Logue leading Horne in Assembly race

Yuba County Supervisor Dan Logue held a commanding lead Tuesday over Sue Horne in the Republican primary for the 3rd District Assembly seat and said "a clean campaign on our record will prevail over mudslinging."

Logue, 57, had nearly 55 percent of the vote near midnight to Horne's 45 percent with 88 percent of the vote tallied. With a victory he would face Democrat Michael "Mickey" Harrington in November for the Assembly district that includes all of Yuba, Lassen, Nevada, Plumas and Sierra counties and most of Butte County.

Horne, a Nevada County supervisor, said as votes were still being counted Tuesday night that, "We are very proud of how our team has run the race" and said she'd await final voting results.

Logue noted that he would be the first Yuba County resident to represent the 3rd Assembly District if he wins the Republican primary and goes on to defeat Harrington in the fall.

"You have a lot of family value and down-home people who just want freedom," Logue said Tuesday of voters. "People in Yuba are tired of a nanny state government."

Butte County resident Harrington, 68, president of the Butte-Glenn Central Labor Union, said about half the electorate resides in Butte County, which includes the city of Chico.

"The people here, quite frankly, feel like it's their district," Harrington said.

He said he expects a "bit of a coattail" effect in November with Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential nominee, a prediction Logue disputed.

"Not in this district," Logue said of Obama proving a political plus. "He's going to be a real problem."

"Rev. Wright is going to be a major problem," Logue said of the former pastor at the Chicago church Obama had attended.

Logue said his Republican primary campaign made illegal immigration a major issue and said that if elected to the state legislature that the economy in California will be a key interest.

"We're chasing jobs to Nevada," he said Tuesday.

Ted Gaines, the Republican Assemblyman representing the 4th District that includes Placer and El Dorado counties, appeared at Logue's election night gathering.

Gaines cited Logue's battle in 2005 against a proposed Indian casino in Yuba County that Gaines said spurred death threats against Logue.

"He's got guts," Gaines said of Logue. "We need more people with guts in the capitol."