http://www.swingstateproject.com/elections...lections_house/

CA-50: Is Brian Bilbray's Candidacy Illegal?
Posted by James L.

Democrats in CA-50 dropped a bombshell on Wednesday, charging that Brian Bilbray, the Republican candidate to replace disgraced former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham in the June 6th special election, does not live in the district. Bilbray claims that he and his wife live with his mother in Carlsbad, which is within CA-50. However, local Democrats, including North County Party Chair Jess Durfee, have uncovered documents which indicate otherwise:

Virginia property records show Bilbray claims a home in Alexandria, Va., as his primary residence, for tax purposes.
Oops.

Even Bilbray's neighbors think otherwise:

Neighbors told 10News they rarely ever see Bilbray at the house, which is his mother’s home.
“He comes here occasionally to see his mother like boys will do, but he doesn't live here,” said neighbor Frank Knudsen.

“If he does live here, he must leave late at night and come back early in the morning,” said neighbor Bill Rider.

Another man, who lives right next door, said he wondered when people would catch on that Bilbray does not live here.

Whatever the case, his ambiguous legal residency fits nicely into the DCCC's efforts to paint Bilbray as a representative of DC-centric lobbyists rather than the 50th CD. Going into the home stretch, Democrat Francine Busby has got to be pleased with this break.

UPDATE (DavidNYC): Rick Hasen writes in to say that CA can't impose a residency requirement stricter than that found in the Constitution, which mandates only that a candidate be a resident at the time of election. Hence, he thinks there is nothing illegal about Bilbray's candidacy.

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Ha ha ha

Busby 47%, Bilbray 40%-- latest poll from CA-50!!

by LALaw, Wed May 17, 2006 at 03:58:54 PM EST

The latest poll from Busby's campaign shows that she now leads Republican Brian Bilbray by 7 percentage points! This is wonderful news coming from a congressional district with a R to D registration advantage of 50% to 32%.

From the Lake Research Partners:

"With three weeks to go before Election Day, Francine Busby has opened up a lead over Brian Bilbray, with 47% for Busby and 40% for Bilbray, with 1% for minor candidates Libertarian Paul King and Independent William Griffith and 12% undecided."

This poll was conducted May 12-15 and is the most recent poll of CA-50.

More from the LRP poll, under the fold...

Findings from LRP's poll, which show Busby's strength in this race:

1. Busby's favorability has increased to 53% while Bilbray's has remained stagnant at 48%. There are nearly twice as many voters with a strongly favorable opinion of Busby (33%) than Bilbray (18%). Both candidates are universally known.

2. Busby leads despite the significant Republican registration advantage reflected in our sample of 50% Republican to 32% Democrat.

3. A clear and expanding majority of independent voters supports Busby over Bilbray, and Bilbray's share of Republican votes has continued to deteriorate since our early polls.

4. Busby holds an even wider edge among those voters deemed most likely to vote based on their past voting record.

5. Attacks on the moderate Busby as being "too liberal" have failed and have limited credibility coming from a lobbyist.

6. Although Republicans will clearly outnumber Democrats in the 50th CD, Democrats could form a disproportionate share of the electorate in June, as the run-off election is scheduled to be on the same ballot as the heavily contested Democratic primary for Governor.

The bottom line is that even in the face of attacks, Busby has continued to have strong support in this Republican-leaning district, and now leads Bilbray. Nonetheless, Busby has not yet reached the critical 50% mark, and we expect the race to narrow. To hold her strength with voters other than Democrats, and to win her share of the undecideds over the remaining three weeks, Busby will need the financial resources to match the Republican expenditures.

This race is an excellent opportunity to begin retaking the House even earlier than expected. If Busby wins on 6/6/06, we'll only need to flip 14 seats in the House to regain Democratic control in November.

The NRCC has dumped $2.5 million into this race on the Republican's behalf--they are obviously scared to death of Busby as that represents 10% of their total cash on hand!

Give now, or forever hold your peace!

http://actblue.com/list/netrootscandidat es

and check out Busby's site here:

http://www.busbyforcongress.org

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/5/17/155855/061