Howard Kaloogian

Howard James Kaloogian (born December 30, 1959) is an American politician and a former member of the California State Assembly. A Republican, he failed in 2004 to be elected to the United States Senate and in 2006 to be elected to the House.

Kaloogian grew up in Michigan, of Armenian-born parents. Kaloogian earned a Bachelor's from Michigan State University and a law degree from Pepperdine University. During 1988–1996, he was an estate attorney. He got his start in politics at the suggestion of Bill Morrow, after Morrow read a strongly worded letter Kaloogian wrote to the editor of the San Diego Union-Tribune purporting to correct a reader's misleading interpretation of the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.

From 1994–2000, Kaloogian was a member of the California Assembly, representing California District 74, which covers portions of northern San Diego County. He won his seat in the 1994 legislative elections, with 61% of the votes counted. He endorsed Senator Phil Gramm's presidential bid in 1995.

Kaloogian was twice re-elected to the Assembly. He recorded an unchanged majority, 61%, in the 1996 legislative electionand was re-elected again in the 1998 election, where his share of the vote fell to 57%.

In 2003, Kaloogian became the chairman of the Recall Gray Davis Committee, dedicated to the ousting of governor Gray Davis.

Kaloogian is a founder and co-chairman of Move America Forward, a political action group. Kaloogian considers President Ronald Reagan to be one of his political heroes. Kaloogian serves on the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project and was the Chairman of the Defend Reagan Project, which campaigned in 2003 for CBS to drop a docudrama about Reagan, The Reagans. The campaign was successful, as CBS did not show the mini-series, but handed it off to Showtime.

In 2004 Kaloogian ran for the U.S. Senate from California but lost the Republican primary with 11% of the vote, placing him 3rd out of 11 candidates. He also ran unsuccessfully in the special election to fill the opening created by the resignation of disgraced Congressman Duke Cunningham in California's 50th Congressional District.

In 2008 Kaloogian chaired an Anti-Barack Obama political action committee called "Our country deserves better". He appeared in a video ad for that group.

Howard Kaloogian is married to Martha Lynn, and has a step-son.

Kaloogian ran in the special election to fill the opening in California's 50th District to the House of Representatives caused by the resignation of disgraced former Congressman Duke Cunningham. In the special elections where the top vote-getter from each party moves to the next round, Kaloogian finished a distant third among the Republican candidates. The next round took place at the same time as the primary for the term that commenced January 3, 2007. On April 17, Kaloogian announced his withdrawal from the primary for the next congressional term. State Senator Bill Morrow, who was running against Kaloogian, challenged an implied endorsement by him of Kaloogian on Kaloogian's website.

Altered photo controversy

During the 2006 campaign, an image showing "a busy urban street scene" in Baghdad was posted on Kaloogian's web site. The image was removed after bloggers at the Daily Kos noted that the image was actually of Istanbul. Kaloogian later said using the photo was "a stupid mistake".