CA-50: Kaloogian promises to support Roach against Bilbray

Division in the GOP ranks in CA-50 now seems ever more likely, with the third-place Republican in last week's primary strongly encouraging the second-place finisher, Eric Roach, to take on GOP lobbyist Brian Bilbray in the June 6 primary.

Howard Kaloogian, who finished a distant third among Republican candidates in the CA-50 primary last week (even though he had the endorsement of James Dobson and Focus on the Family), has announced that he will support Eric Roach if Roach decides to take on Bilbray in the GOP primary on June 6. That is the same day that Bilbray will be facing Democratic nominee Francine Busby in the runoff to fill the remainder of the term of convicted GOP felon Randy "Duke" Cunningham.

(Quote after the flip.)

... Kaloogian's statement Monday that he is dropping out of the Republican primary race and will support Roach if he decides to run. Staunch conservative Kaloogian came in third among Republican candidates in the April 11 election, winning a 7.44 percent share of the votes. He said he spent the weekend mulling his options and decided against running in the primary.

"Instead, I will enjoy being a private citizen," Kaloogian said.

If Roach decides to stay in the primary race, Kaloogian said he would choose him over Bilbray.

"I would like to support a conservative and clearly I think Roach is," Kaloogian said.

As far as Bilbray is concerned, "I don't know what makes him a conservative," Kaloogian said, accusing him of a voting record that is less than conservative on issues like gun control and abortion.

Bring it on... GOP civil war in this district can only help Francine Busby.

Roach is a self-funded millionaire candidate.  He therefore has no reason to bow down to the GOP hackocracy and the fat cats in the smoke-filled rooms who want everyone to fall in line behind lobbyist Bilbray, the poster boy for the Republican Culture Of Corruption.