Boxer Race Draws One More

Former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian of Carlsbad formally launched his campaign for the U.S. Senate on Wednesday, joining a crowded field of Republicans hoping to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the November election.

His announcement tour included a San Diego news conference with illegal-immigration opponent Ron Prince, one of the authors of Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot measure that would have outlawed many state services for such immigrants.

Kaloogian has distanced himself from other GOP candidates through sharp criticism of President Bush’s proposal to create a guest worker program to allow illegal immigrants to work legally in the United States.

“I think President Bush has been a terrific president” by pushing through tax cuts and leading the war against Iraq, he said in an interview, “but his immigration policy is mechanically unworkable.”

He began the campaign with the endorsement of fellow conservative state Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks), who said Kaloogian “can draw clear contrasts between our conservative positions on the issues and [Boxer’s] extremely liberal positions.”

McClintock campaigned as the conservative answer to former Gov. Gray Davis in last year’s recall election but lost to Arnold Schwarzenegger with 13.5% of the vote.

Though virtually unknown statewide, Kaloogian stressed his chairmanship of a Davis recall committee and his advocacy of a successful effort to pressure CBS into pulling a controversial program on former President Reagan. He left the Assembly in 2000.

Kaloogian is one of four major GOP candidates in the 10-person primary, which includes former Secretary of State Bill Jones, former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin and businesswoman Toni Casey. Last week, Gov. Schwarzenegger endorsed Jones, a strategic boost for Jones’ statewide visibility and fundraising.

Though at a disadvantage against better-known and better-financed challengers, Kaloogian should not be discounted, said Republican political strategist Jeff Flint of Sacramento, who is not involved in the race.

“He has the strongest appeal to the conservative voters who will dominate the primary,” Flint said.

None of the Republican candidates has emerged so far as a formidable alternative to Boxer, first elected in 1992 alongside fellow Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

A statewide Field Poll released last weekend showed Boxer with a 13-point lead over Jones -- of whom about two-thirds of voters in the survey said they had no opinion. Boxer did even better against Kaloogian, Marin and Casey. The survey was taken before Schwarzenegger’s endorsement.

Kaloogian will use the Internet and talk radio to energize conservative voters, as he did with the Davis recall, his strategist Sal Russo said. “Endorsements get attention, but what matters in a primary is people who are voting based on ideas,” he said.

Kaloogian said his most potent endorsements are from advocacy groups, including Gun Owners of California and Gun Owners of America, Eagle Forum, Concerned Women of America and the Madison Project, a national network of grass-roots conservatives.

“I’m going to reach out to all voters who understand the need for a strong economy, secure borders and strong national defense,” Kaloogian said during a midday break in a flurry of radio talk-show appearances.