Tom Lantos

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. - Delegate Greg Conlon is frank about his status as a Republican congressional candidate on the Bay Area peninsula, the heart of Democratic territory: "It's lonely."

Conlon, an Atherton resident who's attending this week's Republican National Convention as a guest, is hoping to run a credible challenge in California's 12th Congressional District against recently-elected U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Hillsborough).

As the newest member of the House of Representatives, Democrat Jackie Speier, who won the seat left open by Tom Lantos’ death, is maintaining a skeleton staff in both Washington and San Mateo, combining her own aides and confidantes with a few members of the Lantos inner circle.

“She’s kind of pulling it together,” said Alex Tourk, who ran Speier’s campaign for the seat. “It’s going to be a little of both (Speier and Lantos).”

Congresswoman-elect Jackie Speier will replace the late Tom Lantos in the 12th district
Former Democratic state Senator Jackie Speier won Tuesday’s congressional special election to replace the San Francisco Peninsula’s late and very great U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, who died in February.

The Associated Press reported that the 57-year-old Speier had a solid lead including about 77 percent of absentee ballots in San Mateo and San Francisco counties, with those ballots covering more than half of the election’s vote count. Speier was projected to win the 50-percent-plus-one margin needed to avoid a runoff and head to Washington without further challenges to fill out the rest of Lantos’s 2006-08 term.

As voters head to the polls today in the special election for the vacant seat formerly held by U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos, the campaign for Democrat Jackie Speier says it is busy working its last-minute get-out the vote operations.

“We’re doing the little things to get this done,” said Alex Tourk, the campaign manager for Speier, the two-term former state Senator who is the heavy favorite to win the seat.

Tourk said the campaign has a “robust” get-out-the vote effort in place, with volunteers on the ground and about 50 people working the phone lines.

A special election will be held today to fill the 12th district seat of Rep. Tom Lantos, who died in February
Voters in California’s 12th Congressional District go to the polls today to choose a replacement for Congressman Tom Lantos, who died of cancer in February after serving 27 years in the U.S. House of Representatives. If none of the five candidates wins 50% today, there will be a runoff between the top Democratic and Republican candidates in June.

The leading candidate is former State Sen. Jackie Speier, who faces Democrat Michelle McMurry, Republicans Greg Conlon, a former state Public Utilities Commission Chairman and Mike Moloney, and Green Party candidate Barry Hermanson.

Jackie Speier is really running for two offices this year: the U.S. House of Representatives, and a potentially more important post: superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention. If Speier is, as expected, elected to replace the late Tom Lantos in Congress, she would also become a superdelegate. Speier has endorsed Hillary Clinton.

Among the 35 Democrats who make up California’s congressional delegation, sixteen are for Clinton, seven are with Barack Obama, and twelve remain uncommitted.

Former State Sen. Jackie Speier is the front runner to replace the late Tom Lantos in Congress
When voters head to the polls on April 8 to fill the U.S. Congress seat formerly occupied by Tom Lantos, the fourteen-term San Mateo Democrat who passed away in February, it is a pretty safe bet they will select former State Senator Jackie Speier.

“Jackie Speier is assumed to win, and she probably will,” said Barry Hermanson, a Green Party candidate who is running against Speier for the seat.

As Jim Ross, a Bay Area-based Democratic strategist put it, “if the sun rises on April 8th, Jackie Speier will replace Tom Lantos.”

Speier, who served two terms in the state Senate after holding seats in the California Assembly and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, faces token opposition for the seat. But she seems intent on making sure all the bases are covered.

Former State Sen. Jackie Speier is the front runner to replace the late Tom Lantos in Congress
When voters head to the polls on April 8 to fill the U.S. Congress seat formerly occupied by Tom Lantos, the fourteen-term San Mateo Democrat who passed away in February, it is a pretty safe bet they will select former State Senator Jackie Speier.

“Jackie Speier is assumed to win, and she probably will,” said Barry Hermanson, a Green Party candidate who is running against Speier for the seat.

As Jim Ross, a Bay Area-based Democratic strategist put it, “if the sun rises on April 8th, Jackie Speier will replace Tom Lantos.”

Speier, who served two terms in the state Senate after holding seats in the California Assembly and the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, faces token opposition for the seat. But she seems intent on making sure all the bases are covered.