CA-11: Faster Than Rapid Response

It's great to see the McNerney campaign fight back so quickly after being attacked. Not only was McNerney at the top of the target lists in Karl Rove's presentation to the GSA which was revealed in yesterday's House hearing, but the Repubs set up a hit piece disguised as a website:

SACRAMENTO - National Republicans have begun their attempt to unseat Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton, a full 20 months before Election Day 2008.

The Republican National Campaign Committee, which spent tens of thousands of dollars in an unsuccessful effort to save former Tracy Rep. Richard Pombo last fall, has included McNerney in its first round of targets posted on www.therealdemocratstory.com.

The NRCC will also send about 100,000 e-mails into McNerney's 11th District highlighting their criticism of the freshman Democrat's voting record.

"Jerry McNerney needs to explain to his constituents why his voting record is identical to that of the San Francisco Speaker Nancy Pelosi," NRCC spokesman Ken Spain said. "His voters didn't send him to be liberal lap dog of the Democrat Party. If Jerry McNerney is so interested in representing the liberal interests of San Francisco voters, then maybe he should have considered running for office there."

McNerney has voted with Nancy Pelosi 100 percent of the time so far this year.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll released today shows that 49 percent of Central Valley residents approve of the way Speaker Nancy Pelosi is doing her job, while 30 disapprove.

McNerney spokesman Andy Stone says they were expecting the attack.

"We knew it was coming, and they can continue to attack," Stone said. "We're going to keep working for the people of the 11th District."

Guess that whole "San Francisco values" thing won't exactly play in a district right outside of San Francisco with a lot of former San Francisco natives.

My favorite part on the site is the part that says McNerney is "Wrong On Energy". Yep, if there's one thing a wind energy scientist doesn't know anything about, it's energy.

But like McNerney's spokesman said, they were ready for this attack, and they hit back.

It’s only March, 2007. But it might as well be November, 2008.

Yesterday, our campaign got hit with a one-two punch. First, a scandalous House hearing unearthed a secret document from a deputy of Karl Rove revealing that the GOP “architect” is targeting me as #3 on his political hit list.

Then, the National Republican Congressional Committee carried out Rove’s hit yesterday with “The Real Jerry McNerney” -– launching a slick Swift Boat-style web site that smears my record of service to you in Congress. The NRCC plans to promote this deception site by spamming voters in our district with over 100,000 e-mails.

Make no mistake. I will respond to this malicious assault on my character and my record. But, I can’t fight back without your help. To stop the right-wing political hacks plotting to kill our movement before it changes Washington, I need your support today -– before this Saturday’s critical Federal Election Commission campaign finance reporting deadline.

They've already raised over $260,000 on their site, which is pretty strong 20 months out. Karl Rove is as good for Democratic fundraising as Hillary Clinton or some such boogeyman/woman is for Republicans. This is appearing to backfire.

Support Jerry McNerney at the Calitics Act Blue page.