Countywide : Lagomarsino Backs Away From Write-In

Rep. Bob Lagomarsino (R-Ventura) all but threw in the towel Monday on a write-in campaign for Congress, saying he could not win a spending contest with the Republican nominee who defeated him in the primary.

But Lagomarsino, who lost to Santa Barbara businessman Michael Huffington in a costly June primary for the 22nd Congressional District, declined to completely rule out a write-in campaign.

Huffington defeated Lagomarsino by nearly 5,000 votes in June after spending $3.4 million--most of it his own money--on a high-profile television and direct-mail campaign.

Ardent supporters of Lagomarsino had urged the 20-year incumbent to consider a write-in campaign, and paid for voter surveys that they said proved Lagomarsino’s popularity.

Steve Decker, a Santa Barbara businessman and leader of the Alternative Candidate Committee that supported Lagomarsino’s write-in campaign, said group members are “very disappointed that it was an individual’s vast personal wealth that took Bob Lagomarsino away from us.”

Lagomarsino said Monday that he would remain on the sidelines unless he received an unexpected influx of campaign money or if either Huffington or Democratic nominee Gloria Ochoa experience a loss of support.