CA: Matsui takes huge early lead in House race

Monterey Herald ^ | 3/8/05 | Jim Wasserman - AP

[NormsRevenge]

SACRAMENTO - Doris Matsui, the widow of the late U.S. Rep. Robert T. Matsui, took a huge early lead Tuesday night in the race to fill the remainder of the term left vacant when Robert Matsui died Jan. 1.

A victory by Doris Matsui, a lobbyist and former Clinton White House official, would make her the nation's 45th congressional widow since 1923 to assume the seat of her late husband.

She would be the third to win in California under such circumstances since 1998.

With the early absentee votes counted, Matsui had 72 percent of the overall and 91 percent in the Democratic primary in a race marked by low turnout. If Matsui receives at least 50 percent of the vote Tuesday, she will win the seat outright and not face a runoff in May.

The vote followed a seven-week campaign that quickly cleared the field of major Democratic challengers to Matsui, then pitted her massive fund-raising lead and Washington experience against two fellow Democrats, five Republicans and candidates from the Green, Libertarian and Peace and Freedom parties.

Robert Matsui, 63, who represented the Sacramento-area 5th Congressional District for 26 years, died at Bethesda Naval Hospital of complications from a rare bone marrow disease. He was the third-ranking Democrat on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee and the party's leader in opposing President Bush's plan to partially privatize Social Security. Matsui won national acclaim for 1988 legislation that apologized and made reparations for the World War II internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans in internment camps.

Doris Matsui, 60, announced her candidacy 12 days after his death and raised nearly $700,000 within six weeks during political events in Washington, D.C. and Sacramento. Her donors included congressional Democrats, unions, trade groups, Washington-based political action committees and former Clinton administration officials.

A lobbyist with the Washington law firm, Collier Shannon Scott, she received individual contributions of $2,000 from Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry; $1,000 from former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; $1,000 from former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt and $5,000 from EMILY's List, a national fund that supports women in politics.

She also raised large amounts of cash from Sacramento's Democratic establishment, including nearly $20,000 from people associated with the region's largest land development firm. Matsui's ties to the firm, AKT Development Corp., raised one of the campaign's most prominent issues. Matsui was forced to defend a $150,000 investment in the firm's real estate ventures that quickly doubled her money.

Matsui's fund-raising and the blitz of television commercials it fueled in the race's closing weeks also prompted criticism from other candidates that she tried to "buy" her late husband's seat. Her nearest fund-raising rival, Julie Padilla, a Democratic activist who advocated the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, raised $29,000.

Californians have twice recently elected congressional spouses to their husband's seats, in 1998 choosing Santa Barbara-area Democrat Lois Capps to succeed her husband, Walter, and Palm Springs Republican Mary Bono to replace her husband, Sonny.

Matsui's campaign issues included federal support for stem cell research and opposition to President's Bush's plans to revamp Social Security. She also sounded themes familiar from her husband's 14 campaigns, calling for improved flood control and expanded transit service in Sacramento.

[NormsRevenge]

A victory by Doris Matsui, a lobbyist and former Clinton White House official, would make her the nation's 45th congressional widow since 1923 to assume the seat of her late husband.

She would be the third to win in California under such circumstances since 1998.

[ambrose]

off topic,but:

the CA Sec of State website has been scrubbed of any reference of 'ol Shelley...

[LdSentinal]

In case anybody is interested, here's the link to the LA mayoral race. Slow returns.

http://cityclerk.lacity.org/clk/election/Results.htm

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks for the info.

One down.. and many more scoundrels&scalawags to go. :)

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks!

[Righty_McRight]

Riding a coffin into office makes me uneasy.

[ElectionTracker]

At least she didn't inherit his seat automatically like someone else who shall remain nameless.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

She wants a share of the profits???

[NormsRevenge]

Matsui was forced to defend a $150,000 investment in the firm's real estate ventures that quickly doubled her money.

She sure has the Hildebeast's cattle futures 'Midas' touch.. ;)

[NormsRevenge]

Sacramento County
Congressional District 5
Special Election
Tuesday, March 8, 2005

http://www.saccounty.net/elections/ENG/election-info/results/2005/03/elections-results.html

[Carry_Okie]

A victory by Doris Matsui, a lobbyist and former Clinton White House official, would make her the nation's 45th congressional widow since 1923 to assume the seat of her late husband.

This is one aspect of American politics I'll never understand.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Not even close.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LA Mayors Race is damn close :

CITY OF LOS ANGELES
ELECTION NIGHT RESULTS (UNOFFICIAL)
MARCH 8, 2005

Hahn at 29 % , two other candidates at 25%.