The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, another close ally of the office, said that it allows them to use elections as pet projects.

Salas said she doesn't think O'dowd will be successful, because most people aren't billionaires.

The two people familiar with the discussions said that Democrats in recent weeks have privately urged O'Dowd not to follow through on his spending plans. They came away with the feeling that he didn't understand the consequences of his actions and that he didn't believe his assault would pose a real threat to Padilla. The people said that his team made it clear that he did not want to beat Padilla and that he supported his reelection.

There is a stream of web videos of the crashes ofTeslas. He placed a full-page ad in The New York Times against Musk that criticized his company's technology as the worst software ever sold by a Fortune 500 company.

In January, Musk dismissed O­Dowd and his company, Green Hills software, as a pile of trash.

Dowd has denied that his criticisms ofTesla are driven by his own financial interests. Green Hills Software stated in an announcement that its products and design services were being used in BMW iX models.

The website for the Dawn Project claims that O'dowd is the world's leading expert in creating software that never fails and can be hacked.

The question-and-answer section on the site was posted by O'Dowd, who asked why he isn't a billionaire.

I am a billionaire, but my software has been mostly used by the military, and I have kept a low profile.