Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will visit San Diego to speak on behalf of congressional Democratic candidates Mike Levin and Ammar Campa-Najjar later this month as part of a nine-day nationwide pre-midterm blitz.

Rallies and events for the Sanders tour, which begins October 19, will include support for candidates in Indiana, Michigan, South Carolina, Iowa, Wisconsin, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and California.

Details of his appearances have yet to be announced, although it seems probable–based on news reports about the itinerary–Sanders’ local events will occur just prior to his final stop in Oakland on October 27.

Thus far this year Sanders has traveled to 17 states this year in support of Democratic candidates and policy issues he favors.

Via the Associated Press:

Sanders is heavily favored to win re-election next month to a third term as Vermont’s senator, allowing him to travel the nation in the weeks before the election. Sanders has called Trump a “pathological liar” who has bitterly divided the nation on social policies while overseeing an economic agenda that has further aggravated income and wealth inequality.

“We are clearly in an unprecedented moment in American history, a very, very dangerous moment. We have an unstable president who is a liar, who has very strong authoritarian tendencies,” Sanders said during a campaign event in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, last month.

But he said there has been a “waking up among the American people, a desire to move this country in a very different direction, a disgust with the movement of this country toward oligarchy.”

***

The local GOP reported record attendance at a pre-midterm event on Monday evening at the Town and Country in Mission Valley.

Billed as “a fun, exciting event as we celebrate Justice Kavanaugh and rally around our Republican candidates!,” the party handed out “Team Freedom” universal power adapter to attendees.

There was lots of exciting footage on KUSI TV of Republican Congressional candidates getting their first shot at a ‘wider’ audience.

Meanwhile, our friends at Independent Indivisible were lurking:

Interesting optics at San Diego County GOP rally After warm standing ovation, Duncan Hunter Sr joked “I accept your nomination!” surrounded by campaign signs with his name on them. If Hunter Jr wins & goes to jail, will Sr run in special election to hold seat? #SeatWarmer pic.twitter.com/KTeo8AT9ge — Independent Indivisible (@IndeIndivisible) October 9, 2018

***

Los Angeles Times reporter Robin Abcarian went bar hopping in Ramona with Pete Beauregard, who ran as a Democrat in the spring primary, but dropped out and endorse Campa-Najjar.

What she found is that, yeah, the town is conservative, but support for Duncan Hunter isn’t universal.

A retired postal carrier and Vietnam-era Navy vet, Mandichak voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and plans to vote for Campa-Najjar. “A lot of the people who come in here say they don’t believe Duncan is guilty,” he said. “I mean, really? It’s a 42-page indictment. The evidence is there.” (Actually, the indictment runs 47 pages.)

::

I found only two people at the VFW post who described themselves as unalloyed Hunter fans. Both are Republicans; one dislikes Trump and the other loves him.

Jean Priester-Mudd, 69, is a widow whose husband died in December. He had been a prisoner of war in Vietnam, and for years she drove him from their home in Julian to the Veterans Affairs hospital in La Jolla, about an hour and a half away. Trump’s dismissal of the late Sen. John McCain’s imprisonment in Vietnam turned her off. But she loves Hunter.

***

On the downside of things, a popular far-right conspiracy-mongering site (sorry, I don’t link to nutjobs) has taken up the Hunter’s campaign’s smears of Ammar Campa-Najjar, dredging up old interviews with his father, taking quotes out of context, saying his family “participated in terrorist activity in Israel.”

Campa-Najjar’s father was nine years old and in the room when commandos stormed the family’s residence in Beruit and killed both his mother and father.

Another site –aimed at Islamophobes– is, y’know, just asking questions, like: “Did the Black September terrorist’s son and grandson inherit those same identity-shifting characteristics in order to blend into his environment?”

I supposed I need to say this just once: These stories are a bunch of racist horseshit.

***

Speaking of lies, the California GOP has coughed up money for a faux-official mailing in support of Proposition 6 claiming to be a “correction.” It should surprise nobody that Carl DeMaio is out there pitching its truthiness.

From the Sacramento Bee:

“The politicians are trying to deceive the voters,” said Carl DeMaio, chairman for Yes on Prop 6. “They are trying to bully voters into approving a measure that costs them more.”

The plain, black-and-white mailer warns voters that the ”sample ballot that was mailed to you contained a title for one of the statewide Propositions that is misleading and could be confusing to voters.”

“The correct title for Proposition 6 should read: Proposition 6: Gas Tax Repeal Initiative,” the mailer states. On the back, explanations for “what it means to vote yes” and “what it means to vote no” suggest that revenue from the “unfair gas and car tax hikes” will be used for just about everything except the road repairs and transportation projects they were passed to fund.

At the bottom, a small disclaimer from the campaign is the only indication that the mailer is not from election officials.

***

Lest you have any doubt about where things are headed, and why Republicans were dead set on ramming Kavanaugh’s nomination thru, here’s a snip from Politico’s Morning Shift newsletter that may offer a clue:

A class-action lawsuit filed Saturday argues that LGBT anti-discrimination laws should have an exemption for employers who object to homosexuality. The suit, filed in a Texas federal court by the U.S. Pastor Council and a Houston-based wellness center, targets Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 , which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. The plaintiffs argue the provision should include an exemption for employers who object to homosexuality or transgender identity so that they can run their businesses “in accordance with their sincere religious beliefs that homosexual behavior is immoral.”

Available Now! The San Diego Free Press General Election Progressive Voter Guide: Websites, social media links plus more than three dozen candidate endorsements, along with yea or nay on 23 state, county, and city propositions.

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