Free Republic

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,...

SAN DIEGO - Eighteen candidates in a solidly GOP district on the Southern California coast competed in a special election Tuesday for the congressional seat once held by Randy "Duke" Cunningham, now in prison for bribery. Brian Bilbray, a former congressman-turned-lobbyist who was the choice of the GOP establishment; Republican businessman Eric Roach, who spent $1.8 million of his own money; and Democrat Francine Busby were considered the front-runners. Cunningham represented the House district from 1993 until he resigned in disgrace late last year. In March, the former Vietnam War fighter ace was sentenced to more than eight years in...

Lobbyist Jack Abramoff and former California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham are among the many Republicans whose ethical misconduct have prompted Democratic strategists to conclude that the Republican-run Congress has fostered a “culture of corruption.” But in the run-up to an April 11 special election in California’s 50th District, which Cunningham vacated after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, it is a Democrat — Francine Busby, an educator and school board trustee — who has had to defend herself against Republican attempts to link her to lobbyists. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) this week unleashed a television attack on Busby,...

E-mail article April 11 could be do-or-die for Francine Busby. The Democratic congressional candidate appears to have a slim chance to win a majority in next week's special election to replace former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham. But she would be a heavy underdog in a runoff as GOP voters unite around a single candidate. Democrats now are looking to the special election as a potential bellwether. If Busby pulls off an upset next week, it may be a harbinger of a rough political season for congressional Republicans. The race in San Diego's 50th District has been watched closely because of...

Howard Kaloogian is one of those rare politicians who may have spent more time in the public eye since leaving office than he did while he was in it. Since being termed out of his San Diego-area Assembly seat in 2000, Kaloogian has had a hand in some of the more visible conservative media efforts in recent years. The organization he founded, Move America Forward, has made headlines with campaigns that took on liberal icons such as Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore. Republican political consultant Mark Bogetich, who counts himself as a philosophical supporter of many of Move America Forward's...

Important Information for the Special Congressional Election on April 11 4/5/06 2:02 PM NRA-ILA This Tuesday, April 11th, there is a special election to nominate candidates to succeed former Representative Duke Cunningham in the 50th congressional district of California. We have been receiving inquiries about the position on gun control by candidates in this open seat race. As you consider which candidate to support in this special election on April 11, we hope that this information about some of the candidates will be timely and helpful to your decision and voting. NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION INSTITUTE FOR LEGISLATIVE ACTION While the...

SACRAMENTO – During his congressional campaign, Howard Kaloogian has portrayed himself as an aggressive conservative willing to go the extra mile, or in this case, 7,000 miles, to show that the war in Iraq is going well. But a funny thing happened on the way back from Baghdad – at least according to Kaloogian: His group stopped in Istanbul, their pictures got confused and now he's at the center of a national Internet photo scandal. For weeks, Kaloogian's campaign Web site featured a photo of a peaceful city block to help make his case that things are going well in...

Some people have a knack for being in the right place at the right time – Francine Busby might just make a career of it. Two years ago, she was a no-chance Democrat who agreed to run in a heavily Republican congressional district – against a wildly popular Republican incumbent and war hero – because no one else would. Few paid attention to the self-described soccer mom whose eight-year career in the travel industry ended in 1981, and whose political career amounted to winning a school board seat in a two-school district. National Democratic Party committees didn't give her money....

The 50th Congressional District is boiling over. Happy days are here again for broadcast media, which are fattening up on campaign ads. In the stretch run of the race to replace Randall Harold Cunningham,it's difficult to keep up with the scandals, peccadilloes and pratfalls. A quick and dirty summary of the most recent eruptions involving the supposed front-runners: IT'S MY PARTY AND I CAN RUN AWAY FROM IT IF I WANT TO – Buoyed by one poll that has her within striking distance of the magical 50 percent, a margin that would give her the Republican seat outright, Democrat Francine...

WASHINGTON – The San Diegans whom Brian Bilbray hopes to represent in the 50th Congressional District are a different bunch than those he represented during the six years he served on Capitol Hill. But should this former mayor and county supervisor return to Washington, few expect his focus to change much. More likely than not, the South Bay-spawned Republican would remain the hard-line border enforcer, the environmental advocate who battles Mexican sewage, and the guy on whom the GOP can usually depend when it comes to defense votes, but not when it comes to social issues. “Brian is his own...

SACRAMENTO – During his congressional campaign, Howard Kaloogian has portrayed himself as an aggressive conservative willing to go the extra mile, or in this case, 7,000 miles, to show that the war in Iraq is going well. But a funny thing happened on the way back from Baghdad – at least according to Kaloogian: His group stopped in Istanbul, their pictures got confused and now he's at the center of a national Internet photo scandal. For weeks, Kaloogian's campaign Web site featured a photo of a peaceful city block to help make his case that things are going well in...

