Nastiness abounds in California primaries

The lengthy, shrill, and perhaps fatally divisive duel between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination illustrates the ironic truism that there's nothing nastier than a contest among office seekers in the same party.

Why? It's largely because true ideological differences are rare, so the contests almost always hinge on personality and character attacks.

Californians are seeing the level of personal nastiness escalate in several congressional, legislative and local office contests, especially where lopsided partisan orientations mean winning the primary is tantamount to winning the office.

The most obvious example is in the very Democratic 3rd Senate District, covering much of San Francisco and sprawling into Marin County, where Sen. Carole Migden's prickly personality and a much-publicized traffic mishap have left her vulnerable.

Migden's two challengers, Assemblyman Mark Leno and former Assemblyman Joe Nation, differ only slightly, if at all, with Migden on most issues although Nation is a smidgen less liberal and is getting business support. It's now mostly a battle of personality and endorsements that has sharply divided leaders of the two legislative houses.

Four hundred miles to the south, two African American political leaders, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas and Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard Parks, are vying for a much-coveted seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in a contest that's not only divided the black community but drawn much money and other resources from outside the district.

Sacramento, meanwhile, is seeing an exchange of character attacks as Mayor Heather Fargo faces a stiff challenge from former basketball star Kevin Johnson. The pro-Fargo plumbers union local circulated a slick flier declaring, "There is a cloud hanging over Kevin Johnson," citing news reports about sexual misconduct allegations against Johnson that involved underage girls in which no criminal charges were brought. Johnson has not responded in kind but alleges that Fargo has been an ineffective mayor.

To the east of Sacramento, former Congressman Doug Ose and state Sen. Tom McClintock are vying for the Republican nomination for an open congressional seat. While Ose hammers McClintock for being a carpetbagger from Southern California, McClintock portrays Ose as a closet liberal.

The two nastiest primary contests, however, may be among Republicans for two open state Senate seats in Southern California.

In the Orange County's 33rd Senate District former Senate GOP leader Dick Ackerman's departure due to term limits has set up a no-holds-barred fight between Assemblywoman Mimi Walters and Anaheim City Councilman Harry Sidhu, and both campaigns are airing television ads attacking the other for alleged character defects. While Sidhu hammers Walters for casting pro forma votes for Democrat Fabian Nunez as speaker of the Assembly, she hits him for being soft on illegal immigration.

To the east, with Jim Battin termed out in the 37th Senate District, there's a duel in the desert between Assemblyman John Benoit and former Assemblyman Russ Bogh that has included anonymous Internet assaults and attack ads. Bogh accuses Benoit of misusing taxpayers' money to stage campaign-like events while Benoit has attacked Bogh for shifting funds between accounts to skirt campaign finance laws.

Battin could have been describing all intraparty battles when he wrote, while endorsing Bogh: "For the record ... I hate Republican primaries. Primaries always leave scars behind. Friends support different candidates and get mad at each other. Names are called. Attacks are made. Relationships are forever ruined. Regretfully, this one looks to be no different."

(Contact Dan Walters at dwalters<a>sacbee.com. Back columns, www.sacbee.com/walters.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)