California precinct index offers detailed political information. by Brian Leubitz
Geeks around California rejoice! David Latterman, who now works at USF's McCarthy Center has been known around San Francisco for his progressive precinct index. Today he released his 2011 version of the California version. As you can see from the image to the right, much of the data is as you would expect it. There is a dark blue core around the coast, and red elsewhere. what that really translates to is that a fairly strong majority, as population, of somewhat progressive voters. Much of that red area exists in large, unpopulated districts. If you look closely, you will see a growing blue section in the central valley of progressive voters.
You can get the full details of Latterman's California 2011 Politcal Precinct Index at this PDF release.
Mitt Romney is someone who is out of touch with the rest of America. Is it because he's wealthy that we dislike him? No, not at all but his rather greedy persona and money flaunting habits seems to shed light on the fact that he's not for the people nor for the well being of this country. Unlike legendary entrepreneurs throughout history such as Walt Disney and Steve Jobs, Romney seems to be missing that humble side that Americans seem to connect to and love. Bill Maher, in a rather funny sound bite, points out his money flaunting habits and even compares Romney to the in-your-face artists of hip-hop. Take a look.
Well, one seat that won't need to be filled is that of Asm. Warren Furutani, who is still eligible for one more term. He lost his race for LA City Council to LAPD officer Joe Buscaino, and has been drawn in a seat along with Asm. Isadore Hall. Should be an interesting race if he decides to run again.
Meanwhile, Bob Dutton plans on running for CA-31 to replace Jerry Lewis. Democratic Mayor of Redlands Pete Aguilar is also in that race. It is a swing district, but Dutton has a ready name advantage.
As expected, Tony Strickland announced that he will be running in CA-26 in what will be heated open race. The seat is a swing district, and should be an interesting race in November with a number of strong Democrats in the running.
In the Senate, Gen. Richard Roth, a former general and a Democrat from Riverside has announced he will run after Riverside Mayor Ron Loveridge denied Senate caucus pleadings to run.
A bill by Asm. Paul Fong would eliminate the write-in line on the "general" election ballot next November. From Ballot Access News:
On January 10, at 1:30 p.m., the California Senate Elections Committee will hear AB 1413. The bill abolishes write-in space on general election ballots for Congress and partisan state office. It also makes various other technical changes that will alter the top-two system passed by the voters in June 2010, when they approved Proposition 14 by a 53.7-46.3% margin.
Existing law says the ballot should contain write-in space, but that write-ins cannot be counted. It is wildly irrational for the existing law to leave write-in space on the ballot and yet say they can never be counted. There are two obvious ways to fix this: either repeal the law that says write-ins can't be counted; or change the law to eliminate write-in space on ballots. The author of AB 1413, Assemblyman Paul Fong, has chosen the more repressive choice. (Ballot Access News)
Clearly we don't need to have a line on the ballot that we aren't going to count. And you can understand the logic that since we are doing a "top-2" election system we don't need that line. The proponents of Prop 14, certainly argue as much. However, what if there are changed situations which make the two candidates unacceptable. It gives no opportunity to change our minds from June to November. So...recall it is then?
Anyway, it is an interesting question to consider as you enjoy some unseasonably warm weather.
As the next Congressional fight over payroll tax extensions and unemployment benefits and pipelines gets set up in the next few weeks for either its final chapter or to be kicked down the road a bit farther, one or the other, you're going to hear a lot from our Republican friends about how much they value work and workers; most especially, they'll tell you, they value American jobs for American workers.
After all, they'll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.
But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don't seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.
Well as it turns out, "some" seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we'll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.
Picking up on a diary from 2006 about tracking competitive districts, I continued the tracking for the 2008 and 2010 elections. With the new district data, I can start the "Outlook" series for 2012.
In 2008 I tried a "Partisan Factor" (PF), inspired by a comment in the aforementioned diary, in which I averaged the margins in registration, 2002-Gov., 2004-Pres., 2004-Sen., and 2006-Sen. In 2010 I used just the registration and the 2008 presidential numbers. For 2012 I will try a new "Partisan Factor" using the registration margin, 2008-Pres., 2010-Sen., and 2010-Gov, with different weights.
