Comments on: Blue America Welcomes Back Francine Busby (CA-50)

By: dakine01

dakine01 — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:03:34 +0000

Book Salon a couple of flights upstairs with Joel Berg’s All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? hosted by Robin Stelly

By: Teddy Partridge

Teddy Partridge — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:19:08 +0000

I’m in.

Good luck, Francine, and please keep us informed about your campaign. I look forward to another Blue America chat with you soon!

By: rwcole

rwcole — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:04:49 +0000

Cook reports that the 50th has only a three point republican registration advantage. Is that accurate in your opinion? It would seem important to know just how big a disadvantage you are facing. Three points doesn’t sound too bad!

By: Howie Klein

Howie Klein — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:02:26 +0000

Francine, thanks for spending the morning with us– and thanks for the frank answers to so many questions. Let’s stay in touch and make sure we keep abreast of developments down there. We’ll be looking forward to blogging with you again. Anyone who wants to donate to Francine’s campaign, or to volunteer, can do it here

By: FrancineBusby

FrancineBusby — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 20:00:31 +0000

This was a difficult decision to run again because for months all I heard was that I’d be on my own because the DCCC would focus all their energy on defending Dems in Republican districts. Since then I have more hope because of the press stories in Roll Call, the SF Chronicle and others that mention 8 districts in Calif. that will be targeted. These are the Districts where Obama won. I don’t know if Obama won in Bill Hedrick’s district, but his 48.8% finish in a grassroots $200,000 campaign has certainly caught their attention.

I expect to be well funded because I have developed relationships with thousands of supporters in this District who will support me. I am actually looking forward to getting on the phone and sharing all the good news with them. This has all changed in a few short weeks. And, of course it will likely change many times before Nov. 2, 2010. The good news is that we aren’t giving Bilbray a pass… we’ve moved mountains in the 50th and now it’s time to take the mountain!

By: Howie Klein

Howie Klein — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:50:08 +0000

With Debbie Wasserman Schultz and possibly Van Hollen wanting to spend all DCCC money on propping up the Republican-lite fake Democrats like Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith in Alabama and Travis Childers in Mississippi and Joe Donnelly in Indiana, can you expect much help from the DCCC? Last year they spent millions of dollars for Democrats who voted more with the GOP than with Democrats– creeps like Mahoney in Florida, Lampson in Texas and Cazayoux in Louisiana– and they lost those seats anyway and starved campaigns of real Democrats who might have otherwise won, like Hedrick and Durston here in California. You mentioned that you expect to be well-funded. How?

By: FrancineBusby

FrancineBusby — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:46:43 +0000

As someone mentioned, the 50th is an affluent District. We have not had the same level of foreclosures or loss of jobs as other areas. In fact during the war in Iraq, people here weren’t that upset because people here send their kids to college not war.

As far as the state budget is concerned, the biggest hit that I see will be in the schools. Along the coast parents raise a lot of money to pay for extras, now they may be raising money to pay for the basics including small class sizes. Our cities were really on edge before the budget passed because Sandag an other entities were about to shut down ongoing projects that would have wasted millions of dollars between shuttin them down and starting them up again.

So far the stimulus money that I know of in San Diego County has gone to health clinics in Vista, Escondido and San Diego. These do not generally serve the more affluent voters so they may not feel the benefit of those. Highway 76 has been on the books and a great disappointment for years. That will finally be finished, but it is in the 49th not 50th District. The biggest impact on the 50th will be the infusion of millions of dollars in the new stem cell research institute on Torrey Pines Mesa and the millions of dollars for Bio tech, clean tech and high tech that our start ups and larger enterprises are well poised to compete for in the form of grants. They should bring welcome relief to entrepreneurs who are caught in the credit crunch.

By: FrancineBusby

FrancineBusby — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:39:02 +0000

I welcome your support. It’s our job to educate people and motivate them to vote by convincing that it really matters. When people are feeling vulnerable, they become much more aware of the impact that policy decisions have on their lives. It’s a good time to be running as a Democrat because we are responding to their anxieties and concerns with concrete solutions. Just a few short years ago, hopeful politicians actually changed party affiliattion to become Republicans because running as a Democrat was political suicide. I’ve worked hard to change that along with many wonderful activists who believed that we could do it. Hopefully we will reap the rewards of our efforts and the extraordinary success of Obama’s campaign and his legend-in-the-making presidency.

By: LucasOConnor

LucasOConnor — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:38:38 +0000

How have you seen the consequences of the state budget crisis impact the 50th district, and how, in your opinion, does that influence the role of federal stimulus funds now and going forward?

By: rwcole

rwcole — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 19:34:19 +0000

Best of luck Francine. I suppose that most successful runs against incumbents make the incumbent the issue. Happy hunting. Hope you get the fucker and I’ll be glad to help!