A: A cartoon like this in your local paper –a pretty clear sign you’ve been able to get your message out.

… Read More

Today Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced that several more ballot measures have qualified for November, including the Protect Marriage Constitutional Amendment.

Already qualified are:

Human Rights For Poultry More Bonds 1: Children’s Hospitals More Bonds 2: The Superduper Speedy Train (for those actually can use it) Parental Notification before a minor has abortion surgery Sentencing of Non-Violent Offenders Safe Neighborhoods (anti-gang) "Renewable" (Code for More Costly) Energy Requirements

Coming soon is the likely qualification of the Common Cause/Schwarzenegger redistricting measure…

(h/t to Shane G. at the SacBee)… Read More

OK, just to be clear, this is not internet gambling, just a chance for political prognosticators to dazzles us with their brilliance. Winner does, however, get dinner at Mikuni…

Pick your winner and post in comments (I threw SD 3 for the entertainment of the many who have suffered from a Migden tirade).

Although I am doing a number of SoCal races, I will leave to my fellow bloggers to post a competition there!

CD 4: McClintock/Ose/Terbolizard/Jones

SD 3: Leno/Midgen/Nation SD 12: Denham/Perata (recall)

AD 3: Logue/Horne AD 10: Sander/Hegyi/Sieglock AD 15: Llyod/Kamena/Rau/Wilson

Placer Board of Supervisors: Kranz/Houston

El Dorado Board of Supervisor District 1: Dorr/Knight/Norris/Frentzen El Dorado Board of Supervisor District 2: Nutting/Michelin/Teresi/Dean/ Turnboo/Smiley

Mayor of Sacramento: Fargo/Johnson/Daniel/Eldredge/Jones/Padilla/Strand.

Tie Breaker #1: % Statewide Turnout by party Tie Breaker #2: % of Denham win over recall… Read More

I got an email today from my friend Tim Rosales letting me know that Marcia Tookey passed away.

I didn’t know Marcia Tookey for the entire time she was active in politics. You see, by the late date of my birth in 1970 she was already an established volunteer in Los Angeles, during the glory days. She was a tireless organizer of precincts, and more important she had a working knowledge of the county of LA as a whole, almost quite literally precinct by precinct. She knew where the phone banks could be found, where you couldn’t walk, and who was reliable or not.She was one of the handfull of people who remembered the organizational methods of the previous years, and was willing to teach them. Her lessons made a huge difference in my professional life.

Marciaknew the details that made the difference between a GOTV program that works and one that doesn’t. In 2000 I was field director for victory 2000 and (before campaign finance "reform") we had established some two dozen staffed local offices in LA for various party programs, including the traditional election day push. Like a fool, I had centralized the printing of the election day… Read More

Last week the Field Poll released the results of a survey about the recent California Supreme Court homosexual marriage ruling. According to the Field Poll, 51% of Californians “support” homosexual marriage. Now any political veteran knows that you can make a poll say whatever you want based on the phrasing of the questions posed. From what I’ve read, the Field Poll didn’t release the questions it posed to obtain the 51% approval rating for homosexual marriage. But another poll conducted late last week found the exact opposite of the Field Poll.

Released just this morning, ccAdvertising announced the results of a poll that directly contradicts the Field Poll. According to ccAdvertising, when asked the question “Do you agree that only marriage between one man and one woman should be legal and binding in America?” California respondents answered "Yes" 56.20%, and "No" 43.80%.

The company explained that "the survey was completed in one 24-hour period ending at 7:00 p.m on May 30, 2008, with 528 California respondents and was statistically balanced by… Read More

One of the worst kept secrets in Sacramento is that many political insiders believe that the real reason Senate President Pro Tem Don (“The Golden Pig”) Perata launched the recall campaign against Senator Jeff Denham was to create an excuse to funnel money to Sandi Polka and members of his own family. Polka is the Senator’s longtime political consultant and very close friend – close to the point of actually being his girlfriend.

Now the East Bay Express newspaper, which has doggedly pursued Perata and done an outstanding job of aggressively exposing the powerful politician’s numerous ethical transgressions, has pointed to Polka’s financial well-being as the true motivation for the recall. (Their article is linked at the bottom of this post.) Perata spent more than $2 million to qualify the recall, launch misleading paid media attacks on Denham that failed miserably, and fund puppet replacement candidate and proven lightweight Simon Salinas. While Perata is a huge political loser because of the recall, not all of that campaign money appears to have been wasted from the… Read More

One of the worst kept secrets in Sacramento is that many political insiders believe that the real reason Senate President Pro Tem Don (“The Golden Pig”) Perata launched the recall campaign against Senator Jeff Denham was to create an excuse to funnel money to Sandi Polka and members of his own family. Polka is the Senator’s longtime political consultant and very close friend – close to the point of actually being his girlfriend.

Now the East Bay Express newspaper, which has doggedly pursued Perata and done an outstanding job of aggressively exposing the powerful politician’s numerous ethical transgressions, has pointed to Polka’s financial well-being as the true motivation for the recall. (Their article is linked at the bottom of this post.) Perata spent more than $2 million to qualify the recall, launch misleading paid media attacks on Denham that failed miserably, and fund puppet replacement candidate and proven lightweight Simon Salinas. While Perata is a huge political loser because of the recall, not all of that campaign money appears to have been wasted from the… Read More

Proposition 98 on the June 3 ballot is a much needed reform to protectfamilies from losing their homes to government eminent domain power. We all need to vote "Yes" on Proposition 98. For this reason, I do not understand why I received a mailing from the "Faith, Family and Freedom Association," a "nonpartisan voter guide that stands for mainstream American family values" that endorses a number of candidates for local office, but is entirely silent on support or opposition for Proposition 98.

What is going on here! I recently reported another outfit calledthe "California Taxpayer Protection Committee" did essentially the same thing,claiming to be an anti-tax group but failing to give any information on the Juneballot initiative sponsored by the HowardJarvis Taxpayers Association.

Karen England, a respected conservative lobbyist in Sacramento, signed a letter in the "Family" mailing requesting signatures on the "Save Our Kids" initiative included in the mailing. That is a good thing. But the failure to even mention Proposition 98 in the mailing is… Read More