Primary Election Night – Some Winners and Some Losers
There was an election in California last night, and twenty-two percent of California’s voters bothered to turn out. There may be a few absentee and provisional ballots out there yet to be counted and the turnout percentage may inch up a bit, but not by much.
Regardless of turnout, elections have consequences and there were some big winners and losers last night.
One of the big winners was state Senator Jeff Denham, who easily beat back the recall election with 76 percent of the district voters voting NO on the recall.
Another winner was state Senator Tom McClintock, who carpetbagged from Ventura County to run in the 4th Congressional District located northeast of Sacramento. McClintock handily defeated former Congressman Doug Ose, 54 percent to 39 percent. In San Diego County Duncan Hunter, the son of the retiring incumbent congressman of the same name, trounced his three Primary opponents by receiving 73 percent of the vote.
Prop 34: Did it reduce money’s influence on elections? The verdict is in.
In the November 7, 2000 General Election, California voters, by a margin of 60 percent to 40 percent, passed Proposition 34, which placed limits on the amount an individual, corporation, labor union or political committee can contribute to a candidate for the state legislature … currently $3,600, or double that if the contribution comes from what is called a "small contributor committee."
Prior to the passage of Proposition 34, there were no limits on the amount that any individual or interest group could give to a candidate, and it was not uncommon for wealthy individuals and others who had an interest in who was elected to the state legislature to, in fact, give large sums of money directly to a political candidate they favored.
Passage of Proposition 34, supporters claimed, would put a stop to this and thus significantly reduce the influence that powerful special interest groups and wealthy donors have on state legislative races.
How has it worked?
Can the Democrats Achieve a Super-Majority Senate or Assembly in November? – UPDATE
Last week I wrote on the odds of the Democratic Party being able to achieve a veto-proof "supermajority" in the Senate or Assembly come November.
This requires the Democrats to pick up two new seats in the Senate and six new seats in the Assembly, while holding on to the seats they currently hold.
I surmised that because no Democrat filed to run against Republican Senator Abel Maldonado in SD15, which the CA Target Book identified as one of only two GOP-held senate seats up this year that are competitive, along with Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata throwing in the towel in the Jeff Denham recall election, that a pickup of two seats was not likely.
But the situation in SD15 did not sit well with local Democratic activists, particularly those on the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Central Committee. They are now backing a write-in campaign for Dennis Morris, described in Calitics, a popular liberal web site, as "a non-politician, a former legal scholar who retired to grow grapes on his vineyard."
If at least 3,700 Democratic voters write-in Morris’ name on the June 3rd primary ballot, his name will appear on the November ballot as the Democratic nominee, which could certainly put this district back in play come November.
Can the Democrats Achieve a Veto-proof Senate or Assembly in November?
Nothing gives the state legislature’s Democratic leadership — and the Republican governor — more headaches than the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds vote to pass a state budget or any tax increases.
To achieve a two-thirds vote requires the unanimous support of the Democratic members of both houses plus two additional Republican votes on the senate side and six additional Republican votes on the assembly side.
The budget battle in the state Senate last year so infuriated Senate Pro Tem Don Perata that he spent over $1 million to qualify and fund a June 3rd recall campaign against Republican Senator Jeff Denham.
But, for whatever reason, Perata abruptly announced last week that he is abandoning any further funding of that effort, making it highly unlikely that the Denham recall will be successful.