Dems See Pombo Race as an “Emerging Opportunity”

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Jerry McNerney, democratic challenger to Richard Pombo (R-Ca) may finally be getting some much-needed support from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The DCCC has just placed Pombo’s 11th district seat and John Doolittle’s (R-Ca) 4th district house seats on a list of “emerging opportunities” for GOP defeats come Election Day.

Previously, the DCCC had chosen not to focus on ousting Pombo after their chosen candidate, Steve Filson, lost the Democratic primary. Now, even with help from the DCCC, McNerney has a long way to go, cash-wise. So far, Pombo has raised 3.4 million in campaign funds, McNerney 1.16 million (check out the full breakdown here)

So far the National Republican Congressional Committee has spent $545,000 to oppose McNerney and $46,000 to support Pombo, while the DCCC has spent only $5,600 to counter Pombo.

Doolittle’s campaign spokesman Richard Robinson says this amounts to “a lot of posturing” but given Pombo and Doolittle’s recent links to Jack Abramoff there’s no telling what will happen.

–Amaya Rivera

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate