Debbie Cook

A Sacramento judge Friday tossed a lawsuit to keep congressional candidate Debbie Cook from using her title as Huntington Beach mayor on the June primary ballot. A second lawsuit brought by Orange County Republican lawyer Mike Schroeder on behalf of his client Keith Carlson, treasurer of the Orange County Republican Party and a Huntington Beach resident, went before a judge at 1:30 p.m. Friday. By the end of the day it was dismissed, both on its merits and a technicality: Schroeder had failed to serve papers to Cook, as required.

A former Democratic congressional candidate has charged that a rival campaign’s volunteer made a threatening phone call to his home, urging him to drop out of the race. Richard Lara, of Huntington Beach, filed an incident report with the Huntington Beach Police Department Feb. 18, alleging that fellow Democratic activist Vern Nelson told him he would make “a lot of enemies” if he did not drop out and support Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook. Lara cited a family illness when he dropped out of the race for the Democratic nomination in the 46th Congressional District — the seat is held by Republican Dana Rohrabacher — last week, leaving the race between Cook and small business owner Dan Kalmick.

A former Republican congressman from Northern California endorsed Democratic Huntington Beach Debbie Cook in her race against incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Paul “Pete” McCloskey, 81, who served 16 years in Congress starting in the late ’60s, changed his party affiliation to Democrat in 2007. When he left the party, McCloskey said he was frustrated with out-of-control spending and increasing bureaucracy. In his endorsement, he said she brought a fresh perspective from outside of the Beltway to the 46th Congressional District, which Rohrabacher has represented for two decades.

Sometimes you read an article about something so inane you say to yourself, “What were they thinking?” That’s what popped into my mind when I kept reading multiple news reports about Orange County Republican lawyer Mike Schroeder’s lawsuits regarding Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook. He filed on behalf of Keith Carlson, treasurer of the Orange County Republican Party. These guys seem hell bent for leather to stop this gal from using her title as mayor on the upcoming ballot, and with little success.

A message of change is central to the campaigns of both presidential hopeful Barack Obama and congressional challenger Debbie Cook. So while Obama gave one of the most widely heralded political speeches in history in front of 70,000 people at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Cook hosted simultaneous house parties across the Southland. The democratic candidate, who hopes to win the congressional seat held by Dana Rohrabacher for two decades, set a goal of holding 200 concurrent parties and raising enough money to close the funding gap between her and the incumbent.

A day after Rep. Dana Rohrabacher pummeled dark-horse challenger Ron St. John in the 46th Congressional District GOP primary, he turned his sights on his Democratic opponent Debbie Cook. In an election with no statewide candidates and a 17% turnout for Orange County, Rohrabacher trounced St. John, 25,905 (87.4%) to 3,729 (12.6%), respectively, in the final count. Rohrabacher called his turnout numbers a good sign for the general election against Cook, Huntington Beach’s mayor.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher has won nine congressional elections in a row, but Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook hopes to break the streak. He has the advantages of long-term incumbency and strong support for his party in the area, but she said she wants to give him the run of his career. Cook announced her candidacy this month, and already has supporters walking precincts to get signatures for her petition to run. Some local supporters pounding the pavement include former Mayor Connie Boardman and her appointed Planning Commissioner Joe Shaw, who is now communications director for the campaign.

Composer and pianist Vern Nelson does not have a crush on Democratic congressional candidate Debbie Cook, despite what his recent musical composition would have you believe. Nelson, 48, played the piano and sang his multilingual political ballad “I’ve Got a Crush on Debbie Cook,” at a campaign event Saturday. The song is modeled after the popular YouTube video “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama,” but Nelson says that his song has more substance. “Her song just talks about her sexual fantasies about Obama.

Orange County Democratic Party officials recently crunched the November election numbers and they very much liked what they saw — enough so to predict that in two years the county could continue trending blue. Republicans still hold about a 200,000-voter edge countywide, but there were some surprising results for Democrats when volunteers peered deeper into the numbers, particularly in Newport-Mesa. For instance, President-elect Barack Obama beat Sen. John McCain in Costa Mesa, 52% to 45%, with 3% voting for other candidates.

A former Republican congressman from Northern California endorsed Democratic Huntington Beach Debbie Cook in her race against incumbent Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. Paul “Pete” McCloskey, 81, who served 16 years in Congress starting in the late ’60s, changed his party affiliation to Democrat in 2007. When he left the party, McCloskey said he was frustrated with out-of-control spending and increasing bureaucracy. In his endorsement, he said she brought a fresh perspective from outside of the Beltway to the 46th Congressional District, which Rohrabacher has represented for two decades.

About six weeks or so ago, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s closest supporters sat him down and told him something he hasn’t heard in many, many years. “You’re going to have to campaign this time.” Let’s face it. The 46th Congressional District, which looks like the boot-shaped Italy upside down, is safe political territory for Republicans. It stretches from Costa Mesa up to Long Beach and then over to Rancho Palos Verdes. Many representatives in the House perpetually run for office since they only serve two-year terms, but the former President Reagan speechwriter has been on a victory lap for two decades.

Local politicians remain split on the merits, in ways that appear to cross party lines, of the $700-billion bailout package that was signed into law Friday. U.S. Rep. John Campbell, who has consistently supported the $700-billion rescue package, said its passage wasn’t something to celebrate, but that it was necessary. “I wouldn’t say that I or anyone else who voted for it is happy, but we are relieved,” he said. “I think that this will go a long way toward stabilizing our markets, so that they begin to operate or function rationally again.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher should do less apologizing for Jack Abramoff and offer more criticism of his friend, the disgraced Washington lobbyist who was sentenced to four more years in prison Thursday, according to Rohrabacher’s Democratic rival for Congress, Debbie Cook. “You would hope your friends would help keep you out of trouble and keep you from avoiding the errors of judgment Abramoff made, and I don’t know that Dana has ever done that. He has just defended him,” Cook said.

A message of change is central to the campaigns of both presidential hopeful Barack Obama and congressional challenger Debbie Cook. So while Obama gave one of the most widely heralded political speeches in history in front of 70,000 people at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Cook hosted simultaneous house parties across the Southland. The democratic candidate, who hopes to win the congressional seat held by Dana Rohrabacher for two decades, set a goal of holding 200 concurrent parties and raising enough money to close the funding gap between her and the incumbent.

The two local Democratic challengers for Congress, Debbie Cook and Steve Young, have spent their week at the Democratic National Convention in Denver talking, listening and fundraising. Cook, who is contesting Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s 46th District seat, says the atmosphere is intense. “There’s a lot of excitement and anticipation here,” Cook said. She watched Hillary Clinton’s speech Tuesday night at a viewing party at the convention center, and she thought it was terrific, “very poised and classy.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher’s campaign has agreed to debate his challenger, Huntington Beach Mayor Debbie Cook, before they face off in the November elections. But the campaigns spar as they appear to agree in principle. Cook’s campaign challenged Rohrabacher this week to at least three town-hall style debates, with at least one in a Los Angeles County area like Long Beach or the Palos Verdes Peninsula — areas that are in the 46th Congressional District, along with Orange County cities like Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

Of all the issues Debbie Cook and Dana Rohrabacher disagree on in their congressional campaigns, perhaps the most stark are their stances on the environment. Democrat Cook, the mayor of Huntington Beach, has earned a reputation as an environmentalist while GOP incumbent Rep. Rohrabacher for years has ridiculed global-warming theories. So it comes as little surprise that Cook recently received a second big environmental endorsement in her campaign. The California League of Conservation Voters announced it is joining the Sierra Club in backing Cook in the election, citing the candidate?