With the Field Poll on the U.S. Senate race showing Condoleezza Rice as a leader along with Kamala Harris, many political observers stated that if Rice ran – and she says she won’t – her opponents would try to wrap the unpopular (in California) George W. Bush around her. Undoubtedly true. But more important, I would think, is how Rice would answer questions about dealing with ISIS – and perhaps even more to the point, how Harris or other candidates with less experience in foreign affairs handle such questions. It seems to me answers to those questions will have more of a bearing on the voter’s mind when it comes to selecting the next senator from California.
It feels like the one-two finish of Rice and Harris in the poll by wide margins is largely due to name ID. Mark DiCamillo of the Field Poll wrote in an email, “In early polls like this, two variables have the biggest impact on voters. Name ID and party.”
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San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer’s Committee to help create a stadium plan to keep the Chargers in San Diego got off to a rough start when Mark Fabiani, representing the Chargers, suggested political mischief in a letter to the mayor. He accused the committee of not being independent.
The mayor responded with a tough letter of his own. Now the mayor and Chargers team owner Dean Spanos have agreed to a one-on-one meeting.
This political football (pardon the pun) some see as opening the door for the Chargers rush to L.A. It is not political in another way – an attempt by Fabiani, a former Chief of Staff for Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, a Democrat, and legal counsel for Democratic President Bill Clinton, to embarrass the Republican mayor and potential statewide candidate if the Chargers move to L.A. Well, not directly, anyway.
More likely, the Chargers thinking about Los Angeles was pegged by U-T San Diego editorial writer Chris Reed. He noted that the value of the recently sold Los Angeles Dodgers ($2.15 billion) and the Los Angeles Clippers ($2 billion) and suggested that the Chargers franchise would be worth twice as much in L.A.
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It has been reported over and over that the Republican Party is losing registration in California. To a lesser degree so are the Democrats. Those Democratic voters are concentrated in the urban areas of the state – no surprise there. Interestingly, of California’s 58 counties, Republicans hold a majority of registered voters in a majority of counties — 31 counties have more Republicans, 27 have more Democrats.
San Francisco City and County has the largest percentage of Democratic voters at 55.66%, but San Francisco also has the largest number of No Party Preference voters at 31.19%. Modoc County has the largest percentage of Republican voters at 49.53%.
Right behind San Francisco in the No Party Preference category is Santa Clara County with 29.96%. Speaks a lot to the Silicon Valley/Internet World thinking.
Follow Joel Fox on Twitter @1JoelFox1