by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Legislative Analyst Liz Hill is going to retire at the end of the year. She has served in the psot for 22 years.  Her no-nonsense style will surely be missed around Sacramento.  From Speaker Nunez in the SacBee.:

"Everyone who values serious advice for meeting California's serious challenges owes a tremendous debt to Liz Hill," said Assembly Speaker Fabian N??ez, D-Los Angeles, in a statement. "Her thoughtful, non-partisan stewardship of the Legislative Analyst's Office is an example of public service at its best."

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Art Torres
Chair
California Democratic Party

My mother has often said, "If you want something to get done, you have to be ready to do it yourself."

I think that's great advice (and it's not just because I loved my mother).

In 2008, there's a lot of work that needs to be done. Today, you have the opportunity to stand up and take on a more active role in the Democratic Party in your community. Please read more about your County Central Committee and consider running to become a member.

The clock is ticking, though. The deadline to become a candidate is March 7.

All of us have things that we would like to see our government and our party accomplish. But sometimes it's not enough to want good things to happen. We need to be ready to MAKE them happen ourselves.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

We have 15 months to go before Election Day, and it's time for another roundup of Congressional races.  I am going to continue to focus on the top 10 challenges to Republican incumbents.  There is certainly a concern in CA-11 with the Jerry McNerney/Dean Andal race, particularly after McNerney's "I'm a moderate" comment seemed to depress supporters.  On the bright side, he did vote against the ridiculous FISA bill.  And as we go into September, I would hope he would continue his efforts to end the occupation of Iraq.  I will certainly cover the McNerney race in future roundups.

But for now, let's take a look at the top 10 challenges.  I'm going to rank them in order of most possible pickup, including their number from the last roundup.  I'm also adding the "Boxer number."  Basically, seeing how Boxer fared in her 2004 re-election against Bill Jones in a particular district is a decent indicator of how partisan it is.  If I put "57," that means Boxer received 57% of the vote.  Anything over 50, obviously, is good. (over)