MODESTO — MODESTO -- Even in what is shaping up as the only heavily contested race for a state Senate seat this year, the arrival of Clint Eastwood in a presidential-like convoy of shiny black SUVs was unexpected here -- maybe doubly so.
It's not every day that a Hollywood icon steps out of a mini-motorcade and into the local movie house for a screening of his latest film, "Bloodwork." What's more, on this recent Sunday evening, Republican Eastwood was in town to raise money and campaign for Rusty Areias, the Democratic nominee in the 12th District Senate race.
Areias, 52, who is opposed by Republican businessman Jeff Denham, 35, was pumped at harnessing the star power and fund-raising draw of Eastwood, a longtime friend, to the California 99 community whose votes are crucial to the Nov. 5 election.
He suggested that Eastwood's role in Modesto dramatized the importance Democrats put on winning the vacant seat formerly occupied by termed-out Republican Dick Monteith.
For Democrats, a win in this nominally Democratic but philosophically conservative region once represented by Rep. Gary Condit (D-Ceres) is a must to keep their lopsided 26-14 Senate majority. Democrats are one short of a two-thirds super-majority required to enact the state budget or raise taxes without a GOP vote.
Retaining the seat in the GOP lineup is also crucial to the Republicans, whose numbers in the Senate have shrunk to so few in the last decade that they exercise little power. Loss of the seat would push them further to the sidelines.
As a result of redistricting maps drawn by the Legislature last year, the 12th District is the only Senate seat that is competitive. In a deal agreed to by majority Democrats and minority Republicans, a status quo redistricting plan was adopted that is intended to freeze the current alignment for the next decade.
Originally drawn as a Democratic-tilting district, the 12th now has Democrats outnumbering Republicans 48% to 38%, while voters of no party total 9%. The district includes all of Merced County, much of Stanislaus County and a piece of Madera County. It also stretches west over the coastal mountains to include all of San Benito County and part of Monterey County.
Both parties are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign and expect to spend millions before election day -- more than a combined $6 million for a seat that pays $99,000 a year plus a tax-free $120 daily living allowance when the Legislature is in session.
