08/17/2002 Archived Entry: "Gerrie Schipske vs Dana Rohrabacher-- Taliban Fallout"
Here's one I've kept on the House 2002 Forecast as a potential takeover, due to nothing in particular, and it's one of those which probably won't make the cut, unless....
Rohrabacher has had to slowly shed his extreme conservatism in recent years, as his district has become not so quite extreme. Rohrabacher even endorsed Riordan in the GOP Gov primary against Simon. Due in part to this adjustment of positioning, he came close to having an inland primary contender from the right this year, but staved it off. Schipske just barely lost to Horn in 2000, in a district that centered on South Bay, LA. Her home, in Long Beach, is firmly in the center of the 46th Congressional District. The throw-back Rohrabacher is still favored, due mainly to being the incumbent. If he retires during this decade the seat could be taken over by Democrats-- especially if the GOP goes for a wingnut in the primary. The bombshell that Rohrabacher Secretly Met Taliban Prior to 9/11 has given Schipske an opening. As of late June, she didn't have over $100K in cash, but Rohrabacher only held $144,900, so she can make-up the difference. Josh Marshall has had a number of stories on this over the past few days. Schipske is still a longshot in the race (Bush took the district by nearly 10% over Gore/Nader), and most of those others on the list are not in competitive races. One of those Marshall lists is Rep. John E. Sununu (R-NH). I would think Smith will be onto this if it sticks. The original story was covered nationally by the AP, I haven't seen anyone other than Marshall doing follow-up work on this, and that could be due to the bipartisan nature of the delegation that potentially could have met with the Taliban officials. Also, no-one wants to talk about it, least of all, Rohrabacher and Sununu.
Replies: 1 Comment
Rorbacher ought to be arrested and tried for his law breaking negotiations with the Taliban.
In lieu of this and old fashioned whipping at the polls seems the only alternative.
Posted by TOM @ 08/19/2002 01:58 PM PST
