Every State. Every race. Right here.

This is number 15 in a planned series of 50 entries between now and November, looking at each of the 50 states in terms of every race on that state's ticket--Presidential, Gubernatorial, Senate, House, State legislatures--the whole list of Oscar nominees.  Special attention paid to identifying and promoting the most important contests per state.

California, Part Two (Southern Cal House Districts, and Redistricting plan) continues below the cut.

It’s been a ride I never expected to take but I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I may do it again in 2010, this time armed with a much better appreciation of what it takes to get a message to the voters.

The disappointment was with me late Tuesday night as we watched the results from the first polling places come in off the loading docks of the Orange County Board of Elections and display on the web.

I had visited maybe 15 polling places during the day to thank the poll workers and ask how things were going. At every polling place the workers said it was slow. One woman told me that it was the lowest turnout she’d seen in 15 years of working at the polls.

The relief at first from the constant worry over money and begging people for more led to excitement over the opportunities the run for Congress has created. It’s been up and down since.

Last night I spoke briefly at the local DFA meeting and I felt a twinge of sadness at not winning. I wanted to represent them and help get their message out to American. I now realize there are other ways I can do that.

Results are finalized in the Western states now, of course:

California

CA-04: Conservative Icon Tom McClintock beat Doug Ose by a fairly comfortable margin, 54% to 39%, after a nasty primary (McClintock's races generally are nasty).

The Conservative Icon now faces down Democrat Charlie Brown, who nearly won the district in 2006 against the scandal-ridden John Doolittle. McClintock is an unabashed extremist, and carpetbagged 400 miles to run in this district, and I am certainly glad that he and not Ose is the nominee against Brown.

CA-26: After an embarrassing primary loss in 2006, Russ Warner has redeemed himself with a commanding victory over 2006 candidate Cynthia Matthews. Warner enjoys the backing of the national and state Democratic establishments, and faces powerful Republican David Dreier in the general.

CA-24: Both Jill Martinez and Mary Pallant wound up on the losing end of this primary race, to Marta Ann Jorgensen.

CA-42: Kossack Ron Shepston sadly fell short in his bid for the Democratic nomination, as he finished third with 25%. Ed Chau will be the Democratic nominee against Gary Miller.

New Mexico

NM-Sen: With 99% of results in, it appears Steve Pearce has won a squeaker over Heather Wilson in the Republican primary for US Senate, 51% to 49%.

Democrat Tom Udall ran unopposed, and has a commanding lead over Pearce going into the general.

NM-01: Unsurprisingly, Democrat Martin Heinrich and Republican Darren White are the nominees in New Mexico's First District.

White is one of the Republicans' best recruits this cycle. That usually isn't saying much, but there's a tough race ahead for Heinrich. Best of luck to him.

NM-02: Democrat Harry Teague, backed by Bill Richardson, narrowly won his primary over Bill McCamley. He faces GOP nominee Ed Tinsley in the general, and he has been quoted pretty good odds despite the district's Republican tilt.

NM-03: In this solidly Democratic district, Ben Ray Lujan won the nomination over Don Wiviott, and will almost certainly be the district's next Representative.

Montana

No one was expecting fireworks in Montana's downticket primaries, but it seems that things have gone rather awry.

The Republican nominee against Sen. Max Baucus is a perennial candidate who makes John McCain look like a kid. More on this from Georgia10.

Meanwhile, the Democratic nominee against Rep. Denny Rehberg is...well, a perennial candidate who makes McCain look like a kid. His name is John Driscoll, and he did serve as Montana House Speaker...back in the 1970s.

Somewhere, the ghost of Fred Tuttle is smiling.

South Dakota

As expected, State Rep. Joel Dykstra will be the man who goes down to a crushing defeat at the hands of Senator Tim Johnson.

Race tracker wiki: NM-Sen NM-01 NM-02 NM-03 CA-04 CA-24 CA-42 MT-Sen MT-AL SD-Sen

But, it's not who you think.

First off, this one did hurt.  Kossack Ron Shepston (CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream) finished third in the CA-42 primary, finishing behind a virulent anti-immigrant Minuteman-type guy who for some reason filed as a Democrat, and eventual winner Ed Chau.

But in a turn of events even us bloggers weren't expecting, Kossack Marta Jorgensen (pcmedia) won her 3-way primary race in CA-24!  (She had originally announced her campaign on DailyKos back in March.)

