Howard Kaloogian

 Howard Kaloogian, a "leading" California Republican from San Marcos and former state Assemblyman, ran in the April 11, 2006, special election for the seat in Congress "recently vacated by indicted Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham."

Kaloogian unsuccessfully ran as a Republican aspirant in the primaries for the U.S. Senate in the 2004 election, coming in 3rd in a crowded GOP field.

Anti-Obama PAC
Kaloogian chairs a political action committee formed to oppose Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, called "Our Country Deserves Better." In addition to Kaloogian, several PAC officers are or were associated with Move America Forward, including PR executive Sal Russo, Russo Marsh & Rogers principal Joe Wierzbicki, and Marine mom Deborah Johns. The "Our Country Deserves Better" PAC is responsible for the Tea Party Express Bus Tour.

On Iraq
In March 2006, Kaloogian said "we should only leave Iraq 'when the mission is accomplished, with a stable democracy that is able to defend itself from internal and external threats.'"

Profiles
Kaloogian is an attorney and estate planner who served as a Republican member of the California State Assembly between 1994 and 2000. In 2003, he launched the Defend Reagan Committee which organized a grassroots campaign to convince the CBS television network to drop the planned broadcast of the miniseries, "The Reagans."

Recall Gray Davis
Kallogian was the chairman of the Recall Gray Davis Committee.

Kaloogian, along with GOP political consultant Sal Russo, strategist David Gilliard, San Francisco radio host Melanie Morgan, and former Newt Gingrich and Enron pollster Frank Luntz, secured funding and political support for California's October 2003 gubernatorial recall election, in which movie actor Arnold Schwarzenegger unseated Democratic incumbent Gray Davis. Kaloogian had backed Republican State Senator Tom McClintock over Schwarzenegger in the race.

Move America Forward
In June 2004, he was one of the founders of the pro-troop, non-profit organization Move America Forward, which achieved notoriety for its campaigns to lobby movie theatres to not show Michael Moore's documentary film, "Fahrenheit 9/11." The group made national headlines for its support of John Bolton's nomination to serve as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and also for organizing the "You Don't Speak For Me, Cindy" tour which brought supporters of the U.S. military to Crawford, Texas to counter the anti-war efforts of Cindy Sheehan.

By Howard Kaloogian

 * "Courage plentiful in Iraq," North County Times, July 12, 2005.

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Melanie Morgan
 * Move America Forward
 * Our Country Deserves Better
 * Russo Marsh & Rogers
 * Sal Russo
 * Ted Costa
 * "Truth Tour"

External resources

 * "About Howard Kaloogian", Howard Kaloogian US Senate '04 (accessed June 2005).
 * Center for Responsive Politics, "Howard Kaloogian (R)Candidate for 2004 California Senate Race", Open Secrets, 2005.
 * Howard is a Liar.com.

External articles

 * Kurt Nimmo, "Kaloogian's Hooligans," Alternative Press Review, June 15, 2004.
 * Gabrielle Reilly, "Interview With Honorable Howard Kaloogian - Covering The Showdown With Cindy Sheehan, An 'Iraq Truth' Tour And His Congressional Run," gabriellereillyweekly.com.
 * kos, "CA-50: Kaloogian's little lie exposed," Daily Kos, March 29, 2006.
 * Paul Kiel, "Some History on Kaloogian's Move America Forward," TPM Muckraker, March 29, 2006.
 * "Congressional Candidate Slams Press Coverage of Iraq--With Bogus Photo," Editor & Publisher, March 29, 2006.
 * Joshua Holland, "Can anyone be this dumb? Lovely downtown Istanbul, Iraq?" AlterNet, March 29, 2006.
 * Justin Rood, "Kaloogian Blames Iraq Photo Error on Staffer," uruknet, March 29, 2006.
 * Daren Briscoe, "Baghdad. Istanbul. What’s the Difference? The blogosphere nails a California Republican for his view of Iraq," Newsweek, March 29, 2006.
 * John Aravosis, "Was GOP candidate Kaloogian - who claims Baghdad is now peaceful and the media is lying - in Iraq only as recently as a year ago?" AMERICAblog, March 30, 2006.
 * John M. Broder, "On Web, Error Is Uncovered Through Relentless Pursuit," New York Times, March 30, 2006.
 * Carla Marinucci, "Candidate admits 'stupid' Web error. Conservative uses photo of Turkey, calls it Baghdad," San Francisco Chronicle, March 30, 2006.
 * "Kaloogian Fires Back in Photo Flap," San Diego Politics Blog, March 30, 2006.
 * Paul Kiel, "Move America Forward's 990," TPM Muckraker, March 30, 2006.
 * Joshua Micah Marshall, "Ahhhh, the wages of bamboozlement," Talking Points Memo, March 30, 2006.
 * Logan Jenkins, "Local conservative pops up in daffy Palin ad," San Diego Union-Tribune (California), December 1, 2008.
 * Zachary Roth, "Legendary GOP Bamboozler Hitches Wagon To Tea Party Brand," TPMMuckraker, September 1, 2009.