From the Convention to Her Own Campaign, Capps Talks Politics
The congresswoman offers her take on Democratic Party activity going on locally and nationwide.
Having just returned from the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, says she is “excited” at the prospect of getting down to work as the campaign season heats up.
“I’m so excited because I’ve been really discouraged about the way our nation has been governed and about things that have happened in every area the federal government has been involved in,” she said.
Amid the bustle and spectacle of the convention, she said, there was a lot of work going on to unify the Democratic Party, including healing the rift between those who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton and presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama.
There are still strong feelings to get over about the hotly contested race for the nomination, but if there’s one thing the convention did, Capps says, it united the party.
It’s that unity that energizes Capps as she gets down to the business of getting re-elected. Many of the policies outlined by Obama in his Thursday acceptance speech resonate with the goals she has for her district, including an energy policy that prioritizes renewable and sustainable energy over expanded offshore oil drilling.
“We were following (the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors hearing on offshore drilling) very closely from Denver,” she said. The 3-2 vote “came as no surprise,” given the political breakdown of the board.
“But renewable energy, that’s what needs to be front and center of how we talk about energy,” Capps said.
As for other elements of Obama’s campaign that could reinforce and be reinforced by her run for Congress, they include plans for the economy, health care, education, the nation’s debt and an end to the war in Iraq.
“I’ve never had the privilege of representing my district in a government where there’s compatibility within the two branches of government that have to do with policy and making change,” she said. She will celebrate the opening of her campaign headquarters next weekend, where her efforts will coordinate with those of the other Democratic candidates for office, including former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, who is running for the state Senate, Doreen Farr, a candidate for 3rd District supervisor, and, of course, Obama’s presidential run.
Obama’s success at the convention notwithstanding, he faces a tough campaign. Capps’ road to re-election, in comparison, will be relatively easy, as her seat is said by many to be a safe one this time around. The work still will need to be done, she said: the precinct-walking, the door-knocking, the grassroots effort that also are elements of the Obama campaign.
“I’ll be going to college campuses and working with the young people,” she said. “We will certainly coordinate with the Obama campaign.”
As to the choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for vice president on the Republican ticket, Capps said, “I congratulate her on her nomination.”
From Palin’s voting record, Capps said, Palin seems to be ultra-conservative.
”Sen. (John) McCain is choosing someone really just like him,” she said, adding that it was “more of the same of the Bush years.” However, Sen. Joe Biden, Capps said, would provide contrast and even argument to the Obama administration.
With respect to the ongoing redistricting initiative on the ballot, Capps is “not opposed to it in principle,” but is concerned that under the guidelines of the redistricting initiative, the net effect would be that minority districts would be broken down. Almost half of the constituents in Capps’ gerrymandered 23rd District are Hispanic, a population Capps said could lose their political voice if redistricting lines split them up.
For the moment, redistricting isn’t a major concern for Capps, as the initiative deals with state legislative redistricting.
“The implication is that the format, if adopted, would dictate how the redistricting will occur to in the congressional races down the road,” she said.
Noozhawk staff writer Sonia Fernandez can be reached at .
» wrote on 08/30/08 @ 11:09 AM
Capps says Palin is “ultra-conservative” huh? I’m assuming that’s because she cuts taxes, fights corruption, advocates achievable and common-sense energy independence, is a middle-class working woman, hunts, fishes and, oh yes, didn’t abort her Down’s Syndrome baby. That sounds like EXACTLY what Washington needs.
» wrote on 08/30/08 @ 12:22 PM
The tax and spend liberals like Capps needs to be voted out.California now is the worst ranking state In the nation in taxes on itsown people. Just a few years ago we ranked the best. The people of California need to get rid of Capps,Boxer-,Pelosi, Finstein, they are all tax aand spend socialist. These women have bankrupt our state with there walfare policies supporting illegals and other who leech off califonian’s who do work. These Liberal leader will do anything to create more taxes so we become more dependent on Government for a paycheck or a welfare hand out.
» wrote on 08/30/08 @ 02:06 PM
After all, we all know that the best way to help the Middle Class population in America is to support the McCain-Palin income tax plan. Why agree with the Obama-Biden plan that actually reduces income taxes on households that earn less than $200 thousand per year, when the McCain-Palin plan keeps those taxes higher and instead cuts taxes to more wealthy people who know better how to spend that money instead to benefit the Middle Class people eager for anything that trickles down.
