[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Talk about New York chutzpah.
 
New York Mayor/Billionaire Michael Bloomberg gave $250,000 to the Schwarzenegger Republican redistricting initiative today.

Maybe the money would be better spent at home, where the Mayor could practice what he's trying to preach to California voters.
 
The New York City Redistricting Commission of 15 members is made up entirely of appointments by elected officials (7 Mayor, 5 majority leader, 3 minority leader). Compare that to the Schwarzenegger initiative -- which has no elected appointments. The Schwarzenegger initiative also requires equal representation for the minority party.

The New York City council can reject their draft plan by a majority vote and make them go back before adopting a final map. Schwarzenegger's plan has no legislative oversight.

There's more...

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

A year after the US Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA, a case in which California was a lead plaintiff, that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and facing defiance, delays, and stonewalling from the Bush administration in complying with that decision, California Attorney General Jerry Brown went to federal court yesterday to force the EPA to release a court-mandated determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health or welfare.

California is joined by nineteen states and local governments in this legal action—a petition for a writ of mandamus-- including Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, District of Columbia, City of New York, Mayor and City Council for Baltimore. It was filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and asks for a court order that would force the EPA to release its determination of endangerment within sixty days.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

In a dizzying week of polls on all subjects near and dear to our state’s voters, today’s offering from the California Field Poll showing that only one in four California registered voters would even consider voting for New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg if he were to run for President sends a clear message.

62% of the voters in the largest state in the nation, according to Field, say they “would definitely not support him.” [Emphasis added] This includes 68% of Democrats and 66% of Republicans and even a slight plurality of “non-partisan/others) would not countenance the thought.

The poll also shows a low favorable and a high unfavorable image rating for Bloomberg in California’s registered voters who have an opinion of him at all. A full 48% have no opinion, and he has a 14% favorable and 38% unfavorable rating overall. This includes not only Democrats and Republicans but the non-partisan/others, who in a small sample size are his most favorable at 16% with 38% unfavorable.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The good news for Rudy Giuliani, according to the latest California Field Poll, is that the former New York mayor is hanging onto his lead in the GOP horserace here in the Golden State. The bad news is, he’s holding on only by a thread. Even worse for the Republican Party, both in California and across the country, the GOP’s candidates remain as inspiring and exciting as a holiday fruit cake among the party faithful.
 
The Democrats, on the other hand, remain well-poised to keep California as blue a state as ever next November. According to Field, the Democratic candidates hold sizeable leads over their GOP rivals in head-to-head match-ups.
 
That is in large part due to the fact that the Democratic candidates’ views on the Iraq war, climate change, health care and other key issues are closely in line with those of most California voters. But it is also in part a result of the Democrats spending nearly twice as much time campaigning in California as the Republican candidates have this year.
 
By our count, the Democrats have made close to 100 campaign stops so far this year in California. The Republican candidates (excluding Duncan Hunter, who lives in San Diego and apparently is running for President) have made only 50 campaign stops in the Golden State.
 

by Brian Brokaw [courtesy of Party Line]