Saturday, October 28, 2006

And few people seem to know who Mountjoy is, despite his role as one of the architects of 1994's Proposition 187, which would have made it illegal for undocumented immigrants to receive many government benefits. Mountjoy's 29% support among all registered voters in the most recent Los Angeles Times poll is less than the 34% of state voters enrolled as Republicans. And in a July Field poll — one of the last to ask the question — 62% of voters said they did not know enough about Mountjoy to have an opinion about him.

Little has changed since then. Feinstein entered the late-summer push with more than $8 million in the bank to Mountjoy's $21,000, making it likely that this will be the second California race in a row for the Senate in which the Republican challenger was unable to air crucial television ads in the final weeks of the campaign.

The next financial reports aren't due until today, but even Republicans seem to have given up. The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee — a key funding and organizing tool for Republican Senate incumbents and hopefuls — doesn't even list Mountjoy as a candidate on its website. To add insult to injury, where his face and biography should be posted, the website lists Barbara Boxer, a red flag for Republican bulls.