The California Report

• As I noted at Calitics, Dennis Morris, a resident in San Luis Obispo County, got his ballot, saw that no Democrat was running in the 15th Senate District, and did something about it:

And so today he is mounting a last-minute write-in campaign to get his name on the November Ballot. From the SLO County Dems:

"The San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party endorsed Dennis Morris on May 14th in his write-in bid to run against Republican Abel Maldonado for the 15th Senatorial District which includes all of San Luis Obispo County as well as parts of several neighboring counties. The Party is urging all Democrats in San Luis Obispo County and elsewhere in the 15th Senatorial District to WRITE-IN "Dennis Morris" for that office on their JUNE 3rd BALLOT" [...]

This is crucially important. With the possible demise of the Denham recall and an unopposed Maldonado seat, Democrats were missing out on two of their best opportunities to achieve a 2/3 majority in the State Senate. Morris' bid at least provides the opportunity for a real race in one of them. Don Perata allegedly prevented top local Dems from running in this race. But this is a people-powered action that could actually be more impactful.

• So Arnold wanted to have a yacht party yesterday - at a time when his budget dropped the closure of the loophole that lets yacht owners avoid sales tax. So after his appearance got some publicity, the coward skipped out:

I waited, and waited, and waited, but Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger didn’t show today at the St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco’s Marina District for an event unveiling a hybrid pleasure-boat engine [...]

But although Frauscher’s public relations firm had insisted Wednesday, Thursday and through much of this morning that Schwarzenegger had been confirmed to attend — and that the event had been moved from Thursday to Friday to accommodate his schedule — there was no governor. He was in San Francisco, apparently meeting with a certain newspaper’s editorial board, but he didn’t make the yacht event (though many reporters did, with most splitting as soon as it appeared he wouldn’t show).

• San Francisco is leading at the forefront of the electric car movement, investing heavily in charging infrastructure. Mayor Newsom actually had an E-car back when he was on the Board of Supervisors IIRC.

• It looks like Mark Leno is cruising to victory in his challenge of Carole Migden in SD-03. Mark's a really good guy and a transformative progressive; this is good news.

• Lost amid the budget wrangling is the fact that college fees are going up again for Cal State students, with UC likely to follow. California used to have the best education system in the world. Remember those times?

• As our warehousing of human beings continues, a California man who was shipped off to Mississippi has died in prison, reportedly of "asthma," which is, you know, often treatable. What a shame.

California Election Preview 5-5-08

Periodically between now and the primaries on June 3, I'll be checking in with some brief election news.

• CA-04: Charlie Brown has released his first ad of the cycle. It's a bio spot, and it's a good one.



I would have liked to have seen some specifics about the veterans care challenge, but I understand that it's well-known inside the district so maybe the allusion to it was all that was necessary. Certainly he's taking an above-the-fray stance in the midst of the brutal primary on the other side. I like it.

• AD-80: I bet you didn't to see CNA and SEIU supporting the same candidate in virtually anything, especially at this sensitive time, but both of them have come out in favor of Manuel Perez, in addition to the California Medical Association PAC.

• At Election Track, you can follow contributions to all of California's candidates as we head to the primary.

• CA-08: Cindy Sheehan says she has $130,000 for her challenge to Nancy Pelosi, running as an independent.

• SD-03: Here's a Joe Nation ad focusing on the environment.



Is this running anywhere?

Liveblogging Convention Sunday

OK, so apparently the two battles for endorsements will happen first, before anything else. Mark Leno is greeting members at the door as they walk into the hall. You're going to have a low-information electorate here doing the voting on these endorsements: I don't know if someone in Fresno has ever heard of Mark Leno or Carole Migden. So the speeches they'll give should be interesting. The same with AD 40 (Blumenfield-Waldman-Healey). Bill Clinton's speech will apparently take place after the endorsement fight. I'll update....

My sense of what's happening on the floor is that people are very turned off by this endorsement process as a whole and will be voting against endorsing Democrats over other Democrats. We'll see if the Progressive caucus has enough juice to pull off that message, along with the Leno supporters on the floor, versus the establishment.

Regarding the Clinton speech, the first several rows of the convention floor are all superdelegates, you if you want to read the tea leaves, look to them. I expect Clinton to be well-received, but he's had foot-in-mouth disease on the campaign trail, so we'll see...

According to hekebolos Ted Kennedy might be making a surprise appearance in support of Barack Obama. I cannot speak to its truth.

...the Hillary visibility extras are massing on the floor. Incidentally, I heard that Phil Donahue's movie, which screened here last night, is uncompromising on Hillary's war vote, and during the time when she talks about it in the film she was booed. The reaction from the audience here to the Big Dog should be interesting.

Right now the volunteers of the year for all the various regions are being announced. And now we have the credentials report. There are 2,018 registered for the convention, which could be important for quorum purposes.

...Christine Pelosi is talking about the party platform. Marriage equality is in there, which is awesome, as well as the party's commitment to a safe and orderly withdrawal from Iraq and single payer healthcare. That's a good platform. And it passed without any incident. Fantastic.

...Inola Henry on the Resolutions Committee reports that the party endorses a no vote on 98 and yes on 99 for the June election, and endorses the recall of Jeff Denham in SD-12. That's great. Prop. 98 would end rent control throughout the state, and it must be stopped. Art Torres says "that's the easiest resolutions report we've ever had."

...SF DA Kamala Harris is about to speak on behalf of Sen. Obama. There's a good amount of Obama visibility. Harris is talking about how her speech up against Bill Clinton is "what this campaign has been about... the audacity of what seems impossible." She continues, "As we celebrate the fact that we are the most diverse, most vibrant and most inclusive party in America, we know that this November we will elect a Democrat as the next President of the United States." DA Harris talks about her family's history in the civil rights movement and how "this is a place that offers us a chance to rise again," and her improbable rise in public service as the first female black district attorney in the state of California. Now she goes into a version of Obama's stump speech. "The next President must be more than simply an improvement on the incumbent... we'll need more than plans... we'll need what former President John Quincy Adams called 'leadership.'" Apparently John Quincy Adams is the only American who's ever used the word "leadership."

...Harris mentions how Obama will appoint judges that will bring balance back to our courts and protect a woman's right to choose. That doesn't usually show up in stump speeches, but it should. Now she's on to talking about ending a culture of fear. She's doing well in the room... also talking about being smart on crime. "We will no longer have to accept the false choice between being tough on crime and vigilant in the protection of justice."

...Harris "Change has only ever come out of crisis." Interesting finishing thought. A lot of Obama supporters are here. There's an Obama chant happening now. Could this be a hostile audience for Bill Clinton?