On Wednesday, Westminster Mayor Chi Charlie Nguyen put out a press release with the energy of a fighter who knows he has the incumbent rattled. "We are more than five months from the General Election, and already, Congressman Tran has decided that the only way he can win is to go on the attack," Nguyen wrote. He called it a "nasty, negative campaign." He cast himself as the threat Tran cannot ignore.

There is just one problem with that read: Tran is not spending money against Nguyen because he is afraid of him. He is spending money to make sure Nguyen makes it through the primary.

North OC Pulse reported Sunday that Tran's operation funded mailers in the CA-45 Republican primary promoting Nguyen over stronger GOP candidates in the field. With the primary less than two weeks away, this is a last-minute push to ensure Nguyen advances to the general election — because Nguyen is the weakest Republican Tran could face in November.

Nguyen's press release, then, is not a warning shot across Tran's bow. It is the sound of a candidate who has been told he is relevant and is choosing to believe it. Tran's team gave Nguyen a story — that Tran is scared and going negative — and Nguyen picked it up and ran with it. A candidate willing to do that is exactly the kind of opponent you want to face in November.

When Tran's mailers land in Republican voters' mailboxes boosting the Westminster mayor, and Nguyen responds with a press release calling Tran the desperate one, the play is working. Nguyen is not being outmaneuvered. He is in denial that he is being maneuvered at all.