"If they didn't feel he was a serious candidate, they wouldn't be attacking him," said John J. Pitney Jr., a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College who co-wrote "Epic Journey," a book on the 2008 presidential election.
Pitney said it appears that Pleitez has patterned his campaign on Obama's in that he has used community organizing to reach voters, turned to the Internet to raise money and "inspired a great deal of volunteer work."
Allan Hoffenblum, a former Republican campaign consultant whose nonpartisan California Target Book tracks legislative races, said the expected low turnout, probably 20% to 25%, on top of the anti-incumbent sentiment afoot in much of the state and nation today, could work well for Pleitez.
"The lower the turnout, the more powerful grass-roots, personal contact campaigning becomes," Hoffenblum said. He stopped short of saying Pleitez could win.
"He's surely making a name for himself," Hoffenblum said. "I'll give him that."
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jean.merl@latimes.com
