Senate Leadership Scores Big with Rod Wright

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Lost in the Sturm und Drang surrounding the Migden-Leno-Nation showdown was the resounding success for Senate Democrats of a carefully-orchestrated series of political chess moves across Los Angeles County.
 
It’s probably the worst-kept secret in Sacramento that the Senate leadership, led by Senate President Don Perata, aggressively supported Rod Wright’s successful bid for Ed Vincent’s seat in SD-25. Less well known are the domino falls which preceded it.
 
First, it was hardly an accident that Mark Ridley-Thomas, who succeeded Rod Wright in the Assembly’s 48th District, was able to clear the field when he ran in 2006 for SD-25. Sure, MRT enjoyed a formidable reputation for community leadership after his high-profile founding of Empowerment Congress and head-to-head polls conducted in 2005 reflected that: he held a sizable double-digit lead in every prospective match-up against Wright. But fast forward and the same could be said of Wright’s prospective match-up against Dymally this year. To wit, early polling showed him running 30 points behind the venerable Dymally. And, yet, Wright agreed to withdraw from the race for his home Senate district in 2006 and instead focus on the even-tougher neighboring SD-26 in 2008.

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