Jerry McNerney has done something remarkable - again.
In a long-time Republican-leaning district, as an incumbent congress person in an anti-incumbent wave of idiocy across the country - against all these political and cultural obstacles and more, McNerney seems to have pulled off a win against an opponent he was trailing less that three weeks ago by - get this - citing his opponents raving, anti-socialism, anti-public education values.
Current total:
Jerry McNerney (Dem) 82,124 47.5%
David Harmer (Rep) 82,003 47.5%
David Christensen (AI) 8,809 5.0%
Source: California Secretary of State election results web page.
121 votes. Yow. So, like, every vote counted.
In other words, the very type attacks that have been whipping right-wing furor for the past several years, the kind of rhetoric that has fueled the rise of Sarah Palin and has been keeping Rush on the air for decades, that rhetoric caused enough voters in a conservative district to stick with the democratic, liberal incumbent. Cries of "The Socialists Are Coming!!!" was deemed too nutty, or too dangerous, for a conservative district.
Of course, Jerry McNerney himself had to use it in an ad he put on the air in the final weeks. He had to actively campaign with it, not just hope enough people would notice. He couldn't be afraid to bring it up and attack his opponent with it. Every Democratic candidate still standing, and any future hopefuls, should take note. The lunatic, anti-socialist, right-wing rhetoric is a liability, even in a district that should have gone red.
We all owe McNerney a lot, for, as you recall, he unseated Richard Pombo back in '06, one of the most dangerous anti-environmentalist representatives and Tom Delay lap-dogs leftover in the Bush administration. The fact that McNerney's kept his seat for a third term - in this election - should tell us that we should keep an eye on him.
Here's the ad which got a lot of TV time in the last three weeks, which helped enough voters in CA-11 realize that teabaggers are not good representatives:
There are more, in a similar vein, but this was the one that ran most often during the final weeks, and was running when he turned the tide against Harmer.
Thank you CA District 11 voters!!! Especially those last 121 democrats who almost didn't bother to vote but who decided they should, in the end.