Also, for the 2008 and 2010 races, the numbers represent the difference between the parties given their share of the 2-party vote. For example, in CA-03, Obama won 56.3-43.7, Fiorina won 51-49, and Brown won 53.8-46.2.
I have spent a number of years complaining about the interactions between Democrats and Republicans, but after the recent events involving the Keystone XL and civil liberties cave-ins, I've decided it's time to stop complaining and embrace the madness.
But I also feel like there's an ugly edge to all this...that hasn't really been fully exploited.
I mean, Republicans have tried to force through a lot of disgusting ideas this Congress as they've held various bills hostage, but it seems like, if they really tried, they could do so much more.
But I'm not here to complain, I'm here to help; that's why today we'll be trotting out a few ideas of our own that Republicans can attach to bills throughout 2012, with the assistance of certain errant Democrats.
It'll be fun, it'll be festive, but most of all...it'll be an exercise in Civic Responsibility, and in these difficult times, that's something we could sorely use.
I got a weird little story about my friend Blitz Krieger to bring to you today.
He's had a crazy car problem, he has, and over the past few months he thought he had found a solution - in fact, he thought he had found the solution of his dreams - but in the end, he's discovered that the things you dream about often don't go according to plan.
The way it's worked out for him so far, it's been a lot of anticipation followed by a sudden wave of frustration, but I feel like he's a lot better off having his particular problem with his car...because if he'd had cancer instead, he'd surely be dead by now.
You know what the problem is with America?
The poor don't get just how great they have it.
I've hear this a lot lately; the basic thrust of the discussion is that all those cars, TVs, DVD players, refrigerators, and stoves that have found their way into the homes of the economic underclass are proof there's really no such thing as "poor" in America.
If they were truly poor, the argument goes, well...think recycled corn.
And if the poor want things to get better, let 'em pull themselves up by their own bootstraps - and if they can't, then let 'em rot, because that's the best thing for the economy.
But I don't buy all that, and by the time we're done today, I hope to have given you a whole new perspective on how jobs get created in this country.
Well I'm finally back here at work after another recent series of personal adventures; in the middle of all the fun I've been finding time to get down to my local "Occupy" event, and for those of you who have not been keeping up I thought we'd take a moment today to compare a bit of Fox-driven perception to the reality I've been seeing.
What I've been told to expect, at least in certain quarters of the public space, are dirty filthy hippies with no jobs or ambitions hoping to destroy America while having deviant public couplings fueled by the free distribution of dangerous psychotropic drugs.
Sadly, I've found that there's not really much truth in that description, even as tiny bits of it do ring true; but with a manifesto in hand and a few conversations under my belt we'll see what we can do to create a picture that will surprise a lot of the 99% who already support Occupy Wall Street, even if they don't know it yet.
CSEA, the classified employees, endorsed three candidates who promise to make the Banning USD administration accountable to the students, parents, staff, and citizens of the Banning Unified School District. This is an important election for Banning schools. It can finally ensure that spending cuts start with management's perks, instead of essential staff. Banning has no more bilingual aides, and is slashing library staff hours. Meanwhile, administrators continue to spend freely on attorneys and consultants, as though they worked at Goldman Sachs. They don't. They work for us.
On November 8th, Banning residents can exercise their power to change the school district by electing Alfredo Andrade, Alex Cassadas, and Ray Curtis to the Banning School Board. You can give them the authority to supervise the administration.
Isn't it about time that the Banning School Board did that?
When last we met, it was to discuss a Big Idea that the Obama Administration might apply to get some job creation going, despite a difficult Congress; the Big Idea was to look at the "Buy American" provisions that exist in our laws, regulations, and Executive Orders and see if we could practice a bit of "jobs arbitrage" by not just meeting the "Made in USA" requirements when governments across this country make purchases, but exceeding them.
