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Democrat early leader in special election to fill Cunningham seat

By ALLISON HOFFMAN - ap

http://www.bakersfield.com/119/story/45682.html

A school board member running for Congress led in early results Tuesday of a special election to fill the unfinished term of former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now in prison for bribery.

Democrat Francine Busby moved a step closer to the congressional office she first sought in 2004, when she lost badly to Cunningham. But the self-described soccer mom appeared to fall short of the majority she would need to stage an upset in California's 50th District, where Republicans outnumber Democrats 3-to-2.

In absentee voting, Busby had 27,332 votes, or 42 percent, to lead all 18 candidates in the nonpartisan, all-on-the-ballot format.

The two GOP front-runners were locked in a tight race. Lobbyist and former Rep. Brian Bilbray had a slight lead with 9,159 votes, or 14 percent, while Eric Roach, a political newcomer who spent $1.8 million on his own campaign, had 9,011 votes, or 14 percent.

If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote, the top finisher from each party competes in a June 6 contest for the eight months remaining on Cunningham's term - and then immediately begins campaigning for the November election.

Cunningham had represented the district from 1993 until he resigned in disgrace late last year. In March, he was sentenced to more than eight years in federal prison on charges of evading taxes and accepting $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.

"Career politicians are the ones ruining everything," said Juanita Velasco, a 55-year-old Democrat from Del Mar who voted for Roach. "They just keep writing the checks and we keep footing the bills."

John Towers, a 51-year-old Republican who also voted for Roach, said he felt betrayed not only by Cunningham, but by the policies of the Bush administration. "I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of Republicans are so disgusted they just stay home," said the college math instructor from Cardiff.

Turnout did appear especially light. Voters were scarce at a sampling of polling places in the wealthy coastal district Tuesday morning. Volunteers at a polling place in San Diego's Del Mar Heights neighborhood reported only 16 people had voted by lunchtime.

The campaign had turned sharply negative in the week before the election.

Bilbray, a surfer and one-time lifeguard, was attacked in a mailer from the California Republican Assembly, a grass-roots conservative group, that called him "a Democrat posing as a Republican." The Bilbray campaign attacked Roach as a mystery man trying to buy an election.

Former state Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian trailed with 4,824 or 7 percent of the vote. His campaign had struggled to regain its footing after bloggers discovered an embarrassing photo mix-up on Kaloogian's campaign Web site. Photos purportedly taken during Kaloogian's visit to Iraq of a tranquil Baghdad street scene had been taken in Istanbul, Turkey.

National Republicans poured some $300,000 during the campaign's final week into TV ads and mailers criticizing Busby for accepting donations from lobbyists and for voting to lay off teachers in 2003. Busby retaliated by noting that Cunningham had given $2,000 of his campaign funds to national Republicans before he headed off to prison.