OC Democrats need to go after the OC GOP Machine – NOW!

My friends at the Liberal OC put up a post today about a campaign training session being put on by Steve Young. I guess Young is running against U.S. Rep. John Campbell again. Nothing against Young, but I don’t see how he will pull that off. But more power to him.

HOWEVER – with the denouement of O.C. Chriss Street, it is in fact high time for the O.C. Democrats to pull it together and go after the O.C. GOP Machine. The problem is that they are inexplicably focused on taking out O.C. Supervisor Janet Nguyen.

Never mind the First District! Here is what the O.C. Democrats could do RIGHT NOW to make the county a lot less red:

1. Given that Assemblyman Jose Solorio has a safe seat – his campaign money ought to be available for other uses. He, along with the equally safe U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez and the safe for now State Senator Lou Correa each ought to pony up $50,000 and start a fund to take out the Reeps.

2. Next they need to put together a campaign that will feature a website and targeted direct mail and start taking advantage of the trouble facing Republicans including OC Treasurer Chriss Street; OC Sheriff Mike Carona; Assemblyman Van Tran (remember his indicted wife?); and U.S. Rep. Gary Miller. Am I forgetting anyone? Oh right, AUHSD Trustee Harald Martin is a bad Reep too. And so is the abominable Diane Harkey.

3. Give the campaign a theme – something biting – and then start an aggressive voter registration campaign. People are mad right now at the U.S. Congress – but they are mad at both parties. They are also very upset with President George W. Bush. The OC Democrats ought to focus on highlighting their ethical electeds, such as Lou Correa, Tom Daly, Katrina Foley, etc., and contrast them with the awful Carona, Street, Tran, etc.

4. Forget going after Campbell. Go after local offices that are winnable. And the Democrats need to unite and take out their embarrassing electeds in Santa Ana. They need to go after Miguel Pulido, Vince Sarmiento, Clownia Alvarez, and David Benavides and replace them with progressives who will fight for the people – not for corporate interests. If the Democrats do not run prog candidates for Santa Ana’s Ward 1 and 3 next year I will be terribly disappointed in them. Thank God Irene Ibarra has already announced for Ward 5!

5. I know the Democrats won’t like this – but I don’t think they ought to run Joe Dunn for the First District. They are going to have to spend a bundle to take out Supervisor Janet Nguyen, but she is proving to be a moderate Republican. Why take her out? Even if Dunn wins, he will be one Democrat on a GOP board. Ask Lou Correa how much fun that was! Instead, county Democrats could spend that money going after Van Tran, and going after local offices.

The local elections next year will feature great turnouts thanks to the presidential elections. Orange County Democrats should take advantage of this and really stick it to the Reeps. While they are at it, they need to stop supporting the OC GOP machine blog, Red County/OC Blog. Why feed the red beast? They already have a progressive blog over at Liberal OC. And they can read up on other local news here at the Orange Juice. Democrats should not reward the machine Reeps with their readership.

You don’t win in politics by doing business as usual. The OC Democrats have a chance to make big gains – but they need to get aggressive and stick it to the OC Reeps while the iron is hot, so to speak. Otherwise they will continue to be the lesser party in Orange County until local Latino voters finally come into their own and permanently change the area from red to purple.


About Admin

"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.