(As it stands today, pretty much any "good or service" with more than 50% Made in USA content qualifies as a Made in USA purchase, even if 49% of the "good or service" comes from somewhere else).
At the time, I told you that if all went well we could look forward to comments from both Labor and the Administration as to the practicality of the Big Idea, and as it turns out I have comments for you that hit close to that mark - and a bit more besides:
On Saturday I just happened to bump into Congressman Adam Smith (WA-09); in the course of that conversation I told him what we're doing here, and he wanted to offer a few thoughts of his own...and when you put all that together, I think we're going to have a lot to talk about.
It is still bill passing season up in Sacramento, and electoral reform is always a popular subject of conversation. Sen. Mark DeSaulnier passed an eminently reasonable reform to the initiative process:
Senate Bill 448, by Democratic Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, would require that paid solicitors working to qualify initiatives, recalls or referendums for the ballot wear badges stating in "no smaller than 30-point font print" that they are a paid signature gatherer.
The state Senate today approved amendments to the measure, which had previously passed both houses, on a 24-14 vote. The lower house had stripped a provision that would have also required identification badges for those working as a "volunteer signature gatherer." (SacBee)
SB 448 would be a nice simple reform of the system that would let voters know who exactly they are talking to. The downside is relatively minimal, so let's hope that Gov. Brown goes ahead and signs this one.
But there are other changes still lingering around the Capitol. While we have tried in vain for several years to get some form of same-day registration, we've been entirely unsuccessful so far. This year seems to be headed in the same direction as SB 641, a relatively modest same-day registration bill, looks to tango with the dreaded Suspense File for bills requiring appropriations. The pricetag is relatively small, pegged at between 300 and 600 thousand dollars, but that's enough for some monkey business.
SB 641 is scheduled to come to the Appropriations Committee on August 25, so we may learn more about the future of Ron Calderon's bill between now and then.
We gotta grow some jobs, and that's a fact, and we probably aren't going to be able to do it with big ol' jobs programs funded by the Federal Government, what with today's politics and all, and that means if this Administration wants to stay in the jobs game they're going to have to find some smaller and more creative ways to do it.
They are also going to have to come up with ideas that are pretty much "bulletproof", meaning that they are so hard to object to that even Allen West and Louie Gohmert will not want to be on record saying "no no no!"; alternatively, solutions that work around the legislative process entirely could represent the other form of "bulletproof-ery".
Well, I have one of those "maybe bulletproof" ideas for you today, and it has to do with how "Made in USA" the things are that our Government buys.
It was just a couple of nights ago that Keith Olbermann was challenging us, in one of his "Special Comments", to rise up in the streets and take back this country.
He pointed out that the only way those on the left were going to be able to fight against those who are looking to get all "Tea Party" is to be as angry and as organized and as aggressive as the Tea Party community, and if we're smart, we'll take him up on that challenge.
But if you really want to push "professional" Democrats to the left, most especially this President, and you want to do it in time to impact the '12 cycle, the only way to do it is to run a candidate in primary contests that either moves the conversation your way...or leaves you with a surprising new Candidate.
And right here, right now, we actually have a chance to do exactly that - and that's why, in today's discussion, I'm going to challenge Olbermann right back.
The group, Californians for Fiscal Accountability and Responsibility, received six contributions of $100,000 each from major Sacramento interest groups in June. Those include the California Dental Association, California Medical Association, California Association of Realtors, California School Employees Association, SEIU-UHW and State Building and Construction Trades Council.
California Medical Association CEO Dustin Corcoran said the coalition is interested in helping Republicans and Democrats who are willing to work on compromise deals in the Legislature. He said contributors have grown frustrated by gridlock in the Capitol, most recently during the budget process. (CapAlert)
I was more into this idea when we were talking about electing moderate Republicans over extreme tea party types. Seeing as how they are now looking at playing in races where there are likely to be two Democrats in the general election, well, that isn't nearly as exciting. Then again, $600,000 isn't really all that much in the grand scheme of things. They'll need to come up with a lot more if they really want to have a statewide impact.
