by Anthony Ronci [courtesy of Blog for America]

Hey long time anyone heard from me. Maybe some of you already know about this web page if not it's a great way to see who's record match's up to what they say or if they match up to what you want from your candidate.Hope to see some of you guys out there this election I will be out and about.I went part time now I have more time to put my two cents in.
                                                             Tony
http://votesmart.org/index.htm

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Hannah Beth Jackson
When I learned that UC Irvine had just hired Erwin Chemerinsky to become the first Dean of their newly created Law School, I was very impressed. It's quite rare for any law school to get one of the greatest legal scholars of our day as its chief. To get someone of Chemerinsky's stature to be the first dean of a new law school is an even greater coup. This is the real deal who was going to put a beleaguered UC Irvine on the map and very quickly.

I didn't think for a moment, "Wow, and now we'll start putting out progressive lawyers to match the thousands being rubber-stamped out of conservative institutions like those overrunning the federal government and the executive branch, in particular." What I thought, and apparently so many others who have worked with him or heard him speak think is that this University will become an institution of excellence and pride, with thoughtful and quality lawyers. With a dean of Chemerinsky's reputation, this school will quickly put itself on the map. Go UC Irvine! Not!

by Lucas O'Connor [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

At the end of August, Congressman Darrell Issa came to San Diego to discuss the Navy Broadway Complex development in the downtown harbor area.  While he was in town, he sat down for an interview with Navy Compass discussing broad themes of military and foreign relations.  NavyCompass does a great job with the questions, keeping them relevant to their content but ranging across a wide range of relevant issues.  He hits all the well-known pro-military talking points that Republicans love to throw around in public, but in the process draws a sharp distinction between talking the talk and walking the walk.  So how does Congressman Issa's voting history match up with his glowing words about supporting veterans and soldiers? Let's find out.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

How many times has this happened to you? Your daily newspaper does a whack job on you, your client or your boss and all you can do is write a strongly worded letter to the editor that may or may not get published in a timely fashion. While you wait, you may end up cursing out every reporter that calls afterward trying to do a match or pick-up, but that is so last century. 

Ordinarily, you would put together some bullet points or documents to rebut any charges, but who sees that stuff? Reporters, and bloggers now, but not the consumer or voter who just stared to read the story in question. You want some rapid response results double ASAP, if not sooner. 

So fear not, fellow flaks, Google News has come to our collective rescues once again by announcing an exciting new feature:

"Starting this week, we'll be displaying reader comments on stories in Google News, but with a bit of a twist...

read more »

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Senate Republicans have spent the last month holding up the state budget. And there are four points the Republicans feed the press: they want a balanced budget, they want to reduce the structural deficit, they want the sales tax on gases to go to highways, and they want to protect transportation. But a closer look at the Republican rhetoric shows that it doesn't match up with the facts. Here are the four main issues -- and the facts that skewer their claims.
 
Balanced Budget Argument -- The Senate Republicans say there is a "Constitutional" requirement to have no structural deficit, but the budget before the Senate far and away meets the balanced budget requirement of Proposition 58, which the Republicans, the Governor, and the Chamber of Commerce put before the voters just 3 ½ years ago.  

by blogswarm [courtesy of Calitics: Soapblox California - Front Page]

June 2nd is going to be a huge day in San Francisco politics. Gavin Newsom is kicking off his signature gathering with a rally and Chris Daly is holding is "convention" to try and force somebody to make it a race. At last night's fundraiser, I heard from two very knowledgeable progressive supervisors about the state of the race. One insisted that Matt Gonzalez was going to run and make it a re-match. The other insisted that there was no way in hell Matt Gonzalez was going to run. In unrelated news, a reliable source told me that Alex Tourk was seen having dinner with former Mayor Willie Brown last night (BTW, section 3.101 of SF Code says, "There shall be no limit on the non-successive terms that a person may serve"). Could be an interesting race...