[courtesy of California Progress Report]

Thunderous applause and standing ovation at Barbara Boxer fundraiser--Before the Nobel Prize

Petitions on the street to place him on the California ballot

By Frank D. Russo

At last night's Barbara Boxer fundraiser in San Francisco, the St. Francis Hotel was thick as thieves with reporters. Before Boxer arrived to hold an impromptu press conference with these reporters, the questions being bandied about amongst the press were all about Al Gore. Would he run for President? Would the Nobel Peace Prize, if he won it, give him a boost to run for President? And could he win by getting in at such a late date.

I joined in and made a few comments about the pros and cons to some of the news folks I knew and before I knew it, the cameras lit up and I was being asked these questions by two TV news reporters and another political writer for a newspaper.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Listening carefully to what Speaker of the Assembly Fabian Nunez and Assembly Republican Minority Leader Villines have said and reading between the lines, it appears that a budget deal may be hashed out today that will not make major changes to the version passed out by the Assembly a month ago. But making any definitive statements about what exactly is being proposed and how it will fare in both houses is fraught with difficulties.

by dday [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

You would think that a governor would try to step in on July 16 when a budget is due July 1.  And you would think he would be doing everything he can to manage the prison crisis given the rapidly approaching deadline when judges may cap the number of inmates.  But you're just not post-partisan (or lazy as hell, you choose).

last week closed with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's attention thousands of miles east as he ventured to Florida for a turn before the cameras and a $25,000-per-table Republican party fundraiser.

To Capitol insiders, the trip was the latest troubling evidence that despite the many big issues before him, the governor's interest in the nuts and bolts of governing has ebbed. Splashy announcements remain his trademark, but after the cameras pack up, Schwarzenegger has often not followed through. As a result, key parts of his agenda are foundering.

I think my biggest problem with those paragraphs is the word "ebbed."  When was he EVER interested in governing?  Sure, he likes magazine covers, and getting to wear anything with the California state seal on it, but actually GOVERNING.  Not his style.

Over...

by Kim Stevens [courtesy of Party Line]

by Sheri Divers [courtesy of Blog for America]

Mike Cooper Jr. is the DFA Communications Intern: 

In a land that relys upon the annual technological inventions, where men and women walk around aimlessly, bumping clumsily into one another because eyes are attentively focused on hybrid machine combinations of phones, cameras and electric scissors, the eighth deadliest sin is to not take part in the madness.  

Maybe the Amish are on to something though. I, for one, sympathize for them. Because they will never have to endure this: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0aI9rRYqNg 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNqiC_X9hoY 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdC0iF4xKLM 

Apparently there’s some novel new “comedy” show on the Fox News channel. Television has reached a new low. That’s saying a lot too - think about it. Who would have thought it was possible?  

To think some wizard actually drew this up in secret bunker board room beneath their NYC studios, and his boss green lighted it.

This Red Eye, rumor has it, has been around for months. Like a fatal curse carried by blood, notice of this yarn reached my attention just this week.  

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Susanne Savage

Now that we have a February ‘08 presidential primary, a debate is raging within California’s progressive community about which candidate would benefit most from the earlier date. Most argue Hillary Clinton and her money machine would emerge victorious while any insurgent candidate (with little money but lots of moxie) wouldn’t get out of the gate.

This premise is predicated on the concept that California, unlike Iowa or New Hampshire, is a “media state” where campaigns are waged exclusively over the airwaves rather than on the ground. Californians, the conventional wisdom goes, can forget about seeing Sen. Obama in a neighborhood diner over a cup of coffee. Candidates would come here to raise gobs of cash, define themselves by handsomely produced television ads, and appear at the occasional rally for the news cameras.

Political consultants rely on this scheme because they’re paid by the amount of media they buy, not by the number of votes they deliver. The system is rigged in favor of viewers being bombarded with commercial after commercial because it makes the people behind the candidates rich.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Roaring applause echoes through the hall as Senator Barack Obama exits the convention, over 40 cameras trained on him and his entourage. Looking at the schedule, I see one of my favorites listed next - Senate Veteran Chris Dodd.

Dodd enters after an introductory speech from Art Torres, and as I turn to look at the press riser, I see approximately three cameras trained on the 30+ year Senate veteran.