After last Tuesday's blistering loss to the Republicans, this little bit of news is welcome. Last night, the Associated Press
called the race for California's 52nd district for Democrat Scott Peters. It has been a squeaker to be sure, but with only 10,000 ballots yet to be counted, the AP has concluded that Peters' 4,491 lead is enough to put the race out of reach for DeMaio.
I have been watching this race closely. Carl DeMaio is the rarest of rare breeds, an openly gay Republican. That in itself has made this a carnival to watch. Democrats like me despised him because what self-respecting gay man would run for a party who sees him as a pariah not worthy of equality? Social Conservative Republicans hated him because, well, that's what they do when it comes to gay people. In fact, they hated him so much that the National Organization for Marriage actually begged people to vote for his Democratic opponent, Scott Peters.
Car DeMaio believes that marriage is a political institution that can be reshaped and refashioned into something unrecognizable through the exercise of raw political power. He says marriage is solely to provide societal recognition of the emotional entanglements of adults rather than the needs of children to have a mom and a dad.
It would be bad enough if this kind of thinking came from a Democratic candidate, but DeMaio claims to be a Republican. And worse, he says he wants to reshape the Republican Party into one that abandons traditional marriage in favor of genderless marriages, and he wants to move the party toward support for abortion.
I don't want Carl DeMaio in Congress where he will have an out-sized megaphone provided by the national media to espouse his wrong-headed ideas about marriage and life. And I don't want DeMaio in a position where he is portrayed as a role model for our children.
So I am asking you to please send a message and refuse to vote for Carl DeMaio tomorrow. In fact, consider voting for the Democrat candidate, Scott Peters.
Please read below the fold for more on this story.
As if this wasn't all weird enough, DeMaio has been slammed by some mighty disturbing allegations. Three separate complaints have been lodged against him for giving himself a wank in front of a Democratic city council member and two members of his own staff. Earlier this month, Navy veteran Justin Harper who joined DeMaio's staff last February recounted an incident in a bathroom.
I was at the urinal, and (DeMaio) came from the stall that was closest to the urinal and was kind of just standing there hovering,” Harper said. “I turned around and realized that it was Carl. He had his pants up, but his fly was undone, and he had his hand grasping his genitals.
Just last month, another former aide, Todd Bosnich, recounted a similar incident.
One morning last April, Bosnich said he arrived early at campaign headquarters and DeMaio called him back to his office.
“I came over to his office, door was open. And he was masturbating,” Bosnich said. “I saw his hand, his penis in his hand and he had a smile on his face. And as soon as I came over he was looking at me.”
There was no mistaking what was happening, he said.
This year's midterms have seen some true freak shows elected into our hallowed congressional halls. In the realm of things, DeMaio would have fit right in with this new flock of bottom-dwellers. He had a lot going for him. He had the tea bagger chops and he is as skeevy as the day is long. Sadly for poor Carl, all this unsavoriness just wasn't enough to push him over the top.