Migden-Leno Endorsement Fight May Overshadow Bill Clinton Speech at California Democratic Party Convention Today

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Senate Democratic leadership rally around one of their own, despite record fine by Fair Political Practices Commission and incumbent trailing badly in polls

By Frank D. Russo

A bitter fight for the endorsement by the California Democratic Party between incumbent State Senator Carole Migden and challenger Assemblymember Mark Leno is shaping up to be the biggest battle at the state party convention being held in San Jose. The picture above is typical of what delegates and other other observers have seen over the last two days as they exit the convention floor.

The Democratic Senate leadership has pulled out all the stops to get Migden endorsed as dozens of Senate staffers, along with other supporters of hers, have been holding signs in meetings and the hallways urging that the party endorse her. Unfortunately, this is one of those incumbent protection moves, where challenges to an incumbent must be fought at all costs. Delegates appointed by Senators who would have supported Leno, the challenger, have been replaced by those loyal to Senator Migden.

Tempers flared last night at a dinner for Take Back Red California outside the convention center, and a Migden supporter grabbed a Leno supporter’s arm and blocked the doorway in an attempt to prevent her from gathering signatures needed to get a floor vote to overturn the packed endorsing caucus. Migden suporters were out in force to prevent signature gathering by those seeking to force a vote by the full convention.

It all comes to a head today when the full convention will vote on whether to ratify an earlier decision made by an endorsing caucus yesterday evening to support Migden. That vote and debate will take place after former President Bill Clinton is scheduled to address the convention at 9:30 a.m. and San Francisco District Attorney, a supporter of Barack Obama speak.

Supporters of the move to overturn the caucus decision turned in 600 signatures of delegates, double the 300 required, despite the lengthy time it took to count the votes from the caucus. The results were not announced until after 7 p.m. and the rules of the party required signatures be turned in by no later than 11 p.m.—a daunting task as weary delegates who had been attending the session since 9 a.m. left the convention center for food and drink in restaurants, hotels, and bars in the area. For blocks in any direction, hastily printed petitions were being circulated. Restaurants were crowded with delegates—without reservations my party had to go to three locations, and at each of them signature gatherers were there with clipboards.

In the endorsement caucus, Migden received 150 votes to Leno’s 115, with one lone vote for former Assemblymember Joe Nation, who is challenging her also.
Earlier this month, we reported on a David Binder poll
from February that showed Migden trailing not one, but two challengers. Binder, arguably San Francisco’s leading pollster found that Nation led Leno 27-24% on the initial ask, with Migden trailing at 17%. When pro and con statements about the candidates were read, the Leno-Nation numbers reversed, with Migden remaining at 17%. Joe Alioto Veronese, who has since dropped out and endorsed Leno was at 7 and 10%, and nearly a quarter of the electorate was undecided.

Matters have only worsened since then as Migden agreed to pay a $350,000 fine—the largest in state history—to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), a state agency since it was created in the wake of the Watergate scandal in the 1970’s. Migden agreed that she had violated 89 provisions of the Political Reform Act. She even filed suit against the FPPC for enforcing laws that she had supported when they were enacted, arguing that they were an unconstitutional infringement of her First Amendment rights after she was advised of legal problems spending $647,000 she had raised while in the state Assembly.