LAT: Where did the party's love go?
Cut adrift in Republican territory by the Democratic machine, Francine Busby nevertheless soldiers on against incumbent Brian Bilbray in San Diego County's 50th House District race.
By Tony Perry, Times staff writer
November 3, 2006
....As her party's choice to grab the vacancy created when Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-Rancho Santa Fe) resigned last year and was imprisoned for bribery, Busby was lavished with help from fellow Democrats.
The national party rushed the district money, advice, consultants and prominent personages to help in fundraising and media coverage....
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Now Bilbray and Busby are fighting for a full two-year term in Tuesday's election....The national party is providing none of the money and other assistance it lavished in the June runoff. Busby waited until 10 days before the election to air a television commercial.
Still, she soldiers on, believing that voters in the suburban district north of San Diego are soured on the war in Iraq (she opposed the invasion), are distrustful of Republicans on issues such as Medicare and offshore oil drilling and are still not convinced that Bilbray, whose prior district was to the south, is really one of them....
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Busby does not discourage easily. She was defeated by Cunningham in 2004 and signed up for a rematch even before scandal erupted over the former Navy pilot's taking bribes from defense contractors.
Doubters see her 45% as a ceiling for Democrats in the district, noting that it's the figure that John Kerry received in the 50th District as the Democratic presidential candidate in 2004. Busby disagrees.
"We exploded the myth that this was some sort of safe Republican seat," she said....
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-fifty3nov03,0,1644163.story?coll=la-home-local
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