-life" and 40% "pro-choice" (a third-party group recently hit Barbara Boxer in an ad for not representing "our values" on issues like abortion and marriage).

Polls like this one explain why Obama is explicitly urging Latinos to "punish" their "enemies" on Election Day. The bad news for Obama and Democrats like Jim Costa is that many Latinos oppose liberal policies.

[Frantzie]

ALL of TV anbd ALL of Hollywood confuses the public with lies, propaganda and brainwashing. TV is s**t all of it.

[TexasFreeper2009]

If hispanics turn on the democrats... expect the democrats to go nuclear on the hispanics.

Remember that the unions don't like the illegals to begin with.

[milagro]

Sad fact!

[Mr Inviso]

There are a couple factors involved in this one.

first: WATER!!!! Costa repeatedly stabbed his own district in the back on the water issue. Ag is pretty much the only real industry in this district. I think even the workers are getting it now. There has been a metric crap-ton of outreach to the Hispanics of the area on the water, including involving “their” politicians in public rallies, etc about the issue. Costa ran into trouble when he tried to address crowds on that.

Second, this is the first time that Costa has had a real opponent with real financing against him. He’s not really that good, and has a lot of skeletons in his past.

Third, this year is just going badly for the Dems, and he’s a supposed “Blue Dog”, or was, and so is not going to be a favorite of either side.

[JohnThune2012]

Does anyone really trust Callyfornia when it comes to Voter Fraud? Not Me!

[2ndDivisionVet]

Does anyone trust ___________ (fill in the blank) when it comes to voter fraud? Remember, the Democrats are everywhere!!

[ResearchMonkey]

The Central Valley isn't quite the same as the liberal bastions of California, we have a a strong conservative contingency .

The 20th district runs from Bakersfield to Fresno and west along the coastal mountains.


Water is huge issue here and Vidak will fight to get it back from the Delta Smelt.
Andy Vidak discussing Valley Water at the Kern Tea Party Tax Day event..

We went to Taft's Centennial "Oildelrado" celebration this week-end. I was pleased to 'Vidak' signs during the +60 mile trip and none for Costa.

[ResearchMonkey]

^oops^ correction~

I was pleased to see many ‘Vidak’ signs during the +60 mile trip and none for Costa.

(I was wrestling with some berry pie as was I typing that)

I’m not in Vidak’s district, I’m in the 22nd (K. McCarthy). We did do some local protesting at Costa’s local office though. ;)