Good Man Gone: Dantona Bows Out of District 19 Senate Race

I was shocked when I opened the paper this morning. There was this headline: “Democrat Dantona Drops Run for Senate.”

 

Well, it was a good run.

 

Dantona, as you may know, was running for the Democratic nomination for the state senate’s District 19 seat. He announced his candidacy this summer, an early announcement, but one probably made in the hope of deterring former state assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson from running for the same seat.

 

Dantona said he made his decision to “keep the peace”–that is, to avoid a costly showdown with Jackson at the primary.

 

I acknowledge his logic, but really, it’s a shame.

 

Dantona was the best person for the job. District 19 is a conservative district that is very closely split between Democrats and Republicans. He was a candidate that could appeal to both sides of the aisle.

 

Although I will support her, as will most Democrats, I have my doubts about whether Jackson can inspire the centrists. But neither can her Republican rival, Tony Strickland, who is just a bit right of the mercifully retired Trent Lott.

 

With most voters ignorant of the issues in the race, many will probably deliver a straight party-line vote. Another crucial factor will be partisan turnout. Whoever can motivate the troops stands a good chance of winning.

 

Dantona took, by and large, the right positions on the right issues. As a sort of farewell to his candidacy, I present here a short excerpt of my interview with him at a Simi Valley fundraiser on October 18. My hope is that Jackson will adopt his positions on many of the issues.

 

 

What the state going to look like under your leadership? What are you going to differently than Mr. McClintock.

 

Certainly much differently than our previous state senator and Tony Strickland. I think, as I talked about out there, outsourcing of jobs, it’s ridiculous that corporations should be allowed to have any type of…that obviously when you have corporations who are getting federal and tax benefits and outsourcing those jobs, they’re getting the best of both worlds. They’re saying, well, we don’t have to hire the 10 or 12 or 14-dollar-an-hour employee here, we can hire a $3 a day employee in New Delhi or in Manila, and I’ve been to Manila, I went to Manila three times to look at and travel there because of outsourcing. I am not against globalization. What I’m against is when major corporations end up outsourcing jobs Americans, Californians in particular, lose their jobs, they can’t afford any health care, they can’t afford anything else in terms of putting food on the table. In addition, the corporations are taking their tax benefits, the major corporate heads are taking their huge bonuses of millions and millions of dollars and the people in these other countries, these third-world countries like New Delhi I mean, in India, like the Philippines, are working for less than what the minimum is even in those countries, that’s wrong. That’s a big problem for me.

 

I care about the ability of women to be able to choose what they want, that they’re working on the same level. We have two people that are living, I don’t even know how many years back, neither one of them know that women have rights, okay. They have been terrible on the issues of women’s rights. They have been terrible on the issue of choice. They have been terrible about it’s a woman’s decision and that’s going to be…that’s not going to change from where the Democratic party is, but it’s going to change about what this district’s talking about, and that’s really true.

 

And I think the other thing we talked about here too was just the ability…the major difference between myself and Tony [Strickland], McClintock, and any of the Republicans is that I can work with both sides now. I can work with the pro tem and the leadership of the party, and that’s what we need. You elect Strickland or anybody else including McClintock and they could never work with the leadership.

 

This district was unrepresented for 8 years under McClintock. It will be unrepresented if another Republican takes over like Strickland. These people are not mainstream people. McClintock is so far to the right that his own party has problems with him. The moderates have come to me.