by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Bill Cavala
A veteran of over 30 years in Sacramento

I know, I know. If the left doesn’t push elected officials they will move right to win. Well, it worked in Berkeley didn’t it?

But Feinstein has never claimed to be liberal. She spoke in favor of capital punishment at the Party Convention and was booed, remember? Yet she still won the support of Democratic Primary voters against a more conventional liberal candidate.

And lost to Pete Wilson – a defeat that cost us redistricting in 1992 and our Legislative Majority in 1994. She didn’t lose because she was too conservative.

Feinstein’s instincts have led her to seek the support of Republican colleagues to solve problems during the dark days when the G.O.P. controlled both Houses of Congress, the Presidency and the Federal Courts. She pursues a policy of giving to get, forgoing stands on “principle” for small victories in practice

Now she is castigated for support of Bush’s lame duck Attorney General appointment. She’s supporting him as the “best we can get”. Undoubtedly true. Does anyone seriously believe that George W would supply a better candidate after being doused by the Democrats?

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

...for the 28 Californians who died as a result of the massive 8-day heat wave that has gripped the southern part of this state.  The power failures are just starting to subside, but obviously the tragedy of those who lost their lives from the heat lingers.  I thought it appropriate to acknowledge them.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

On the heels of revelations that the Republican operatives behind the electoral college power grab are (feign shock and surprise here) hooked up with the same people who attacked John Kerry with Swift Boat ads, we've gotten our hands on uber-pollster Paul Maslin's polling memo that he wrote for the Fair Election Reform folks who are opposing the initiative (see below).

The take away? The initiative’s concept has lost support over the past few weeks as Californians have learned more about the GOP's efforts. In fact, the initiative now has a paltry 39% of Californians supporting it. As most people familiar with the California initiative process know, initiatives starting off below the 50% support threshold have historically almost always failed (the memo notes that a similar initiative that started off with over 50% support ended up getting trounced 65% to 35%). We'll see this week if GOP donors step up and try and pour millions of dollars into stealing the White House. Stay tuned...

See over the flip for the CMR exclusive memo...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Art Torres
Chair of the California Democratic Party

The Republican initiative called the “Presidential Election Reform Act,” about to begin circulating for signatures to qualify for California’s June 3, 2008 primary, is like a bad movie sequel.

“Florida, Part Deux” is simply another GOP power grab, expanding on what Republicans did to Al Gore, and to our nation, in 2000 -- only this time, it’s happening right in our own backyard.

In 1992 and 1996, Bill Clinton got the most votes in California, as well as nationwide. The same for Al Gore in 2000, despite the Supreme Court vote. In 2004, Bush lost California by 1.2 million votes, but received the most votes in enough states (and nationally), which gave him the necessary Electoral Votes and a second term.

Now the Republicans don’t want to give the win to the presidential candidate who gets the most votes statewide, beginning with the crucial 2008 race. This initiative would take California’s 55 Electoral Votes, one for each of our 53 congressional districts and two for our U.S. Senators, and break them up as a way to supersede the popular vote of California.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It looks like dreams of Charlie Brown, the Democratic challenger who barely lost to embattled Rep. John Doolittle in 2006 and is running again, may be coming true.
 
Auburn City Councilman and former mayor Mike Holmes announced Tuesday that he will take another run at Doolittle for the 4th District GOP nomination in the upcoming June primary.

The moderate Holmes collected nearly one-third of the vote last year. Doolittle also is facing another more conservative challenger.

"Congressman Doolittle's unabashed ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff and the FBI's recent raid of his Oakton, Va. home are two striking examples of (his) dishonorable representation of our communities," Holmes reported in a press release printd in the Auburn newspaper Tuesday. "John Doolittle's smash-and-grab representation is why Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of and distrust Congress. Yet (Doolittle) still personally profits from his seat in Congress via his wife, who has been directly compensated from Congressman Doolittle's campaign funds."
 
Another more conservative challenger, Eric Egland, a strong supporter of the war in Iraq, has already declared. That will likely split the anti-Doolittle vote, leaving a wounded Doolittle ripe for Democratic picking in November.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

There have been particularly galling misstatements of fact and exaggerations about the actions of California Attorney General Jerry Brown in enforcing California's environmental laws, the latest sticking point in the fog of war that the cabal of 14 Republican California State Senators is using as their excuse in not providing the single vote needed to pass our overdue state budget. We'll deal with the facts on what Brown is doing, but first, let's look at the larger picture.