Case Gets Boost From Rep. Kennedy

Democratic leaders trying to regain control of Congress need Michael Case as much as he needs them, Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) said Monday at what supporters described as a fiery morning fund-raiser.

Democrat Case, a Ventura lawyer, is “the first candidate we’ve had in a long time to mount a strong challenge” to Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley), Kennedy said at the $60-per-plate breakfast, which drew about 175 supporters, despite pounding rain.

“Races like this become pivotal for us,” said Kennedy, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and is the son of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.). Patrick Kennedy is also campaigning in California for Democratic congressional candidates Jane Harman and Adam Schiff.

“This is a state that can take us all the way back, if they can get the votes out here,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy has promised financial support to Case, a political newcomer who said he has raised about one-third of the $1 million he estimates he’ll need to have a shot at winning the November election.

Kennedy said Gallegly has a weak voting record on environmental policy, patients rights and gun control, and shouldn’t have a lock on voters who have supported Democrats such as President Clinton and Gov. Gray Davis.

Kennedy’s plea to local organizers to support Case was well received by the party faithful in attendance.

“It was very Kennedy, very fiery,” said Jim Blomquist of the Sierra Club, an environmental group that has endorsed Case. “You start thinking, ‘What more can we do?’ Sierra Club has lots of members. We can mobilize them.”

Case said he was grateful for the attention. “This was the national party saying, ‘We care about this race,’ ” he said. “You ask people when’s the last time a national congressional leader paid attention to this district, and they’ll tell you it was 30 years ago when Teddy Kennedy was here.”

Reached Monday, Gallegly said the Rhode Island congressman is “unquestionably the most liberal” member of the Kennedy family in politics and that Case would be hurt, not helped, by the local appearance in this largely conservative county.

“When you take a look at the March [primary] election, Case got less than 25% of the vote and we had 64%,” Gallegly said. “You don’t get that much of the vote unless you represent the mainstream.”

Meanwhile, Kennedy is facing allegations that he shoved a guard at Los Angeles International Airport last month, after she told him his bag was too large to get through an X-ray scanner.

No charges have been filed. Police so far have rejected Kennedy’s request to make public a videotape of the confrontation.

“Once they see what the videotape shows, they’re going to be asking more questions of her than of me,” Kennedy said after the morning meeting.