Brian Bilbray PING!
How do they know for sure that the GOP nominee in the special election runoff will also win the primary election?
Devereux didn't rule out the possibility that Roach might attempt a write-in campaign in the June runoff if he finishes behind Bilbray.
Why bother with a write-in? If the writer, Allison Hoffman, had taken the time to check the Secretary of State's website here, she would have seen that Roach is among the 12 GOP candidates qualified for the Primary. All 12, plus 2 other Republicans, ran yesterday.
Maverick City Councilwoman Donna Frye's write-in bid for mayor in 2004 outpolled incumbent Dick Murphy, but a judge gave Murphy the victory when he tossed out more than 5,500 ballots on which voters wrote Frye's name but failed to darken the adjoining bubble.
Distortion. Frye tried to be a write-in candidate in a runoff election. She exhorted people to fill in the bubble and write in her name. She knew a voter's intent cannot be divined if they don't bother to mark the bubble. Also, what's the point of holding a runoff if new candidates can run in the runoff without competing (or spending money) in the first election?
What is more worrisome is the the candidates who didn't win this primary will still be on the ballot for the regular primary on June 6. So whoever won this primary (probably Brian Bilbray) will still be subject to negative ads by his Republican primary opponents.
This gives Francine Busby an opportunity she normally wouldn't have.
Fourteen Republicans. Whatta political party!!
The dem gets 44% and the highest finisher of the 14 Republicans gets 15%.
That has got to inspire great confidence in the minds of the party in California.