» wrote on 08/30/08 @ 03:45 PM
This liberal could never have won her seat without gerrymandering. Lois Capps never saw a Tax she did’nt like. We do need CHANGE, vote all the Liberals out of office.
» wrote on 08/30/08 @ 11:05 PM
“The tax and spend liberals like Capps needs to be voted out.California now is the worst ranking state In the nation in taxes on itsown people. Just a few years ago we ranked the best.”
Uh, first that’s not true, and second, member of the U.S. House of Representatives Capps has nothing to do with California’s tax rate.
“I’m assuming”
Because, being a low-information voter, you don’t know anything. By Palin’s own words she’s ultra-conservative, opposing abortions even in cases of incest or rape, and wanting creationism to be taught in science class.
“That sounds like EXACTLY what Washington needs.”
Oh, right, we need a PTA president to be one heartbeat away from being the leader of the most powerful country on earth.
» wrote on 08/31/08 @ 05:44 AM
That’s right. Obama is so much more experienced, having been a “community organizer” whose only accomplishment in life has been to write an autobiography.
Does he have the experience to take over if, God forbid, something happens to Joe Biden?
» wrote on 08/31/08 @ 12:56 PM
Palin is ultra-conservative because she doesn’t believe global warming is caused by humans, she believes creationism should be taught side-by-side with evolution in schools, she supported Pat Buchanan for president, she doesn’t want to give women the right to chose to have a child even in the case of rape and incest, and she wants polar bears taken off the endangered species list because it interferes with her plans to open up ANWR to drilling. Even the people of Alaska don’t think she’s ready to be VP according to some blogs I’ve read, and her approval rating has plummeted since the “Troopergate” investigation opened. Even though she ran on an ethics reform ticket, she is now accused of trying to get her ex-brother-in-law fired as a state trooper, and then firing his boss because he wouldn’t do as she wanted. Then it turns out the man she hired to replace him was under investigation for sexual harrassment and had to also be asked to resign, with a fat severance package. Talk about poor judgement and hypocrisy! She is indeed a lot like McCain in those too areas. As Senator Kerry said in an interview today, McCain’s choice of ultra-conservative Palin as running mate shows that he is a prisoner of the far-right, not a maverick as he claims, because if he had truly been a maverick he would have gone with his first two choices, Lieberman or Ridge, despite the expected backlash from the far-right.
» wrote on 08/31/08 @ 02:11 PM
Actually, Palin never said she wanted creationism taught in science class—as anyone with access to Google can quickly find out on their own. In a 2006 gubernatorial debate, she said she didn’t object to “teaching both” evolution and creation. After the debate, however, she clarified that she did not think Alaska should require the teaching of creationism alongside evolution in public schools. “I don’t think there should be a prohibition against debate if it comes up in class,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”
» wrote on 08/31/08 @ 02:28 PM
LOL LOL LOL, Just the Facts. I’m sorry but I just can’t stop laughing about a liberal bringing up Troopergate. I don’t know you but based on your concern with hypoocrisy, I’m sure you were entirely consistent with a certain ex-president’s own Troopergate scandal. An important difference, of course, is that Palin has been entirely forthcoming, transparent and cooperative while the ex-president lawyered up, threatened, stonewalled and lied and lied and lied.
I’ll bet I’ve read most of the blogs you have, as well as quite a bit of official transcripts this weekend. There doesn’t appear to be anything there, but I sure hope The Messiah’s disciples spend plenty of time, resources and money exploring it.
Thanks for the laughs.
» wrote on 09/07/08 @ 01:13 PM
Isn’t Palin just the cutest lil ole thing you ever saw? She has never and will never do any wrong. She is absolutely perfect- Why is’t she wearing her tiara?
Poor little 17 year old Bristol doesn’t look real happy- maybe because she doesn’t have a choice about her life and maybe because she has to be responsible for her younger siblings. Children having babies is not cool. Bristol will never know freedom. Ask any woman who left mommy and daddy’s house to the marriage bed, let alone with a baby. I wonder if this was her 17 year old son- would he be getting married? Would yours?