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Friday May 7, 2010


Pro-Life Candidates Duking it Out for Endorsements in Hotly-Contested California Senate Republican Primary

Split vote between two social conservatives allowing very liberal Tom Campbell to hold lead

By Peter J. Smith and Steve Jalsevac

SACRAMENTO, California, May 5, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Two pro-life candidates are battling it out for endorsements from the pro-life community in the Republican Party’s hotly-contested three-way California Senate primary, where a substantive split in the pro-life vote might lead to the nomination of a pro-abortion candidate.

Former Hewlett-Packard executive Carly Fiorina and pro-life legislator Chuck DeVore and are busy trying to claim the pro-life mantle and come out on top in the June 8 primary, where the winner will go on to challenge California’s U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a pro-abortion Democrat, in November 2010. Fiorina has been increasing her lead over DeVore, recently gaining major endorsements from leading pro-life political organizations, while polling indicates strongly pro-abortion Tom Campbell is ahead of both the pro-life candidates.

Pro-life leader Steve Mosher, who is widely known as the individual who exposed the brutality of China’s one-child policy to the world and as current president of Population Research Institute (PRI), has given his endorsement as a private citizen to pro-life and conservative underdog Chuck DeVore in the highly contested three-way Republican primary.

“The California Senate race has national implications,” says Mosher. “Pro-lifers have the opportunity of a lifetime to put the U.S. Senate back in pro-life hands by electing a rock-solid senator from California. Chuck DeVore would work hard in Washington to undo the damage caused by the ultra-liberal Barbara Boxer these last 28 years.”

“Unlike certain politicians that I see in Washington on a daily basis, Chuck will be a reliable friend of Life and Family once he has been sworn in as the next U.S. Senator from California.”

DeVore is a U.S. Army Reserve lieutenant colonel, a former Reagan Administration official, and member of the California assembly, who is the favorite of “Tea Party” groups and endorsed by conservative Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee; but he has largely failed to get grassroots support from pro-life organizations in California.

Carly Fiorina is a businesswoman who has affirmed she is pro-life, but lacks DeVore’s legislative record of pro-life accomplishments. Fiorina has also said on at least two separate occasions that she would have voted to confirm President Obama’s pick of Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sotomayor is expected to be a vote to retain Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.

However, the National Right to Life Political Action Committee, the California Pro-Life Council, the state affiliate of the National Right to Life Committee, and the national pro-life political action committee Susan B. Anthony List (SBA), have all decided to back Fiorina over DeVore, citing her ability to generate more campaign cash and polls that seem to indicate Fiorina would match up better against Boxer in the general election in November.

Commenting on DeVore, SBA president Marjorie Dannenfelser told the San Francisco Chronicle, “I don’t think he is viable”… “It’s a gimme with Fiorina. It’s a gamble with DeVore.”

DeVore took his biggest hit when former Alaska governor Sarah Palin threw her support behind Fiorina Thursday. Palin has taken considerable flack on her Facebook page from some of her Tea Party supporters for endorsing Fiorina over DeVore causing her to post additional reasons for her decision.

At the moment, pro-abortion GOP candidate Tom Campbell, a former Congressman and state assemblyman with two failed Senate runs to his name, is ahead of Fiorina and DeVore in the three-way race; however, both Campbell and Fiorina lead DeVore by a considerable margin.

A Survey USA poll conducted April 19-21 of 538 likely voters showed Campbell pulling 34 percent of likely primary voters, followed by Fiorina with 27 percent and DeVore at 14 percent.

Both Fiorina and DeVore have expressed commitment to pro-life policies and the protection of the natural definition of marriage in law. Campbell, besides being stridently pro-abortion, said he opposes Prop. 8, California’s ban on same-sex “marriage.”

The Real Clear Politics polling average shows Campbell with a six-point spread above Fiorina over the last month.

Fiorina’s campaign has struggled to overtake Campbell, botching a promising start with what have been seen as some politically questionable moves, especially a bizarre campaign ad that attacked Campbell as FCINO (Fiscal Conservative in Name Only, a failed play on the acronym Republican in Name Only) and portrayed him as a “demon sheep.” The somewhat entertaining weirdness of the three-minute ad drew intense ridicule of Fiorina’s campaign and completely overshadowed its message.

The Democrats came back with their own over-the-top counter “Demon Sheep” video exploiting the zanyness of the Fiorina ad to their advantage.

Campbell, on the other hand, has benefited from strong name recognition, owing that he has already engaged in two failed Senate bids in 1992 and 2000 and was running in the GOP primary for governor until he decided to drop his candidacy and run against Boxer.

The Real Clear Politics average of polls shows that Campbell has the best statistical chance at this stage to overcome Boxer, an 18-year incumbent, who would nevertheless likely beat all three GOP candidates if the election were held today. Boxer leads Campbell by one point, with 44 percent to 43 percent of the vote in a hypothetical matchup, while Boxer would beat Fiorina by 3.7 points (45 percent to 41.3 percent), and would similarly beat DeVore by 5.7 points (45.5 percent to 39.8 percent).

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