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

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

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

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

… 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

I’m recovering from a long weekend in S.F. for a family wedding, realizing how absolutely perfect Golden State weather is this time of year–and how swampy it will be here in no time.

Two interesting tidbits now, and hopefully more in a couple hours.

The internecine battle between former White House press secretary Scott McClellan and his colleagues gets some additional fuel today in the Post. Longtime DC press hand and well respected former Hill flack Trent Duffy (a onetime deputy of McClellan) penned a blunt "Dear Scott" letter today.

Speaking of heated. WSJ had a great editorial today on the cap and trade proposal being pushed by California’s junior senator. Interesting read, here.

And, Roll Call writes on some new rules governing automobiles that lawmakers can lease with government funds. Previously, the amount of… Read More

You have to wonder what they are sprinkling in the Wheaties over at the Sacramento Bee. The editorial board there never ceases to amaze me. In the Bee’s lead editorial today, they have the moxie to start it by saying, "With one vote, California Senate Republicans on Thursday added $3.4 billion to the state’s $15.2 billion deficit for 2008-09…"

Right.

Read on and what you really have is yet another liberal editorial whining because Republicans have refused to sign on with the issuance of yet another $6.9 BILLION (yes, with a "B") of bonds.

What kind of screwy math do they use over there at the Bee? By their convoluted logic, the state’s entire overspending problem could just be solved by passing one big, fat bond measure, and shoving the burden for our state’s irresponsible overspending to our children and theirs.

The main premise of the editorial is that if the legislature doesn’t borrow billions for building more prisons (didn’t we already do that?) then some judge will simply order those billions straight out of the… Read More

Sometimes a picture (or in this case, a chart courtesy of the Heritage Foundation) is worth a thousand words. If Republicans in Congress have any trouble at all figuring out why we are facing major challenges as a party, and why we are no longer considered the party of fiscal conservatism, look at how much Republicans (with a Republican President, no less) INCREASED federal spending… We aren’t going to win with a slogan of: "Vote Republican — sure, we’ll increase spending, but not as much as THEY will…" [Orange = GOP control; Gray = Split governance but we could have stopped spending increases. See large chart here.] … Read More