[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

With Sen. John Edwards departure from the presidential race yesterday, all eyes are on where his California supporters will go. According to today's Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles trial lawyer Tom Girardi, one of the state's most politicially active attorneys, is throwing his support to Senator Clinton.
 
The Clintons "have taken an important role in the protection of people, and Hillary has a proven track record," Girardi told the Journal.

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

With exactly two weeks remaining before the Feb. 5 election, we are probably getting the last polls we'll see from Field.  However, there is some possibility that the good folks at Field might release one more poll right before the election. The first is the Democratic Poll (PDF). Senator Clinton continues to lead the poll by double digits (39-27). More over the flip.
The big difference between this poll and the previous poll in December 2007 is the slide in the numbers of former Sen. John Edwards and of "other". Edwards slid down from 13% to 10%, and "other" from 9 to 4. My guess would be that Kucinich is the bulk of the "other" category.

Obama leads mightily amongst African-Americans, but Clinton leads amongst Latinos. Clinton leads women by a count of 43-24 and LA County by 44-28. The SF Bay area is at 38-31 for Clinton.

In the end, expect radical shifts in these numbers as time goes by. The question for the Obama campaign is whether too many votes have already been cast from Permanent Absentee Voters for them to recover.

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

Full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign

We've got ourselves a heck of a horserace shaping up as the PickYourPresident poll continues.  In just 24 hours we've seen a lot of movement in the standings, with John Edwards cutting Obama's California lead in half.  Elsewhere, Clinton bumped Edwards for 2nd in Ohio and the two are separated by a whisker in Michigan- further evidence of a Clinton surge over the weekend.

I've got big plans to head for Reno at the end of the week (Friday, also when the poll ends), and I've got no idea what to expect from the Nevada caucus.  Given that Nevada has never seen a caucus like this, it's impossible to predict with certainty what will happen there.  But given how unpredictable the nomination process has already been on both sides, I can't imagine it'll be definitive.  I'm waiting right now for Michigan results to be finalized, but that won't matter much on the Democratic side.  Momentum is a fickle beast, but Super Tuesday is the one time it could actually matter.  Polling throughout Feb 5 states have shown that races are tightening all over.  Who knows what could happen at this point, but if you have a candidate that you support, the more public your support, the better.

National Rankings:

1. Sen. Barack Obama

2. Sen. John Edwards

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

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Darrell Steinberg
California State Senate

On February 5th, California Democrats will play a major role in electing our next President.

For this good fortune, we face a difficult choice between talented and qualified candidates. While every one of them would be an improvement over George W. Bush, Sen. Barack Obama is Democrats' best choice in 2008.

Up until last week I supported former Sen. John Edwards, a passionate advocate for improving the lives of the millions of Americans living in poverty. Whatever happens this year, I hope John Edwards remains in public life – the country needs his important voice.

But I switched to Obama because he's the only candidate who can awaken a significant number of Americans – the apathetic and disengaged – who have turned away from an unresponsive government and, in turn, our civic life.

Just look at Iowa, where younger voters and independents boosted Democratic Caucus turnout from 124,000 in 2004 to 239,000 in 2008. These voters, who do not normally participate in elections in these kinds of numbers, responded to Obama's call for Americans to “build a coalition for change that stretches through red states and blue states.”

by Julia Rosen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

(full disclosure: I work for the Courage Campaign)

Look out!  Hillary Clinton just passed Dennis Kucinich and is now in 3rd place both in California and nationally in the Pick Your President Poll.  Barack Obama is still leading John Edwards.  I know for sure that the Obama supporters and network are encouraging their people to vote in the poll.  What about John Edwards?  He was doing quite well before Obama supporters started working on GOTV.  Who knows maybe Clinton will catch up?

I can't share with you the actual vote margins, but suffice to say they do not match up with your average daily kos poll.  There is plenty of time for anybody to claim first place.  The poll will run until the 18th.  You can follow the results on this page.  The numbers are current as of 2 PM PST.  We will be updating over the weekend.

Here are the current California standings, which are now identical to the national rankings:

1. Sen. Barack Obama

2. Sen. John Edwards

3. Sen. Hillary Clinton

4. Rep. Dennis Kucinich

5. Gov. Bill Richardson *

by Calitics Editorial Board [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

First, I want to make sure that everybody is clear that these endorsements come from the Calitics Editorial Board, not the community as a whole. The Calitics Editorial Board consists of Brian Leubitz,  jsw, Julia Rosen, David Dayen, Lucas O'Connor &  Robert in Monterey. We would have liked to endorse as a community, but there are tremendous problems with ballot stuffing that this software just can't deal with. That being said, all are welcome to agree, disagree, flame us, whatever, in the comments. I'll give you our endorsements here, and then briefly discuss them over the flip.  An endorsement required 4 of the 6 votes. Furthermore, this post should not be considered of anybody specifically. Rather, it is the voice of the Editorial Board as a whole. So, without further adieu, here they are:

President: Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL)