Democrat Kamala Harris, a candidate for California attorney general, filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), California's political watchdog agency, on Monday. Harris, San Francisco's district attorney, claimed that a national Republican group, which is leading an illegal $1.6 million advertising attack against her, should disclose the source of funding in the ad. She is known as the "female Obama" because she is multiracial, photogenic and able to connect with people of widely different backgrounds. Harris, the first African-American woman elected a district attorney in California, contended that the ad, part of a massive advertising blitz by the Virginia-based Republican State Leadership Committee, is required to list the group's top two donors. In addition to asking the Fair FPPC to intervene, the Harris campaign sent letters asking television stations airing the 30-second ads to stop doing so voluntarily, attorney James Sutton said. The FPPC rejected her claim today, stating that the ad is "perfectly fine as it is." If Harris wins next Tuesday, she'll be the first woman, the first African American and the first Asian American (her mother is Indian, her father Jamaican) to be elected California attorney general. In recent history, the California attorney general has used the job as a steppingstone to the governor's race. Harris may have lost the battle with the GOP ad, but perhaps she'll win the war next week and make history in the process.
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