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Overheard in Fog City:
Migden has one last trump card left to play

Written by Luke Thomas. Posted in News, Opinion, Politics

Tagged: ,

Published on May 07, 2008 with 2 Comments


District 3 Senator Carole Migden.
Photo by Luke Thomas 

By Luke Thomas

May 7, 2008

Migden’s last stand

Embattled incumbent District 3 Senator Carole Migden has one trump card left to play if she wants to avoid defeat in the June 3 Democratic Party Primary against challengers Assemblymember Mark Leno and former Assemblymember Joe Nation, according to a reliable source.

Polls commissioned by Migden’s opponents show Migden languishing in a tight race between frontrunners Nation and Leno.

“She [Migden] needs to play the Superdelegate card,” came the response to Fog City inquiry yesterday.

“Huh?” Fog City Journal responded.

According to the source, who is no stranger to eking out political victories against all odds, Superdelegate Migden should publicly announce her endorsement of Senator Barack Obama over Senator Hillary Clinton.

Obama trounced Clinton in District 3 after all the votes were counted following the California Democratic Party Primary in February. The thinking goes that if Migden formally declares her support for Obama, she may be able to win back lost support from Democrats who voted for Obama.

Leno has indicated his support for Obama but he is not a Superdelegate. As for Nation, he told Fog City Journal March 8 he supports Clinton.

Stay tuned for an official response, expected later today, from Senator Migden.

Update, 5:06 p.m: Repeated attempts for comment from Senator Carole Migden campaign manager Ritchie Ross has proven unsuccessful. According to a staff member, Ritchie Ross has been on a conference call for the last two hours.

Sandoval heading for judgeship

“Good Afternoon, Judge!” Fog City beamed to Supervisor Gerardo Sandoval in passing yesterday.

“Don’t jinx me,” a smiling Sandoval responded.

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas

Luke Thomas is former software developer and computer consultant who proudly hails from London, England. In 2001, Thomas took a yearlong sabbatical to travel and develop a photographic portfolio. Upon his return to the US, Thomas studied photojournalism to pursue a career in journalism. In 2004, Thomas worked for several neighborhood newspapers in San Francisco before accepting a partnership agreement with the SanFranciscoSentinel.com, a news website formerly covering local, state and national politics. In September 2006, Thomas launched FogCityJournal.com. The BBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox News, New York Times, Der Spiegel, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Magazine, 7x7, San Francisco Examiner, San Francisco Bay Guardian and the San Francisco Weekly, among other publications and news outlets, has published his work. Thomas is a member of the Freelance Unit of the Pacific Media Workers Guild, TNG-CWA Local 39521.

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  • paulhogarth

    Carole Migden’s former Chief of Staff, Michael Colbruno, ran to be a Hillary Clinton delegate in the East Bay. So did Migden hack David Serrano-Sewell, who won a spot in San Francisco.

    At the March 18th Hastings debate, Migden made some casual reference to Hillary Clinton that was pretty positive. I see a lot of parallels between how Migden and Clinton are running their campaigns — both have a mean-spirited sense of entitlement, appearing to hold their progressive opponent with greater contempt than the more conservative 3rd candidate.

    Can Carole announce her support for Obama? Sure, but it certainly sounds opportunistic — and pretty pointless, since Obama sewed up the nomination with his huge victory last night in North Carolina. And anyone who’s been following Migden for a while has to wonder how sincere it would be.

  • Brian Wallace

    It was almost a year ago, May 18, 2007, that California Senator Carole Migden’s state-leased SUV was involved in a car crash while she was reaching for her cell phone. After the accident, she got out of her car and yelled, “I’m a senator!” She did not say, “Are you okay?” to the people inside the car she hit.

    Ms. Migden later revealed that her leukemia medication may have been a contributing factor. While one can understand how such medication might affect your reaction time, it does not even begin to explain reaching for a cell phone or shouting “I’m a senator!”

    Working under her is described as “combat tours” by her staff members. The San Francisco Examiner has called Ms. Migden “Sacramento’s scariest boss.”

    While I appreciate her work in helping to preserve the old growth Headwaters Forest and in authoring California’s ‘‘Clean Water Act,’’ it’s time to send Ms. Migden to Kevin Shelley land.