Boehner and McCarthy Take Charge
The vote to pass the “cromnibus” spending bill in Congress confirms the one of the biggest political stories of 2014: Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy are fully in charge in the House and will no longer allow Tea Party types to push them around. Anti-Boehner Republicans tried to stop the bill because […]
Jerry Brown As The Nation’s Leading Democrat
The big story of 2015 may be the emergence of Gov. Jerry Brown as the new national leader of the Democratic Party. That’s not due to anything Brown has done, but rather the thrashing the Democrats suffered in 2014 that has left them a leaderless party with both a weakened President and an uncertain President-in-Waiting. […]
How To Blow Nine Congressional Districts
It was quite a feat. Congressional Republicans had a chance to win nine Democratic-held House seats in California and blew every one of them – actually ending up down one seat in an election when nationally the House GOP has its largest class since the Hoover Administration. How they blew these seats is a story […]
Latinos Lose In Senate Redistricting
After three years and a full complement of State Senate races, it is clear that in 2011 the Citizens Redistricting Commission adopted a plan that actually reduces Latino representation in the State Senate, this at a time when Latino population and political influence was mushrooming. When the Commission unveiled its final maps in September 2011, […]
First Take On The Election
Unlike what happened in 2010, the great Republican tide of 2014 seems not to have stopped at the Sierras. While it will take awhile to get all the votes in, it looks like California Republicans may actually makes some gains in this election. The best news is that GOP State Sen. Andy Vidak seems to have […]
Election Day – By The Numbers
This article is about numbers, but that’s what elections are about. With the polls closing in 36 hours, once again it is worthwhile to look at where the vote stands. Thanks to Political Data’s fine analysis, we can now trace the early vote by day, party and district. There are more than 2.5 million ballots […]
Who’s Winning, Who’s Losing A Week From The Election?
Voting by mail is now the rage in California; in the June primary more than 69 percent of the ballots were cast before Election Day. It is very possible that a majority of votes this November will be by mail. And thanks to Paul Mitchell and Political Data Inc, for the first time we can […]
Something New: Cross Party Appeal
Have we ever had a more dismal election? For the first time in 60 years there is no serious race for governor, nor any other partisan statewide office. Voters in competitive districts are exposed to the usual swarm of campaign mailers. But one thing is new this year; candidates in same party runoffs are making […]
The Non-Election Election
What if they called an election and nobody came? That seems to be the story this November. Turnout for the June primary, just 25 percent of registered voters, was the lowest in history. The November turnout will probably not surpass 45 percent, also an historic low. Many analysts assume that this lower turnout bodes well […]
Why The Grocery Bag Bill Should Be Referred
Gov Jerry Brown will soon sign California’s ban on single use plastic grocery bags. Nothing better represents the de-industrialization of this state; the aversion of California’s elites to the manufacture of products they don’t like even if they are a convenience provided free to consumers. This legislation should be referred because we need a debate […]