Calif. GOP Seeks to Unseat Boxer in 2004
URL:http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,79394,00.html
Monday, February 24, 2003
SACRAMENTO — The California State Republican Party convention this weekend was a showcase for potential challengers to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in 2004.
Rep. Doug Ose, R-Sacramento, played master of ceremonies at a luncheon Saturday, and Rep. George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, was scheduled to emcee the dinner banquet.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, hosted a reception for delegates, and failed gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon announced he was starting a new political action committee that will position him for a potential run.
The four are considered among the leading contenders, though none has formally announced plans to run. Republicans have their sights on California's junior senator and the convention was an opening act a year before voters will choose her opponent.
"This is the time to test the waters," said Sherry Bebitch Jeffe, a political scientist at the University of Southern California.
Ose, who is the farthest ahead in organizing and formed an exploratory committee in December, tested out campaign themes Saturday in a conversation with reporters.
"She's way too liberal," he said.
He also suggested Boxer would be vulnerable on defense.
"The fact of the matter is that Barbara spent her entire career voting against appropriate levels of defense, against appropriate levels of intelligence-gathering apparatus, and as a consequence, pairing up with any number of colleagues, we find ourselves in a position where we have inadequate early warning or early detection of threats in the nature of Sept. 11," Ose said. "I happen to think that she is culpable on this issue and if I run we will make a point of sharing that position with the voters of the state."
Representatives for Boxer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Boxer will be difficult to unseat as she seeks her third term and Republicans have underestimated her before, political analysts said.
"There's a tendency to think that because she's a liberal she's a bad politician but liberals can be good politicians, and that's what she is," said Claremont McKenna College government professor Jack Pitney.
Radanovich said in an interview that a wartime campaign could make Boxer vulnerable.
"She's never run in wartime and she's got a very bad war record," he said.
Radanovich, for example, said he might challenge Boxer for voting in October against a resolution that passed the Senate and authorized President Bush to use force to disarm Iraq.
Boxer voted against that resolution, but a few days later voted in favor of an amendment, which was rejected, that authorized the use of force in Iraq in accord with the United Nations Security Council.
Issa supporters had scheduled a "Draft Issa" press conference for Saturday afternoon but canceled it at the last minute. Issa said he asked them to hold off.
"I thought a press conference was a little over the top," said Issa, who came in second in the Republican Senate primary in 1998.
"We're about to go to war, we have a president who has a huge agenda that we're supposed to try to move in the next six to eight weeks. I'm not in a hurry to put my own personal agenda ahead of the president's, the Congress's agenda," he said.
Issa, who sits on the important House Energy and Commerce Committee, also said he'd committed to discussing any run for office with committee chairman Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La.
"When you're not running for statewide office, look, you do what you think is right. I don't want to have to ask an adviser, my chairman doesn't want me to be asking an adviser, how (committee actions) would poll in a statewide race," he said. |
