Alquist cruising to Senate seat in District 13 Alquist cruising to Senate seat in District 13 (October 29, 2004)

1 Republican, 2 Libertarians challenging

By Jon Wiener

The race to replace state Senator John Vasconcellos is considered a foregone conclusion at this point. After edging out state Assembly member Manny Diaz in a bitter primary, Democrat Elaine Alquist is carrying the endorsement of Vasconcellos and looks like a lock for the traditionally Democratic seat.

Alquist raised hundreds of thousands of dollars in the primary and drew laughs from supporters at her victory party when she reminded them the general election was not until November.

A former teacher, small business owner and Assembly member from District 22, Alquist is endorsed by Mountain View City Council members Matt Neely, Matt Pear and Greg Perry.

She supports universal preschool and increased funding for higher education. She has fought for tax breaks and incentives for small business owners and is an advocate of BART-to-San Jose.

Her Republican opponent, Shane Patrick Connolly, boasts a handful of endorsements, including one from Council member Mike Kasperzak. Socially liberal, Connolly sides with Alquist on issues such as increasing home loan assistance for low-income residents. He believes the state government can be streamlined by eliminating unnecessary commissions and cutting waste in bloated state agencies such as the prisons.

Two Libertarian candidates, both Mountain View residents, are also challenging Alquist for the seat.

Mike Laursen replaced two-time nominee John Webster as the Libertarian standard-bearer in Senate District 13, winning the primary by only two votes. Laursen said he got into the race to keep Webster, who is currently appealing a sex-crime-related conviction and has a restraining order that prevents him from going to downtown San Jose, out of it.

Webster then collected enough signatures to qualify as a write-in candidate, but earlier this month he posted a note on his Web site asking people to vote for Laursen, "unless I make a significant legal and media breakthrough to where I might actually have a chance of winning this election."

Laursen said when he heard of the surprise endorsement, "I scratched my head a little bit. He went to all the trouble" of collecting the signatures.

For his part, Laursen tried to spark a debate by inviting Connolly to abandon his party and its push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages. Connolly is the vice president of the Silicon Valley Log Cabin Republicans, a national group dedicated to advance gay rights within the party. The group grabbed headlines this summer when it reacted to the proposed amendment by withholding an endorsement for President Bush.

Connolly did not take the bait.

"It's a shame because, frankly, the race has been a little boring," said Laursen. "We thought we could liven it up a little bit."

Laursen said that despite his original intention, he has had a lot of fun campaigning. He has made public appearances at San Francisco's Pride Parade and the American Muslim festival, among others, and credits his campaign manager for improving the party's regional standing.

"We've really become a serious local party," he said. "I think we're much better organized around here than the Republicans actually."

E-mail Jon Wiener at jwiener@mv-voice.com

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