The primary election is only two weeks away, and the pressure of an 11-person race for second place is beginning to increase.
The redrawn Second Congressional District, which stretches up the coast from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border, is a much-coveted, safely Democrat seat. Incumbent Lynn Woolsey is resigning after 18 years in the House, and Marin County Assemblyman Jared Huffman is widely seen as the favorite in the June 5 primary.
But since this will be the first "top two" election, where the first and second place vote-getters will face off in the November general election regardless of their political affiliation, the race for second place is where the action is.
Some of that action came over the weekend when candidate of Inverness Park sent out a mailer callling out of San Rafael on the source of her backing, her spotty voting record and other matters.
Solomon and Lawson are themselves locked in that race for second, so leave it to long-shot candidate Larry Fritzlan to call out Solomon for his attack.
Fritzlan, in an email blast, says the glossy anti-Lawson "Congressional Jeopardy" mailer sent over the weekend to residents of the 2nd Congressional District is a "sliming" of Lawson, demeans the election process and "makes us all feel yucky."
The mailer calls Lawson a "corporate profiteer" and a "carpetbagger from Silicon Valley and San Francisco," and calls her to task for failing to vote in some earlier elections.
Fritzlan, a Mill Valley psychologist, claims the mailer "epitomizes the reason half the population does not vote."
"Really, Norman!" Fritzlan says in his email. "We want to respect our leaders. We want to trust them.
"But right now, 90 percent of us do not trust politicians, and your mailer is an example of why we don't trust politicans," Fritzlan says. "Sliming someone else makes us all feel yucky."
Inquiries to the Solomon campaign about Fritzlan's objections resulted in a call from political consultant Tom Higgins, who said, “Insofar as I know Ms. Lawson has done nothing to refute anything that is said in the mailer.”
Upon pressing for a response to Fritzlan’s criticism in particular, Higgins returned to the same grounds. “The piece is about Ms. Lawson, and I am still waiting to hear if Ms. Lawson chooses to refute anything put forward in the piece.”
Lawson, however, did post a comment on her Facebook campaign account about the issue yesterday afternoon. "Larry Fritzlan, you are a stand-up guy! Thank you."
She also posted, "I'm told it's a good sign that I'm being attacked by my opponents - it shows that I'm one of the frontrunners. But I honestly wish we could have a debate on the issues that voters care about - putting Californians and all Americans back to work.... That's why I've challenged them today to put their ideas on the table - Let's have a debate about better policies, not politics-as-usual attacks."
While the Solomon campaign has not backed down from its criticism of Lawson, today's outreach from them takes a different direction. It introduces us to actor Mike Farrell -- B.J. Hunnicut in the "M*A*S*H" television series -- who endorses Solomon with a video on the campaign website called an "anti-war mash note."
Solomon, a published anti-war activist, was also endorsed earlier this year by ."
Other candidates with local support include Marin County Supervisor Susan Adams and Petaluma City Councilmember Tiffany Renee.
