◼ The openly gay “New Generation” Republican Carl DeMaio is now polling three points above incumbent Democrat Scott Peters in California’s evenly split 52nd district. - Le-gal In-sur-rec-tion
DeMaio, meanwhile, has been delicately balancing the various sects of the GOP to his advantage. So far he has successfully branded himself as an independently-minded fiscal conservative and social liberal, which seems like the type of candidate who can win in southern California.
Oddly enough, it seems DeMaio is doing better at appealing to the GOP Establishment. The National Republican Congressional Committee and John Boehner have poured $3.2 million into DeMaio’s campaign and have ignored calls from some conservative groups to abandon gay GOP candidates with other socially liberal views.
Meanwhile, DeMaio recently took further steps to distance himself from the Tea Party by releasing a new campaign ad where he says, “As a proud gay American, I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but a Tea Party extremist? Nothing could be farther from the truth.”
As DeMaio treads on in the last four weeks, it seems the only way he can lose this election is if the GOP implodes, as it so often does, and fails to rally around him.
