[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Attorney General Jerry Brown might be running for governor again,according the San Diego Union-Tribune. Really this time. And lucky forhim, term limits weren’t passed until he was well out of office thefirst time around.

George Skelton at the LA Times thinks that California’s early primary this year paid off,in terms of increased voter participation—and also because it made acrucial difference in Hillary Clinton’s campaign. Without the delegatesshe picked up in California, he argues, Pennsylvania would have been nocontest.

The San Francisco Chronicle warns that if the Democratic presidential candidates don’t watch out, they may be swift boated in the upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina.The North Carolina Republican Party is running a TV ad using ReverendWright to attack Obama, apparently without McCain’s consent.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

OK, so I should mention the results of our Courage Campaign protest yesterday at the ABC/Disney headquarters.  It went really well.  Consider that I had this idea sitting on my couch at 12:00pm Thursday, and by 4:00pm Friday we had 60 or 70 people out there in Burbank.  Considering that in the current age there's almost an allergy to protest, that's not bad (especially in gridlocked L.A.), and we were able to get the word out without making one phone call.

I'll give you the AP's impression (over):

UPDATE: Here's coverage from KTLA News:

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Except for the a handful of ballots, the final results for the California primary win. Here's a look at the winners and losers from Tuesday.
 
Winners
 
Democrats -- It doesn't get better than this. More Democrats voted for Hillary Clinton that for all the Republican presidential candidates COMBINED. More than 145,000 new Democrats registered in the weeks before the election; just 38,000 or so registered Republican. DTS voters cast hundreds of thousands of ballots for the Democratic presidential candidates, and Dems will work hard to keep them in the Democratic camp. Mark my words: California will stay solid blue, regardless of the nominee.
 
Hillary Clinton -- California remains Clinton country. The campaign's strategy of banking vote-by-mail voters and targeted women and Latinos paid off in spades. Hats off to Ace Smith and his team for a brilliant campaign.
 
Barack Obama -- Despite having the best press week that I've seen in my lifetime and a well-oiled ground campaign, Obama came up short in the Golden State. But he's still in the hunt delegate wise, and a new generation of supporters will help Democrats over the long term in our state.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

For the first time in my memory, there is the prospect that many voters unaffiliated with a party—“decline-to-state” or independent voters—will cast ballots in tomorrow’s Democratic primary.

While Republican Party rules do not allow voters registered "decline-to-state" to help select that party's candidate, a voter who has not declared a party may request a Democratic ballot when they arrive at their polling place and choose from among the Democratic Presidential candidates. A decline-to-state ballot only lets the voter vote on the Propositions, and not on the Presidential candidates.

Implementing that law may be a bit tricky and a number of elected officials and organizations want to make sure it goes off with as few hitches as possible. It is important to the California Democratic Party’s future because those in the growing portion of voters who are unaffiliated who chose to vote in the Democratic primary are more likely to vote Democratic in the general election.

There were two developments today underscoring that importance.

First, Senator Dean Florez called on Secretary of State Debra Bowen to take immediate action to ensure California's decline-to-state voters know they have the right to request a Democratic ballot at their polling place.

by Jim Dean [courtesy of Blog for America]

During the last week, two Democratic Presidential candidates have decided to end their campaigns. Regardless of whether you supported John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich, all of us owe them our gratitude for what they have accomplished. Sen. Edwards and Rep. Kucinich were clear on the issues, put their convictions above the spin of the Beltway pundits, and spoke truth to power. If you watched the debates, you knew where they stood on the issues. You knew what kind of people they were, and you were clear on what they would try to accomplish if their campaigns for President were successful.

We hope the remaining presidential candidates understand that they have an opportunity to demonstrate to the voters that they have the same qualities as John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich. That they are committed to getting our troops home from Iraq, committed to affordable health care for every American, and committed to the sacrifice that we all must make to clean up our environment, political system, and a whole host of other challenges that our country faces.

John Edwards and Dennis Kucinich may not be running for president, but they have plenty of backbone. They have challenged the culture of incumbency and every American is better for this.

Our best wishes and support go to each of these fine candidates and their extended families. We hope the remaining candidates will carry their torch; because only the Party that Empowers will be IN power.

by David Reiter [courtesy of Blog for America]

Last week, we pledged to provide some direct information about who the leading Democratic Presidential candidates receive the bulk of their campaign funds from. The information was originally supposed to summarize and highlight what organizations and people were supporting the candidates so we can get an idea of where their loyalties may lay, once elected.  After doing some extensive research, it was decided that there is not a truly fair and accurate way to provide the exact information in a brief format; there is simply too much information to sift through, and the more you dig, the more convoluted it gets.  This problem is endemic of our current campaign financing laws, and don’t believe it will radically change any time soon. 

by Sen. Darrell Steinberg [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]