All eyes are on South Dakota (pop. ~792,000) and Montana (pop. ~992,000) today.  That is probably inevitable.  We wonder whether Obama will have enough superdelegates to declare victory outright this evening, what he will say, whether what he says will upset Hillary, what she is going to do in New York -- and unless you are actually in those states or on the phone making calls or a Clinton confidante, there's really nothing you can do about it.

But a lot of you out there can do something in California, where we are also having a primary today.

For one thing, you can vote NO on Prop 98 and YES on Prop 99, to foil landlords' schemes to stick it to renters.

And, if you live in CA-42 (pop. ~639,000), you can vote for a longtime fellow Kossack, Ron Shepston in his contested primary for Congress.  Today is the day -- get out and vote!

The turnover on this website of late is so high that many of you are probably unfamiliar with Ron Shepston, who has for the past year used the Ron Shepston for Congress account.  Perhaps fewer of you remember when he was a frequent contributor here, starting in 2004, under the handle CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream.  Ron is a longtime Koster/Kossack, excellent on the issues that most of us care about, and tomorrow he will face his first electoral contest: a primary for CA-42.

I was working in Ron’s campaign from the start through the end of last year and still participate as an occasional volunteer, small donor, sometime writer/editor, and sometime advisor.  Ron’s "brain trust" includes many familiar names from this site: thereisnospoon, hekebolos, and dday among them.

Today, I don’t speak for the campaign, though I’m making calls tonight and tomorrow once I’ve posted.

I just want to tell you why I voted for Ron, and why – if you’re one of the (statistics would suggest) large number of people reading this who live in CA-42 – you should do so too.

If you live in the Greater Los Angeles area -- especially in Orange County, western Riverside or San Bernardino Counties, or even San Diego County, you will want to know about this:

Ambassador Joe Wilson -- who went to Africa prior to the Iraq War to investigate rumors that Iraq was trying to acquire yellowcake uranium, bravely told the story publicly of what he did not find in Africa, and was rewarded with the Administration blowing his wife's deep cover as an agent monitoring Iranian nuclear weapons activity -- is coming to town.  He wants to meet with people like you.

This event is a fundraiser for the candidacy of longtime Koster Ron Sheptston (the once and future CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream, who is running for Congress against the ethically challenged Rep. Gary Miller (R-Housing Crisis.))  Tickets start at $35.  See a disclaimer and more information about the event after the fold.

We can talk about "unity" -- but the meaning of that word varies depending on the reader. I want to drive home the meaning for you, to tap into the energy and synergy that comes from people striving for a common goal. In the netroots, I'm sure a lot of people will assume that I mean unity of the Presidential candidates.

That is part of it. Click on the picture to sign our pledge for unity.

(Misha, me & Dave in front of Democratic Party Of Orange County banner. We will be adding LA and San Bernardino Counties)

But we want to go further than that. We want to take this beyond gimmicks. We want to take this beyond cliche'. As my friend Dallasdoc says "Think movement".

This campaign has never been about me. It's been about all of us coming together to change the face of American politics to make the changes we know need to be made.

(So I do these every month for Calitics, but it occurs to me that I've never cross-posted it here.  So, um, here.)

Getting this one in under the wire.  On the last day of April, with just over a month to go until the June primaries, and six months to go until Election Day, there's a lot going on all over the state in the Congressional races.  Of the 19 seats in California currently held by Republicans, 17 will be contested in the fall, and some strongly so.  And we now have a full 34 Democrats with the election of Jackie Speier early in the month, and only one of them is a serious challenge.  We also have the first quarter of 2008 fundraising numbers, which will raise some eyebrows.  You can track these races yourself with the 2008 Race Tracker wiki.

A note: I'm mainly getting my numbers on cash-on-hand competitiveness from the Swing State Project.  Fundraising information comes from the FEC.

Here we go...

I took time out from my Sunday call time to go to the Obama Delegate Selection Caucus for the 42^nd Congressional District and support those running. I'm glad I did for more than a few reasons.

What I first took as an personal obligation to help build the Democratic brand in Orange County and win a few votes turned into a lot of fun and an energy boost that'll serve me well.

Before we take the jump I want to revisit my post from yesterday. It scrolled off the page pretty fast but I'm grateful that it was rescued. That helped. When you finish this please take a look at it and help out a long time fellow blogger who came from the community to run for Congress. I can't do this without you; my campaign is not about me. It's about all of us coming together to make the changes we know need to be made.

My ask: click this link and be a part of the movement joining the netroots with the grassroots. Check out my endorsement page. I'm proud of them all. And yes, that is the Ambassador Joe Wilson.