SAN MARCOS ----- There's been a deluge of TV advertising, extensive newspaper and TV coverage and one candidate forum after the other. And yet, one can only wonder how many voters have had the time or energy to educate themselves on the qualifications, political beliefs and personalities of all of the 18 candidates in the running for the 50th District Congressional seat formerly held by disgraced Republican Randy "Duke" Cunningham. With less than three weeks until the April 11 special election to pick a temporary replacement for Cunningham, the latest opportunity for voters to get to know the candidates came...

Yes, we've been here before. An elected San Diego politician resigns. A special election is called. Candidates (many of whom no one has really heard of) come out of the woodwork to run for the unexpectedly open seat. Ballot-tested – and weary – veteran San Diegan voters trot to the polls once more. The big question this time around is exactly just how much history will repeat itself when it comes to filling Randy “Duke” Cunningham's tainted shoes. The race to replace in the 50th Congressional District seems to be playing out a lot like last year's mayoral contest in...

WASHINGTON – It has to be rough right now, being a lobbyist in the nation's capital. Perhaps it is also rough being Brian Bilbray. He's the congressman-turned-lobbyist-turn-ed-congressional candidate who must convince voters that he is part of the solution to the ethically challenged climate on Capitol Hill, rather than part of the problem. As tales of bribery dominate the headlines and lawmakers scramble to curb the influence lobbyists have on Congress, Bilbray finds himself unique among the 50th District candidates for his experience as a member of Congress, and as a lobbyist seeking to influence members. “If you're a lobbyist,...

In their battle to replace former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Republicans are embracing their party's ideals while distancing themselves from its record in Washington. As deficits balloon and scandals multiply under a Republican-controlled Congress, these candidates are touting independence over party loyalty and lashing out at the GOP as often as they criticize Democrats. Setting the tone is millionaire businessman Eric Roach, whose television commercials ask, “When did Congress begin losing touch?” “I think it began when Republicans quit being Republicans,” Roach answers in the ad. “You know, they were sent to Congress to bring the budget in balance, to...

NORTH COUNTY ---- For the last few months, Republican political consultants, campaign managers and others have been predicting the 50th Congressional District race to replace former U.S. Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham would turn into a mudslinging free-for-all. In the wake of Cunningham's resignation in November after pleading guilty to taking millions in bribes, the number of candidates grew to 14 as of late last week. And the more the competition increased, the more likely it became that dirty politics would come into play, those political observers predicted. It appears the pundits may have been right. In recent days, two so-called...

The irony is acute. Plus, it makes a cute lead. In 1993, Howard Kaloogian, a 32-year-old Carlsbad estate attorney, wrote a strongly worded letter to this newspaper correcting a reader's misleading take on the preamble to the Constitution. The passionate statement of bedrock conservative principle caught the eye of Bill Morrow, then the assemblyman representing the 73rd District, who called Kaloogian and suggested he run for an open Assembly seat in the 74th. A Reagan-adoring Republican with a razor-keen interest in politics, young Kaloogian took Morrow's advice and, to the shock and chagrin of GOP moderates, outpolled the crowded primary...

Former U.S. Rep Hopes to Return to DC to Tackle U.S. Immigration Policy By Chad Groening January 17, 2006 (AgapePress) - A former U.S. representative from California says the University of California System's policy of offering in-state tuition fees to illegal aliens is just one example of how many state institutions discriminate against U.S. citizens while favoring illegal immigrants with special benefits in violation of federal law. Republican Brian Bilbray is running for the 50th Congressional District seat vacated by Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Bilbray says he wants to return to Washington to straighten out what he sees as the mess...

CARLSBAD – Rep. Darrell Issa said Wednesday morning that he was endorsing former Republican congressman Brian Bilbray and will serve as his campaign chairman in the race to replace disgraced Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in the 50th District. Pointing out that his district, the 49th, is touched on all sides by the 50th, Issa, R-Vista, said he needs a partner in Washington D.C. who has the experience and integrity to get work done on behalf of the North County. "When you are looking for someone who is trusted and proven and who has been in the arena and has been...

SOLANA BEACH ---- A former National Football League defensive back and punt returner has entered the GOP sweepstakes to fill out the unexpired term of Randy "Duke" Cunningham. Scott Turner, 33, a political neophyte, made his announcement Tuesday from a makeshift lectern placed on the 50-yard line at Santa Fe Christian School's Beauchamp Stadium. Flanked by his wife, Robin, Turner said he's in the 50th Congressional District race despite naysayers who, he said, have told him he needs a Hail Mary-type completion to overcome his better-financed and more experienced rivals. "Many have already tried to dissuade me from one, running...