The First California Blue Wave—1882
With the new, overwhelmingly Democratic legislative class being sworn in today, we’ve seen multiple references in news reports since the election that the Democratic Party dominance in statewide, congressional and legislative races is the greatest since 1883. Anyone else curious to what was happening in California in 1882 to cause what we can call the […]
Hosting President George H. W. Bush
Heading into the 1992 presidential election, President George H. W. Bush was hurting in the polls because of a slumping economy and his action of turning his back on a pledge he made at an earlier Republican convention: “Read my lips, no new taxes.” That’s the reason our paths crossed. The president was trying to […]
The Bay Bridge and Other Big Mistakes
How do you learn from a really big mistake? Walk across it. Which is why I recently found myself putting on a windbreaker and beginning a long, slow walk across the east span of the Bay Bridge, from Oakland to Yerba Buena Island. This piece of the bridge, completed in 2013, is probably the biggest […]
Where Do Middle-of-the-Road Voters Go Now?
California Democrats’ massive victory in last month’s election made their party even more dominant at all levels of government and in doing so, confined Republicans to relatively tiny redoubts, mostly in rural areas. Calmatters political writer Ben Christopher summarized the GOP’s exile last week in this sentence: “This year, 26 percent of Californians are represented […]
Amazon’s Bad Impact? Overblown
I was taken aback when the local response seemed to be “Whew! We’re sure relieved Amazon decided not to open its second headquarters here.” That reaction, as best I can tell from various reports, derived from the notion that the addition of 25,000 Amazon workers would worsen our already stifling traffic, pressure home prices higher […]