Early Look at Campaign 2014: Part 1 – Congress
We are one year away from the November 2014 General Election, and the California Target Book, which I publish, just printed its fall edition, analyzing and handicapping the upcoming races in California for congress and the state legislature. It is much too early to pinpoint with any accuracy where all the targeted races will be, […]
Re: How Top Two Primaries Effects Third Party Candidates
In response to the article written by the state chairs or spokesperson of the Green, Libertarian and Peace & Freedom parties on the effects the top two primary has on third party candidates, I addressed this issue in a May 27, 2010 article for Fox & Hounds. In that article, I pointed out that third […]
Campaign 2012: Final Remarks
THE TARGET RACES Prior to the November 6, 2012 General Election, the California Target Book, which I publish, identified ten congressional districts, four state senate districts and six assembly districts as targets. These are twenty districts that both political parties – and several of their like-minded independent expenditure committees – spent serious dollars in an […]
Memo to Republicans: I Wish you had Listened!
In August of 2009, I wrote in an article for F&H Daily titled “Reach out, Republicans, or lose!.” In that article, I wrote that unless the California Republican Party is able to persuade significant numbers of Latinos, Asians and other people of color to register in their party and/or vote for their candidate, they will […]
2012 Target Races – Part Four: Same Party Runoffs
Under the new top two Open Primary held last June, the top two vote getters, regardless of political party, enter the November runoff. This resulted in twenty-eight races that the top two candidates were of the same political party. In most of the races neither candidate can win on base vote alone, meaning they need […]
2012 Target Races – Part Three: Congress
This year, California is looking at the largest number of competitive races for Congress this state has seen in decades. And the outcome could possibly determine which political party controls the House of Representatives after November. President Obama and Senator Dianne Feinstein will most certainly carry California in their races for reelection. However, how well […]
2012 Target Races – Part Two: State Senate
Part One of this series described the Assembly districts the California Target Book has labeled as targets or that are on the watch list. Now I turn to the state Senate races. Last week, Darrell Steinberg, the president pro term of the Senate, announced that he would skip the Democratic National Convention to focus on […]
2012 Target Races – Part One: State Assembly
This year, due to redistricting and the new top two Open Primary, there will be more two-party competitive congressional and state legislative races this November than we have seen in this state in over a decade. The California Target Book, which I publish, has tagged six Assembly races, four state Senate races and no fewer […]
If We Did Not Have The Top Two Primary …
If we did not have the top two Open Primary Election on June 5 … Brad Sherman would be returning to Washington, D.C. as David the Giant Slayer. Pete Stark would have been guaranteed at least two more years in Congress. Former GOP Assembly Member Rico Oller would be thanking his tea party supporters for […]
The Top Two Primary is Coming – Part 2
Last Monday I wrote that as many as 34 of the contested races in the June Open Primary could lead to a same party runoff in November: 8 in Congress, 4 in the state Senate, and as many as 22 in the state Assembly. (I have since added one additional assembly race, bringing the total […]