Things don’t get much hotter.
This week, President Barack Obama descended from the White House to endorse Salud Carbajal, the Democratic county supervisor now running to represent the South Coast in Congress. Historically, Obama has made a point to stay out of local races, but given the stakes involved, coupled with his surging popularity, he’s jumped in feetfirst, endorsing Democrats in 150 congressional and statehouse races.
In the other camp, no less a figure than House Speaker and Republican party leader Paul Ryan made an appearance in Santa Barbara this past weekend, executing a quick fundraising whistle-stop to exhort the faithful party to give ’til it hurts and send Republican Justin Fareed to Congress next year.