The Other McCain

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Democrat Janice Hahn’s Mother Dies on Eve of CA-36 Special Election
UPDATE: Poll Shows ‘Obama Fatigue’?

Posted on | July 11, 2011 | 28 Comments

Los Angeles Times:

Ramona Hahn, the wife of the late county Supervisor Kenneth Hahn and the mother of both former Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn and City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, died Monday at the age of 86.
Ramona Hahn’s death came toward the end of Janice Hahn’s race for Congress in Tuesday’s extremely contentious special election.

R.I.P.

UPDATE: Sacramento Bee:

“We understand that Janice needs to be with her family, but the campaign will move forward–as her mother would have wanted,” Hahn campaign advisor John Shallman said in a statement. “Ramona was very proud of and always supportive of Janice. She was looking forward to seeing her daughter sworn in as the next Congresswoman of the 36th District. We will work very hard to make that dream a reality.”

When Ladd Ehlinger Jr. called to tell me the news, my instant reaction was: “It’s over. Sympathy vote.” That’s a cruel, hard, cynical way to react to the death of someone’s 86-year-old mother, but politics is a cruel, hard cynical business.

The objective political reality is that the death of Ramona Hahn kills whatever hope there was that Republican Craig Huey could win this election. The local news broadcasts in L.A. tonight will feature stirring tributes to the life of Ramona Hahn, and it will be front-page news in tomorrow’s L.A. Times.

That’s just the way it is, and it would be dishonest to pretend otherwise.

UPDATE II: Now a Memeorandum thread.

UPDATE III: The Fightin’ Ewok:

But don’t throw in the towel — not a lot of public politicking was going to happen tonight, anyway. I hear it’s closer than advertised.
And see Turn Right for why this matters.

You can’t beat a Fightin’ Ewok. He doesn’t even know how to spell “defeat.” Mainly because he’s always been lousy at spelling, but . . .

UPDATE IV: Thanks to the reader who tipped me on an interesting item from a liberal poll about the CA-36 campaign:

Daily Kos/SEIU CA-36 Poll
Public Policy Polling, 619 Likely Voters, MoE 3.9%, July 8, 2011 – July 10, 2011
Do you approve or disapprove of President Barack Obama’s job performance?
ONLY 44 % Approve of Obama per liberal democrat poll in a Democrat +12 District & 64% voted Obama in 2008
Independent Approval of Obama @ 32%
Hispanic Approvalof Obama @ 44%
18 / 29 Approval of Obama @ 50%

Could it be that the failure of Obama to deliver on promises to his progressive base — as well as the moribund condition of California’s economy — has created “Obama fatigue” in CA-36?

If his approval number is only 44% in a district which he carried by 64% three years ago . . .

Well, it is a fact that Hahn’s cutthroat tactics against fellow Democrat Debra Bowen alienated many of Bowen’s liberal supporters:

“And [Hahn’s] campaign played rough with Debra Bowen,” Huey told HUMAN EVENTS, “and she has never endorsed Hahn in the runoff.”  The GOP hopeful went on to note that “we have more than 5,000 yard signs throughout the district, and many of them are in Democratic neighborhoods.” 

Not to encourage foolish hopes, but if Huey somehow wins this one, it would be a cataclysmic event.

UPDATE V: Linked by Penguin Pundit — thanks!

Category: California, Democrats, Election

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