If you live in the 49th Congressional District—your VOTE will be critical and Mike Levin is the best candidate to give a check on Trump’s chaos attack on America’s instructions

It’s gotten down to this: too many Democrats are in the race for the 49^th,  and in California the two who get the most votes in the June primary, are advancing to the final November vote. The problem: it could be two Republicans! (More on them shortly.)

We have passed the date when the weaker candidates can drop out. So Here is why Mike Levin is the BEST, most electable candidate for, frankly, everyone to support—that includes Republicans.

Why? First a quick explanation of the faults in the other three Democratic candidates. First and foremost, when the Democrats realized the problem that they could be locked out of even making the primary ballot, their was a forum called “The Viability Forum” to have all five candidates speak to why they should be the best choice. All five confirmed they would be there. On the morning of the well publicized and attended meeting, only Mike LEVIN showed up. (A fifth candidate had the good sense to drop out.) Mr. Applegate claimed he would go to “a bar” totalk to his supporters; Ms. Jacobs and Mr. Kerr just said they did not want to be associated with a PAC (at the last minute), and just like that Mike LEVIN was the only one there. So lying to the people of the 49^th and wasting so any people’s time and efforts is a huge strike against them.

As for Mr. Applegate, two things haunt him: he has raise a pittance compared to LEVIN and even Jacobs. (LEVIN has been one of the first in and has knocked on doors raising 1.2 million to Applegate’s 662 thousand, despite Applegate’s name recognition. Secondly, the Republican, Diane Hartney, a big Issa supporter and a tax cutter, will certainly raise the issues that Issa raise (unfairly, I add, but in politics your past can haunt you). See below:

“Democrat Douglas Applegate, a retired U.S. Marine colonel challenging Rep. Darrell Issa’s reelection bid, was accused of harassing and threatening his ex-wife during their divorce proceedings and child custody battle more than 10 years ago, court records show….An Orange County Superior Court judge granted Applegate's former wife, Priscilla Greco, two temporary restraining orders against him in 2002 and 2004.”

So Applegate could not win when Democrats came out in droves for Ms. Clinton. He has little chance four years later. Personally I have issues with his temperament. He comes across as a ‘tough guy’—but not very smart. I saw him speak to 100’s of people at the Democratic forum and I am not kidding –the first words out of his mouth were “I’m gonna beat that SON OF A BITCH (Issa)! Really? Is this the kind of person we expect to bring a sense of integrity and decorum to government? I can he is the lesser of the two evils—the two Republican nominees, but we can do better.

As for Ms. Jacobs, if Mike LEVIN were not in this race I would support her. But her poll numbers will make it very likely that she will eliminate both LEVIN and APPLEGATE and she cannot catch up fast enough. Check out this data:

“In a narrowed field of candidates, Chavez maintains the lead with 23% followed by Democrat Levin at 17%, Republican Harkey at 16%, and Doug Applegate at 15%. “The Top Two primary math is working against Democrats in these districts,” said Katie Merrill, chief strategist for Fight Back CA. “With a bus load of Democratic candidates in each of these races, the odds are increasing everyday that Democrats could lose these seats without ever seeing the general election “

 She grew up at the southern tip of the 49th district, in Del Mar,…Her grandfather, Irwin Jacobs, co-founded Qualcomm, the hundred-billion-dollar telecommunications company, and her family are prominent Democratic donors.  That is why she has 1.3 million in her coffers as of Jan 1, 2018. I like her, but she entered the race far too late and she will rely on a barriage of TV (expensive) ads. In the end ever person (particularly young folks who vote for her will likely simply give the election to Rocky Chavez or Hartney who will nudge out LEVIN and the unelectable Applegate. Had she made the decision to run at the beginning of 2017, things would be different but even she admits at 29 she was not sure she ws ready. One more thing—the Republicans will tie her to President Obama (which makes her appealing to me, but she worked for Ms. Clinton prominently as an unpaid foreign policy adviser on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.…and that will hurt her.) And she DID NOT SHOW UP top the meeting. I saw her speak—she will be terrific, but right now, she will just end up strengthening Trump’s hold on Congress. Sorry, Sara.

Mr. Kerr is raising money 1.0 million, but I saw him speak and, frankly, he knows a lot about small business in exclusively Sa Diego and he is a rags-to-riches- guy, but he will 1. Do what Ms. Jacobs will do, and 2. He is utterly unprepared for national office. His lack of knowledge of domestic affairs and international issues was hard to watch. He just repeats his mantra—I am from here and I’m a businessman. We deserve someone who already knows the issues and can speak to them lucidly and has a vision of what is going on in Trump’s administration. Sorry, Paul—run for State Assembly. Oh, and he also did not show up for the meeting he promised he would!

 So why Mike LEVIN? Here is what I wrote on Sunday, May 7, 2017: I have seen the future of the 49th Congressional District and its name is Mike Levin ! (It is even truer today IF PEOPLE REALIZE HOW THEIR VOTE IS PIVOTAL.

“Mike Levin has outraised Applegate in every single quarter, despite the fact that Applegate ran in 2016 and should have had a ready-made donor base at his disposal,” Levin’s campaign consultant, Parke Skelton, said in a statement.

The most impressive quality that Levin displayed is his temperament. He calmly explained how a disastrous house bill that has no Congressional Budget Office score was passed with the deciding vote attributed to Issa--vote 216. This bill has no cost estimate yet, will knock 20+ million people off insurance, and allows insurance companies to weasel out of covering some people with pre-existing conditions.

Mike Levin has an impeccable resume. He is forward thinking and knows the Trump agenda that Mr. Issa embraces with glee, despite the evidence that renewable energy is America's future; that Obamacare is more popular than ever; and that a 20+ billion dollar wall between the USA and Mexico (that America will pay for !) is not supported by the majority of voters or legislators on the border.

Mike Levin sees the future in a world that author Tom Friedman argues is accelerating rapidly. That makes Mike Levin a political rock star...if we are wise enough to listen to him.

Two Footnotes: 1. Ms. Hartney is cut out of the mold of Issa. Tax cutter, and worked in that industry exclusively. Orange County all the way. She will be just what Trump wants. 2. Rocky Chavez—“In the Legislature, Chavez has built a reputation as a moderate with an interest in veterans issues and education. Last year, he faced heat from his GOP colleagues after he and seven other Republicans helped pass an extension of the state’s cap-and-trade system, a signature climate change program backed by Gov. Jerry Brown.” Now will he cave to Paul Ryan and Donald Trump? That is a chance, right now, I’m not taking.

And finally why does all this matter? Our nation’s strength is built on checks and balances. Trump and his cronies control both houses of Congress, the majority of Supreme Court Judges, the EPA, the Justice Dept., and he has eviscerated the FBI and NSA  as well as the CIA. He listens to no one, except his own TV network. He will fire anyone who will speak truth to power. As for the massive tax cut he signed, check out Kansas and Louisiana and see how that’s going. They are failing states. Now they are trying to reinstate the taxes because the promised jobs are not coming and the schools and infrastructures are crumbling.

So only through the election can Trump’s march to power be at least muted. Don’t just believe me: ask Romney, Bush, and an assortment of Republicans who are leaving office, or are Generals, former top aides to Republican Presidents, etc. Trump running a muck is the most dangerous thing to our democracy.

So vote LEVIN. Don’t split the vote. We live in the most forward thinking state, California, with a 6 million dollar surplus—yes, we are not perfect, but we can stop Trump. 11 seats are needed. The 49^th may be the most critical.

Thanks for your patience. I know this was a long one. Footnotes will appear in my “comments”—no fake news here.