Inland Valley Daily Bulletin on Political Human Sacrifice Failure
From today's edition:


Illegal immigration issue unable to unseat Dreier, Baca
By JASON NEWELL, STAFF WRITER

A high-profile effort to "sacrifice" two Inland Valley congressmen over the issue of illegal immigration appeared to have only a minimal impact Tuesday....

Reps. David Dreier and Joe Baca jumped out to sizeable early leads over their opponents....

"I am very grateful and humbled by tonight's election results," Dreier said in declaring victory Tuesday night. "I look forward to another two years of working with the people of the 26th District to address important issues facing our district and our nation."

Dreier, a high-ranking Republican who has served 24 years in Congress, faced unusually fierce opposition this election season after he was targeted for "political human sacrifice" by radio hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI-AM's "The John and Ken Show."

The radio team and their conservative listening base - hoping to send a message to Washington, D.C. by doing away with one of their own - led an aggressive campaign to unseat Dreier after selecting him as Southern California's most lenient Republican on the issue of illegal immigration.

Dreier's opponents held rallies, created Web sites and printed lawn signs to shore up opposition to the congressman, who favors free-trade policies and supports President Bush's proposal for a guest-worker program.

Dreier fought back with a slew of mailers, radio ads and phone messages from friend and political ally Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger - all touting a strong record of fighting illegal immigration.

The National Republican Campaign Committee joined in, filing a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission accusing the radio station of criminal behavior for the on-air attacks on Dreier and frequent endorsements of his Democratic opponent, Cynthia Matthews.

The radio team led a similar but less intense on-air campaign against Baca, whom the show credited with stopping the U.S. Border Patrol from rounding up illegal immigrants in a series of sweeps in June.

Citing that and past votes, the show urged voters concerned about the impact of illegal immigration on California's public schools, freeways, prisons and hospitals to vote for Republican challenger Ed Laning in the 43rd District....

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