For California Democrats facing a tough path to re-election in 2014, a simple "Thank you" can fuel attacks from opponents already shifting into campaign gear.
Freshman Democratic Reps. Ami Bera and Raul Ruiz learned that this week when the California Republican Party asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate cameos both members made in a Web video produced by a Democratic super PAC.
The YouTube video, which has received just shy of 2,000 views since it was released last week, features seven House Democrats praising the work the independent committee did to get them elected. Bera, who ousted incumbent GOP Rep. Dan Lungren, says in the video that the PAC "was probably the difference" from his failed 2010 bid. While the video doesn't solicit donations or endorse the members' re-election campaign, the GOP alleges that the very act of appearing in the clip violated campaign laws.
Andy Stone, a spokesman for House Majority PAC, dismissed the complaint as a campaign stunt that lacks merit.
"Tom Del Beccaro's swan song amounts to a baseless, politically motivated complaint not worth the paper it's printed on," he wrote in an email.
– Torey Van Oot
BY THE NUMBERS
As Latinos are poised to become California's largest ethnic group, the Asian-Pacific Islander community is growing even faster, say the Asian Pacific American Legal Center and the Asian Law Caucus. Their report calls the state's 5.6 million Asians and 286,000 Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders "a community of contrasts," with some groups prospering.
– Dan Walters
WORTH REPEATING
"No mail on Saturday is a big deal for political campaigns. Expect more robo calls."
MATT REXROAD, Yolo County supervisor and Republican political consultant, via Twitter
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