Aug 13, 2009 12:52 pm US/Pacific
CBS 5 Poll: Garamendi Leads E. Bay Congress Race
(CBS 5)
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Lt. Governor John Garamendi.
CBS
Poll
Who will you vote for in the election for U.S. House District 10?
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Many people don't realize, but there's an important Bay Area election coming up in less than three weeks. The 10th Congressional District encompasses a huge area, including portions of Solano, Contra Costa, Alameda, and Sacramento Counties. On September 1st, voters will decide who will replace Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher, who left to join the State Department.
Fourteen candidates from all parties are running. CBS 5's exclusive Eyewitness News poll shows Lt. Governor John Garamendi leads the pack with 26%. Republican lawyer David Harmer is second, with 18%. State Senator Mark DeSaulnier is next with 15%. And Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan is fourth, with 12%.
If no candidate gets over 50%, then the top Democrat and top Republican will have a run-off November 3rd.
Contra Costa voters make up most of the 10th Congressional District, and it's a heavily Democratic area, which should give the edge to whichever Democrat gets the most votes.
Lt. Governor John Garamendi has an advantage with his high name recognition, after three decades in government. Like the other candidates, he cites health care as a top issue, although he's disappointed that he plans being debated in Washington don't do enough to control costs.
"Cost control is a major part of this," he explains. "That's not where Congress is going. The cost containment element is important. For example, why the federal government is not allowed to negotiate drug prices, I do not understand. The federal government buying drugs for Medicare ought to be able to negotiate drug prices, but the drug companies have been successful in Congress saying, 'No, you can't negotiate prices.' Baloney!"
Health care is also issue number one for Assemblymember Joan Buchanan. But this being a local election, she also knows that voters care deeply about things like traffic.
"If you think about transportation in California, it was built north to south," Buchanan says. "Yet, people have moved from west to east. And so when you go out into the suburbs, we rely almost entirely on freeways. And so we have to do something about it. But we have to do more I think than think about freeways. We have to have an integrated mass transportation plan, because ultimately we have to shift our dependence on foreign oil, we have to have an efficient way to get from point A to point B."
For State Senator Mark DeSaulnier, a former restaurant owner, stimulating the local economy is a priority.
"I'm a supporter of of a second stimulus package, one that would make sure that the money would to to Main Street," says DeSaulnier. "I understand we had to stabilize the financial markets, but I would prefer another one at the appropriate time, in the next year or so, that would get to credit unions, smaller community banks, large banks, but with a condition that it has to get to creditworthy people who are stuck, by no choice of their own, in this upside-down housing market."
DeSaulnier has been endorsed by Congressmembers Ellen Tauscher and George Miller, which carries serious weight.
"Oh well, we show it counts for a lot," DeSaulnier responds. "People in the district, their favorables very high, for them to verify that I'm their choice, in our polling shows that when we tell people that, which is something that hasn't been part of the polling of our opposition, then we rise significantly.
And yet Garamendi leads the Eyewitness Poll, despite accusations that he's not really local.
"My home borders the district," Garamendi explains. "It's the Sacramento River. I live on the Sacramento River. I've lived there for 32 years. The community of Walnut Grove is in the district. In a fit of gerrymandering art ten years ago, they divided this community of 700 people in half. My half is not in the district. So I live on the border of the district.
And state law says a Congressman only has to live in California, not necessarily in the District he or she represents.
For Joan Buchanan, the question is, is she running too soon? She's only served in the State Assembly for six months.
"Well it's certainly not the script I would have written," she responds. "But these seats only come up every 20 to 30 years and I think we need someone who has strong local roots, an understanding of what the people locally need and what the challenges are."
The first challenge is to get the most votes September 1st, and then perhaps, in a November runoff.
Editor's Note: We invited the top Republican candidate, David Harmer, to be interviewed for our story, but he declined.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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