XPost: alt.crime.peacemaking.criminology, alt.los-angeles, talk.politics.guns   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, sac.politics   
   From: nospam@ix.netcom.com   
      
   Back in 2020, George Gascon's campaign raised around $13 million dollars,   
   giving him quite a bit more to spend than the incumbent Jackie Lacey who   
   raised about $7 million. Four years later the situation has changed   
   dramatically.   
      
   As of Oct. 14, Hochman and outside groups supporting him have raised   
   nearly $10.4 million in campaign donations, compared with $1.2 million for   
   Gascón and his outside supporters, according to an analysis conducted by   
   The Times.   
      
   Why have Gascon's supporters seemingly abandoned him? Because they aren't   
   idiots and know a lost cause when they see one. Even George Soros has cut   
   him off.   
      
   “These are sophisticated donors, and not only are they seeing the polls in   
   this race, they also saw what happened to Chesa Boudin in San Francisco,”   
   said Roy Behr, a longtime consultant to Democratic campaigns in Los   
   Angeles, referring to the recall of Gascón’s progressive successor.   
   “They’re looking at all this information and saying this is a lost cause.”   
      
   Of Gascón’s 10 largest 2020 outside donors, only four have given money to   
   committees in support of his reelection campaign this year. Liberal   
   philanthropist George Soros poured $2.45 million into Gascón’s run in   
   2020, but has offered the incumbent nothing this cycle.   
      
   A Soros spokesman said he was not abandoning Gascon so much as focusing on   
   the presidential race.   
      
   “Mr. Soros’s focus this cycle is on national elections, particularly the   
   presidential contest. This reflects the unprecedented stakes facing the   
   nation and should not be misconstrued as an abandonment of Gascón or other   
   local leaders who are implementing effective and humane approaches to   
   public safety,” a spokesperson for Soros said. “Los Angeles County   
   District Attorney Gascón has George Soros’s endorsement.”   
      
   Regardless of what they say, I think they are abandoning Gascon because   
   even billionaires get tired of throwing money into a pit. There is simply   
   no way Gascon ever wins reelection. The city has turned on him.   
      
   But Gascon is still maintaining that whatever he's lost in outside support   
   and big money donors he has made up for in local support.   
      
   Despite his dreary poll numbers, Gascón professes to be bullish about the   
   race. He said that when voters hear about the accomplishments of his   
   office — the resentencing initiatives, the exoneration of people who were   
   wrongly convicted in the past — they like what they hear. He has secured   
   the endorsement of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the powerful   
   county Labor Federation and a long list of local Democratic clubs and   
   elected officials.   
      
   “We sort of lost some of that national attention, if you will, but we have   
   gained so much more locally,” said Gascón, adding that Democrats like   
   Harris and Newsom have “bigger fish to fry” this election.   
      
   I'm tempted to say he's delusional except I don't think he really believes   
   what he's saying. He knows he's going to lose. Now he just hopes the   
   impending loss won't be seen as representative of the criminal justice   
   reform movement as a whole. But having been the face of that movement for   
   many years in California it's pretty hard to avoid the conclusion that the   
   public's interest in reform has peaked and, with his defeat, is now   
   receding.   
      
   What the public wants now is safer streets, something Gascon never seemed   
   to care as much about as he did his left-wing ideology. This election they   
   will get what they want not only by electing Nathan Hochman to replace   
   Gascon but also by passing Prop. 36. Criminal justice reform has been a   
   failure. Even in deep blue LA County, voters can see that.   
      
   https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/10/22/donors-dry-up-for-lost-cause-   
   reelection-of-da-george-gascon-n3796142   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)