WKNO: Big Names, Big Dollars Shape Congressional Race (2004-10-27)

Running for Congress against incumbents can be a long slog down the campaign trail. KPBS Radio's Andrew Phelps caught up with the challengers for San Diego's five Congressional seats and filed this report.

Democrat Mike Byron is running for Congress. He's trying to win the 49th district seat from two-term Republican Darrell Issa. Byron is precinct-walking on a Sunday afternoon in Oceanside.

Byron: "And do you have any questions for me? (Are --- you're for Congress?) Yes. (You're for Congress, huh?) Yes I am."

Byron says he has visited 15,000 homes ---and he's already been attacked by a German shepherd in Sun City and clashed with Republicans in Fallbrook.

Byron carries a clipboard with thousands of voters' addresses and party affiliations. His district is mostly Republican, and every visit is a tough sell.

But he says it's worth it, because of experiences like this.

"Thanks very much, I'm glad to talk to you, and I'll definitely look up your Web page and print it out and put it in my folder.

Byron: "And remember I'm the one who came to your door."

"I'll --- don't forget things like that."
Byron: "Thank you ma'am."

Byron: "It makes a different impression. It's worth doing. Thank you. It's really --- it can make people vote for you for years."

Farther south, it's the same story for the opposite party. Darin Hunzeker is a Republican trying to unseat Susan Davis in the 53rd district. Every morning, he drops off his daughter at school --- and then

Hunzeker: "I head to my next area, I pull my stuff together, put on some sunscreen, take a handful of ibuprofen, and start walking. And that's pretty much it until the end of the day."

Hunzeker's goal is to reach 40,000 voters by Election Day.

Hunzeker: "I think I have a shot at it, especially from the reception I get at the doors that I walk to. I mean if I were able to reach every door, I believe I'd win this campaign. The question is, based on the number of doors that I can personally reach, how does that translate into votes in the end?"

Precinct-walking is a rite of passage for these challengers --- it's something incumbents don't bother with. Because they don't have to.

Kausser: "It doesn't look like any incumbents, really, are gonna lose this year in California.

UCSD political science professor Thad Kausser.

Kausser: "The last round of redistricting in California after the 2000 census made the districts safer for all the incumbents ---sort of both parties got together and agreed to do what's called a bipartisan gerrymander, that in some ways guarantees there aren't gonna be that many close races for the next decade."

Of the 435 representatives in the last Congressional election, only four lost their seats.

This frustrates candidate Brian Keliher.

Keliher: "The system itself is, is broken. To see so many of one group be re-elected time and time again means something isn't working right."

Keliher is a Democrat trying to oust political veteran Duncan Hunter in the 52 district. Hunter has clenched the seat for 24 years. Hunter has fund-raised 76 times as much money as Keliher. But Keliher is waging an optimistic fight.

Keliher: "I have this letter --- in fact I just received this about a week ago, where a woman sent a check for $10, basically saying 'I wish I could be more, it's so important to get Duncan Hunter out of Congress, I'd be happy to make phone calls if you need me, here's my phone number.' And that's what actually makes it possible to get out of bed each day and work the 14-plus hours a day that I do on this campaign."

Keliher says his best hope for winning is to expose Hunter's controversial record. For example, Keliher criticizes Hunter for his donations from Titan, a San Diego company whose contractors worked in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Like most challengers, Keliher has worked hard to secure debates with his opponent --- but such face-offs are rare these days.

Political-science professor Thad Kausser says incumbents don't want to debate their challengers --- fearing it could level the playing field.

Kausser: "Getting on stage with a challenger will inflate their stature and make them look just as important as the member of Congress."

Mike Giorgino, the Republican vying for the 51st District seat, says his Democratic opponent Bob Filner skipped out on a recently-planned talk-radio debate.

Giorgino says he works tirelessly to get Filner to debate him.

Giorgino: "Bock bock bock bock! I told the Democrat, from the Democrat club, I says he's chicken! I says call Bob Filner, and tell him he's chicken. Tell him to debate. Why would he be afraid to debate me in his own backyard, the South County Democrat Club?"

Without a debate, incumbents fight an uphill battle to gain name recognition.

For candidate Francine Busby, every community event is a campaign opportunity.

Busby is challenging Randy Duke Cunningham in the Fiftieth District. On this day she hands out campaign stickers at a breast-cancer-walk in Carmel Valley. Her theme today is Women for Women --- to woo what she calls her strongest demographic.

Busby says she has to be creative to spread her name and her message.

Busby: "We had a poll that was taken in July, and it said that my opponent had an 18-point lead because of name recognition. But at the end of our five-minute poll where people were given two issue-questions each, and those issues changed from each person, we were in a dead heat to win this race. Because people know his name but not what he stands for."

Without the name recognition incumbents enjoy, a challenger's toughest task is raising money. Busby has raised almost $190,000. That's far more than any other challengers, but just a quarter her opponent's cash.

In fact, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, the five challengers combined --- Busby, Byron, Giorgino, Hunzeker and Keliher ---have raised about $345,000 but that's no match for the incumbents' total of more than $3.5 million. For KPBS News, I'm Andrew Phelps.