One of our own. With a kick-ass logo, and a wonderful voice.
Go, Rec. Donate. Ask him questions, lend your support however you can.

Update: Ron's diary has slid off the list, with 19 comments.
What a shame!
How many candidates ask for money, and break down their projected expenses for you to see?

Honestly, I can't do this without you.

From the beginning, this campaign has been about the netroots taking the next step to becoming the mainstream. You've been fantastic, but we need more if we are to win the primary. If we implement the plan below we will win and set the stage to win in November. We need to make a lot of noise and talk to a lot of people. Not enough people know about us and even fewer understand why we are doing this.

Without the money, there is no campaign - so I'm not going to beat around the bush.  We need money; we need it now. We need your help.  If you believe in candidates emerging from the netroots, like I know you do, then please contribute.

Click on this button to go to ActBlue.


Jump below for a story and some details on how your money will be spent.

California's delegate-selection caucuses take place this Sunday.

The short story is: I support Dave Walsh in CA-42 and Elyssa Fox in CA-48.  That matters for residents of those districts.  The longer story is one that should matter to everyone.

Leading up to the California primary, I was a Barack Obama Precinct Captain (for two precints) in Orange County, CA.  In the months since then, I have continued making calls to competitive states for him.  I'm writing because the delegate selection for California is this weekend -- and it's yet another moment when Hillary can snatch away the race from Obama.  I want to sound the alarm on how this could happen and offer a concrete step for how at least the Californians here can stop it.

Here's the problem: we're electing pledged delegates to the national convention -- people who, as Hillary has noted, can change their minds and vote for whomever they want to on the first ballot -- and in many cases we voters don't know squat about who they are.  It's incredible.  It's crazy.

This Sunday, we could be electing delegates whom we can't trust to support our candidate.

I met Darcy Burner for the second time last night.

It was pretty exciting, meeting a future president.  If you have to ask why I would say that, why, then, you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Darcy Burner.  

Yeah, I like the Wilson Pickett song, but I certainly don't want to see it applied to our actions now, especially today or tomorrow.

Tomorrow is March 31, the end not only of the month, but also of the quarter for FEC reporting.  And if you have been thinking about making a contribution to a House or Senate candidate, the hour is getting short, hence my title.

In the heat of the battle for the presidential nominee, efforts to draw attention to our worthy Congressional candidates often go somewhat unnoticed, as perhaps happened with my diary yesterday on Tom Perriello, a very good candidate in the 5th CD of Virginia.  There have been front-page stories about some of our candidates.  I'd like to use this diary to mention a few more.

(Dday here.  I have just begun working as Ron Shepston's netroots coordinator.  Ron has written this post to discuss his support for the Responsible Plan.  He's in a contested primary and needs your help to continue the leadership he's shown in supporting this plan all the way to Congress.  Please consider making a donation to his campaign today.)

I was working in Brisbane, Australia on 9/11. I’d long past gotten over jet lag but something woke me in the middle of the night. When I turned on the TV to CNN International and saw the graphic “America Under Attack” my first thought was that it was simply more media over-the-top hype. As I watched, I saw that was not the case and my anger grew at whoever it was who attacked us. I’d never felt so much anger in my life and I doubt that ever will again. I called friends and family to “be” with them, but I knew that I couldn’t, not only because of the distance, but because all air travel was suspended.

Last week, I called on Rep. Gary Miller to reimburse the taxpayers $1.28 million for an earmark that he placed in the 2005 Highway bill.  You can read the release here.

We got some great folks to pick it up and write about it in the netroots.

The liberal O.C. posted thisstory.

Down with tyranny had this to say.

The good folks at Calitics put it on the front page.

Thanks for posting and we are working to get more folks to pick it up.  If you can, please contribute now to keep the momentum going.

Gary Miller is the incumbent Republican in California's 42nd district.  He's not my congressman but he does actually share part of the 33rd district of the State Senate where Gary, my husband is the Democratic Candidate.

So what's the big deal?  Well,Republican Rep Gary Miller thought it would be a good idea to use his Congressional powers to get 1.28 million dollars in earmarks for road improvements to a development he actually co-owns.  Yes.

"Gary Miller should reimburse the taxpayers for earmarks that help his personal business," said Shepston. "Like almost everyone else in this country, I work hard, pay my taxes and worry about my financial future. I don’t think my tax dollars should be used to personally enrich Gary Miller and his biggest campaign contributor."