Just a brief recap of what happened last night on the election front: In Wisconsin, the recall elections kicked off with primaries in 6 races, all of which are seats held by Republican incumbents being recalled. As you may know, Republicans ran “Democrats” in all six races against the official Democratic challengers, in an effort [...]

I haven’t commented on today’s special election in CA-36, my home district, but I’m so amused by these previews from the national media that I’m compelled to respond. To get you up to speed, the race pits Janice Hahn, the establishment LA City Councilwoman and labor-backed candidate, against Craig Huey, a tea partier and direct [...]

When Stephen Colbert’s SuperPAC was granted the ability to form last week, you could be forgiven for assuming that “SuperPAC” was some term Colbert invented to show the superiority of his independent expenditure group over everyone else’s. But no, the SuperPAC is a new term of art to describe a new kind of political action [...]

Democrat Janice Hahn’s campaign for the House of Representatives against Republican Craig Huey, which takes place July 12, has mostly been waged on the territory of social issues. Hahn has delivered a selection of TV ads and mailers citing Huey’s opposition to abortion and his naming of Planned Parenthood as a “murder mill.” And an [...]

Last night, in a mild upset, self-funded Republican businessman Craig Huey is headed to the runoff as of right now in the special election in CA-36, the first under the new “jungle primary” rules. With all precincts reporting, LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn took 24.7% of the vote, with Huey at 21.9%, beating Secretary of [...]

I don’t know that anything has the potential to galvanize public opinion on the forgotten war in Afghanistan. But if there’s anything out there, the ambush of nine boys collecting firewood would qualify. Via MaddowBlog, here’s the revolting account. The only survivor, Hemad, 11, said his mother had told him to go out with other [...]

California Democratic Party Chair John Burton sent a courtesy letter to delegates of the party letting them know that Jane Harman has resigned from Congress, and he broke some news in the process: As of the sending of this email, the only candidate that has officially informed the California Democratic Party that they are running [...]

LA City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has entered the race in CA-36 to replace the retiring Jane Harman. Hahn, 58, represents a good part of the district on the City Council. She last ran for this seat in 1998, when Harman left to pursue a race for Governor of California. Not only was Harman unsuccessful, so [...]

I’m about to be without Congressional representation. Jane Harman will announce tomorrow that she will leave Congress to head up the Woodrow Wilson Center, a think tank in Washington formerly chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton. In a note to supporters, Harman says that she would “remain in Congress for some weeks,” but would have [...]

Jane Harman is an eight-term member of Congress. Though she has faced primary challenges in the past, she’s fairly entrenched in the district. This year, against progressive anti-war activist Marcy Winograd, she has spent twice as much as her opponent (about 1/3 of her money has come from PACs) and has the name ID and [...]

I live in the 36th District here in California, where we have a primary election for Congress between Rep. Jane Harman and progressive challenger Marcy Winograd. I’m squarely in Winograd country – there’s a yard sign every other house – but that’s not necessarily representative of the district at large. So I’ve been wondering just [...]