You'd Think California Is A Blue Enough State That They Could Elect Someone Of The Calibre Of Elizabeth Warren Or Bernie Sanders-- But You'd Be Wrong

The Sanchez sisters-- Loretta, the brainless one running for Senate, is wearing red

6,883,458 people voted in the California presidential primary-- 4,763,930 in the Democratic primary and 2,119,528 in the Republican. The big vote-getters:

• Hillary- 2,582,591
• Bernie- 2,138,284
• Trumpy the Clown- 1,583,319
• John Kasich- 242,208
• Ted Cruz- 201,574

Over a million people abstained when it came to the state's U.S. Senate vote. Only 5,082,928 people voted in the jungle primary that yielded up two Democrats for the November election. The top vote-getters (candidates with over 2% of the vote and over 100,000 votes) in the open primary were:

• Kamala Harris (D)- 2,051,048
• Loretta Sanchez (Blue Dog)- 943,002
• Duf Sundheim (R)- 406,964
• Phil Wyman (R)- 246,623
• Thomas Del Beccaro (R)- 213,946
• Greg Conlon (R)- 160,164
• Steve Stokes (D)- 105,568

I voted for Stokes, the largely unheralded Berniecrat in the race. There were 27 other candidates, Democrats, Republicans, a Green, a couple of Libertarians and lots and lots of independents. Unfortunately there was not a column for "None of the Above." Most of the spending was from just a few candidates. This is what the top candidates spent through May 18:

• Kamala Harris- $6,344,212
• Loretta Sanchez- $2,169,364
• Duf Sundheim- $599,400
• Tom Del Beccaro- $297,670

Stokes raised $9,379.

In November, with no Republican in the race, the two candidates with be establishment corporate liberal Kamala Harris and one of Congress' stupidest members, reactionary Blue Dog Loretta Sanchez, trying to play several cards, primarily that she's Hispanic but also that she's the natural place for Republicans to go, which she is, having voted with them enough to have earned a big fat "D" from ProgressivePunch. A few days ago, Alex Roarty, writing for Roll Call, reported that she's already angling for conservative support.

Business leaders who generally favor the Republican Party in California say they are considering backing Sanchez over Harris, convinced that the “Blue Dog” Democrat Sanchez would be a better ally in the Senate than the more liberal Harris, the state's attorney general.

Their support would be a major help to Sanchez, whose campaign has spent months searching for a base of support. The Democratic Party, including many progressive activists and groups like EMILY’s List, have almost uniformly lined up behind Harris.

“There’s an understanding that Loretta has a stronger understanding of how to grow jobs in California,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable.

...“She’s a social progressive, but she’s a Blue Dog Democrat that looks at fiscal programs to see if they are paid for,” said Luis Vizcaino, spokesman for Sanchez’s campaign. “And I think that appeals to many Californians, who want somebody aligned with their social views but at the same time is fiscally moderate.”

...A USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll released this week found Harris leading Sanchez 47 percent to 22 percent. The survey also found that 64 percent of Republicans said they would not cast a ballot for either candidate in November.

...Money and support from Republicans and business donors might also come with an electoral price, Democratic strategists say. If Sanchez were trying to court Democrats and Hispanic voters at the same time as she accepts big money from the GOP, those groups might rebel.

“You’re handing Kamala an easy thing to say, ‘Look the same people who fund Loretta Sanchez are funding Donald Trump,'" Trujillo said. “Once you do that, you hand Kamala Harris an even bigger instrument to use with Latino voters.”

Former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan, a Republican, has already announced his endorsement of Sanchez, calling her "an independent thinker and a proven leader," although she is neither. Members of Congress who work with her all say that all the brains in that family went to her sister Linda Sanchez and that Loretta has trouble grasping simple concepts and has no place in public service. "She's as thick as a brick," one of her colleagues told me, requesting anonymity. "She could switch parties tomorrow and she wouldn't have to change much in her approach."