Ramos Campaign in Panic Mode?

The Ramos campaign appears to be panicking.  No not Mike Ramos for District Attorney (whose reelection campaign is a basket case), Supervisor James Ramos’ campaign for the 40^th Assembly District.

When James Ramos threw his hat in the ring for the 40^th Assembly District currently held by Assemblyman Marc Steinorth, political handicappers bet that James Ramos, the Third District County Supervisor would be a shoe-in for election.  A former San Manuel Tribal Chairman with access to apparently unlimited funds, Ramos was viewed as an easy win for Democrats as they attempt to gain a 2/3rds majority in the Assembly.

Ramos apparently thought so himself, as his campaign up to two weeks ago was comprised solely of some social media ads and a few yard signs.  His campaign all but ignored any campaign to vote-by-mail voters, a standard practice in even the easiest of campaigns.

But, something on the way to the State Assembly seems to have occurred.  Out of the blue, James Ramos has been flooding mailboxes with last minute mailers.  Even more interesting, special interest groups including the Democratic Party, the California Association of Realtors, and Ramos’ tribe, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians have been doing the same.

So, as we used to say in the 80’s, “Where’s the Beef!”

According to sources inside and outside the Ramos campaign, a number of factors have made the James Ramos self-coronation less certain.

First, Ramos shares the last name of unrelated Mike Ramos, San Bernardino County’s corrupt District Attorney who is currently being handily beaten in his reelection campaign.  “Stop Ramos” signs have been hoisted across the county and in the 40^th Assembly District by default.  Anti-Ramos mail has engulfed mailboxes throughout the county as well.  While targeted at DA Mike Ramos, not Supervisor James Ramos, many voters may not see a difference.

Second, in the 40^th Assembly race, Democrat James Ramos is second billing to another Democrat, Libbern Gwen Cook who is listed with the ennobling ballot title of “teacher.”  There is also only one Republican, San Bernardino City Councilman Henry Nickel.  The June election will produce only two candidates for the runoff in November, and with only one Republican the battle for one of those spots will likely be between the two Democrats, Ramos and Cook.

Third, the 40^th Assembly District only incorporates a small portion of the third Supervisorial District which James Ramos represents.  Two-thirds of the District is unknown to Ramos or his prior campaigns for election to Supervisor and College Board.  Sources also state that the largest city in the third district, Redlands, is no longer enamored by Democrat Ramos, as they have discovered that he is, actually a Democrat and has largely been invisible.

Ramos only needs to finish in the top two spots for the runoff, which shouldn’t have been that difficult being an existing elected official and endorsed by the Democrat Party.  Once in the top two, whether he finished first or second is factually irrelevant to the November election where a democrat would be favored.  So what gives?

It can only be surmised, and sources confirm, that Ramos is not running as well as Democrats had hoped he would.  But, even then, he only needs to finish second?

The late mail drive logically means only one thing: Teacher Libbern Gwen Cook is performing far better than expected against politician James Ramos, perhaps so much better, that the Ramos campaign, the Democratic Party, the Realtors, and the San Manuel Tribe have found it necessary to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to bolster their not-so anointed Assemblyman.

Perhaps, if James Ramos wants to save his campaign, he should publicly disavow District Attorney Mike Ramos, whose political demise has turned into a significant drag for James Ramos.