Tony Strickland Strikes First in the Senate Race Against Hannah-Beth Jackson

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Tony Strickland is shocked—shocked!—about a tough new TV attack ad that tears into Hannah-Beth Jackson, his Democratic rival in the high-profile race for the 19th District State Senate seat. Paid for with “soft money” by a third-party campaign committee, the negative ad blindsided Jackson, who charged the spot is “wrong on every single charge” and demanded her Republican foe help her get it pulled off the air.

“In fact I have not seen it,” Strickland told me about the ad flap. “And honestly, I have nothing to do with it,” he added, without a trace of irony in his voice.

Small wonder.

For Strickland to have knowledge or discussions about the broadcast rip job would run afoul of state law. The ad is paid for by the California Taxpayer Protection Committee, a so-called independent expenditure committee, and such groups are required to operate at arms-length from candidates they benefit. The committee (protecttaxpayers.com) endorses and supports conservative Republicans around the state, using special interest contributions. Its lineup includes some long-time Strickland allies, demonstrating anew the great resourcefulness of politicians to obey the letter, if not quite the spirit, of the campaign finance canon.

The group is hardly an exception to accepted campaign practice. With 11 weeks to go before the November 4 election, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties’ voters can expect to see more independent-financed ads, as special interests and partisans on both sides of the Jackson-Strickland race pour money into what is the number one priority senate race for both parties.

In the ad, the Democratic former assemblymember is portrayed as “Taxin’ Jackson,” and specifically accused of voting to raise the gas tax , the Vehicle License Fee, and to weaken Proposition 13, while the titles of eight separate bills appear on the screen; in each case, however, the bills cited have little, if anything, to do with the charges made. “Some of them aren’t even in the same topic area,” said Parke Skelton, Jackson’s campaign consultant. The committee did not respond to requests for comment.

Even before the $114,000 attack ad campaign began airing last Thursday, however, Strickland’s campaign had already stolen a march on Jackson, sponsoring its own surprise, early TV offensive during the Olympics. The campaign ads, which began during the opening ceremonies, are straight positive bio spots about Strickland that practically portray him as a member of the Green Party.

As a strategic matter, it’s a questionable move to put money into TV this early, particularly into programming with a mass audience, many of whose members couldn’t care less about the 19th Senate District. But Strickland said it was a no-brainer, explaining, “Our thinking was, the Olympics comes around only every four years, and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to highlight a feel-good issue on renewable energy.” If nothing else, Strickland’s ad got the attention of Jackson’s campaign, which put its own positive bio spot on the air a few days later.

“We weren’t planning on going up this early,” said Jackson’s consultant Skelton. “It’s probably too early to be up, but I didn’t want to let them get ahead with anything.”

Round 1 to Strickland.

DiFi Does Hamlet: A recent poll by Sacramento consultant Jim Moore—leaked to Phil Matier and Andy Ross, the twin terrier political columnists of the San Francisco Chronicle—showed Sen. Dianne Feinstein skunking the pack if she runs for governor in 2010, setting off a statewide flurry of speculation. DiFi later told the L.A. Times’s George Skelton she’s giving thought to a race for governor, which has had a chilling effect on preparations by some other Democrats.

I’ve seen this act before. In 1987, then S.F. mayor Feinstein publicly played Hamlet in weighing whether to seek a congressional seat that suddenly opened when the late Sala Burton died. With other candidates awaiting her decision, Feinstein finally chose to keep the job she had (an obscure politician named Nancy Pelosi won that race).

So despite the conventional wisdom, I don’t see the case for DiFi making a run. For starters, Democrats are poised to win a big Senate majority, putting her in line for chair of a key committee, maybe Intelligence, or, if West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd ever proves mortal, Appropriations. Not to be ungallant, but she’ll also be 77 at the time of the election; Feinstein has never been what you’d call a happy warrior on the campaign trail, where her whining is notorious. The idea of her giving up Georgetown dinners for 7 a.m. breakfasts with the Rotary in Markleeville, Weed, and Indio is a bit far-fetched.

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