The One Endorsement That Could Turn the Entire Special Election Around
All sorts of people and organizations are endorsing measures on next Tuesday’s special election ballot. While Props 1A through 1E appear headed for defeat, the measures seem to be winning the endorsement war, picking up support from most newspapers and elected officials. Both of California’s U.S. senators endorsed Props 1A and 1B this week.
But none of these endorsements seem to be making any difference in the polls. The public isn’t paying particularly close attention to the measures, and no one seems to much care what political leaders think about the measures.
In fact, there’s only one person in the entire whose opinion on ballot measures seems to matter to the public anymore. Who’s that, you ask?
Miss California Carrie Prejean.
National Tourism Week and Swine Flu remind us we can’t take Tourism for granted
These days, we are getting constant reminders about how important tourism is to the state’s economy – as well as how vulnerable it is. With many consumers cutting back on travel due to the recession and ongoing issues like the swine flu “infodemic,” it is a constant battle to remind consumers about why they should still travel.
In honor of National Travel and Tourism Week, which runs through May 17, I’d like to remind everyone how tourism impacts our lives, and why we cannot take it for granted. We are lucky to have a governor who gets it and supports our efforts to keep this industry strong, which is not an easy task these days, and I urge legislators at the state and local level to do the same.
Governor Schwarzenegger supported this vital industry once again this week with a proclamation declaring this Travel & Tourism Week in California, to coincide with the national holiday. Why should you care? Travel and tourism expenditures total $97.6 billion annually in California, supporting jobs for 924,000 Californians and generating $5.8 billion in state and local tax revenues. These revenues help relieve our tax burdens and keep unemployment down. Also, some of these revenues benefit the state’s cultural and heritage assets, which attract more visitors and enhance our lifestyle in California.
California Demographic Breakdown: Minorities Becoming More Important To Republicans Every Year
(This article was co-authored by Matthew Jason.)
We all know The Golden State was not friendly to the Republican Party in November of 2008 when President Obama (61%) received more than 3.2 million more votes in the state than John McCain (37%). Voter ethnicity played a large role in this colossal Democratic landslide in California. According to CNN Exit Polls, ninety-four percent (94%) of African American Voters, seventy-four percent (74%) of Hispanic/Latino Voters, and sixty-four percent (64%) of Asian Voters in California cast a vote for Barack Obama.
Further, all indications are that minority voter turnout reached unprecedented levels in California in 2008. Since the Secretary of State does not track ethnicity on the voter file or release any participation statistics by ethnicity, the ability to measure voter turnout in California along ethnic lines is not an exact science. That being said, we have studied the exit polls and carefully analyzed some other key data from the voter file in order to confirm the high minority voter turnout numbers, and they definitely appear legitimate.