California Republicans Dodge Birther Bullet

In the end, it wasn’t even close:

Among the most curious what-if scenarios in Tuesday night’s primary was the possibility that Orly Taitz, widely known as the Birther Queen, might win the Republican primary for secretary of state in California.

It wasn’t even close. Former NFL player Damon Dunn beat Taitz by about 3-to-1. He will face Democratic incumbent Debra Bowen in the fall.

Taitz gained national attention for filing lawsuits alleging President Barack Obama was not born in the U.S. and therefore was ineligible for the highest office in the land.

Taitz fared poorly on a night when GOP women generally performed well at the polls.

On a night when sane GOP women generally performed well at the polls. There, fixed that.

FILED UNDER: 2010 Election, US Politics, , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. You beat me to that one, headline and all! 🙂

  2. Steve Plunk says:

    It wasn’t even close so it’s hardly dodging a bullet.  I saw it more as an attempt to link Republicans to Taitz and her kookiness.  There was no link.

  3. @Steve:
    Fair enough on the closeness and whether the metaphor is wholly relevant.
    In regards to a link, however:  she ran in the GOP primary, so the attempt to link to the Republicans was her own.  Further, she did win 26% of the vote, which is not a radical repudiation by the GOP electorate in CA.  So there is an empirical link.  Now, is it an especially significant link?  No.