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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JF Quinnelly who wrote (15835)	11/11/2003 1:06:28 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793677

Nobody want's to take on Boxer. California G.O.P. Faces Obstacles to Ousting Senator Boxer By DEAN E. MURPHY .......In particular, Ms. Boxer did not join the chorus of critics during the final days of the recall campaign, when Mr. Schwarzenegger was being bombarded with reports of sexual misconduct after articles in The Los Angeles Times detailed the claims of more than a dozen women. The Schwarzenegger adviser said Mr. Schwarzenegger and his wife, Maria Shriver, took special note of Ms. Boxer's restraint during what amounted to the most difficult period of the campaign for the Schwarzenegger family. "Boxer kept her mouth shut, more or less," the Schwarzenegger adviser said. "This is the woman who took on Bob Packwood, and she didn't say anything. It isn't lost on them, the whole family." So far the recall election has also worked to Ms. Boxer's advantage by making it difficult for lesser-known potential opponents to attract public attention and raise money. One of the declared Republican candidates, Assemblyman Tony Strickland, had raised less than $75,000 through the end of September. Another candidate, Toni C. Casey, a Silicon Valley businesswoman, collected more than $540,000, but in a state the size of California, both amounts are considered insufficient. A third possible candidate, the former United States treasurer Rosario Marin, has yet to declare her candidacy officially and has not filed contributions reports. Roy Behr, a spokesman for the Boxer re-election campaign, said Republicans who interpreted Mr. Schwarzenegger's success as a death cry for Ms. Boxer were misreading the recall's message to politicians. "The only real takeaway from the recall election is that people wanted change," Mr. Behr said. "They weren't jumping up and down and saying, `We want Republicans.' This dynamic is very much in her favor, because she is truly the personification of change. No one is better at challenging the status quo than she is." Nonetheless, Mr. Behr said, Ms. Boxer is preparing for a tough race because she expects "far right extremists" to rally round whomever the Republicans nominate. And depending on how next year's presidential race develops, some Democratic and Republican political consultants said, Ms. Boxer could become ensnared in the unpredictable presidential battle over the state. If Mr. Bush makes a concerted push for the state's electoral votes, which he lost by a wide margin in 2000, it might help Ms. Boxer's Republican opponent and compel Mr. Schwarzenegger to play a more partisan role. But Ms. Boxer might benefit if Mr. Bush bypasses California, as his father did in 1992, the year she won her first race for the Senate. As Mr. Whalen of the Hoover Institution observed, "She is at the mercy of whether California is at play for Bush." REST AT nytimes.com