Day: September 29, 2010

Dems’ California Firewall Expands – Brown, Boxer Both Up by 9 Points in CNN Poll

Jon Ponder

The new CNN poll finds leads for Democrats in the California races for governor and senator.

In the governor’s race, Democrat Jerry Brown, the state’s attorney general and former governor, leads billionaire former eBay executive Meg Whitman, 52 percent to 43 percent among likely voters. Brown has a 13 point advantage among registered voters, 52 percent to 39 percent.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, seeking a fourth term, leads former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, by the same ratio, 52 percent to 43 percent. Among registered voters, Boxer’s lead widens to 19 points, 56 percent to 37 percent.

This is the first poll in which either candidate for governor has been above 50 percent in recent weeks. It is Boxer’s second 50-plus percent result.

The CNN poll is also the fourth consecutive poll that shows the Democrats ahead in California.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

We don’t spend much time thinking about her. I think that long term, the more sway and power she has in the Republican Party, the worse off the Republican Party will be.

— Former Obama campaign manager David Plouffe, in a CNN interview, about a possible presidential bid by Sarah Palin.

Most Republicans are Tea Baggers

Buck Banks

71 percent

Share of Republicans who “described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea-party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections” in a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. The survey also found that tea-party supporters “make up one-third of the voters most likely to cast ballots in November’s midterm elections.“

Breitbart Hosts Tea Bagger Rally in Beverly Hills and Racism Breaks Out

Jon Ponder

Yeah, big shock. I know.

In August, the RNC abruptly canceled a fundraiser in Beverly Hills that was to be headlined — not by GOP top-draw candidates like Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina — but by one of the new lead GOP race-baiters, Andrew Breitbart.

Man with tea bags stapled to hat photographed by Los Angeles Times at Beverly Hills tea party rally in September 2010
Man with tea bags stapled to hat photographed by Los Angeles Times at Beverly Hills tea party rally in September 2010
Breitbart was all over the news at the time because his fingerprints were all over the racist scandals confronting the GOP and its Fox channel on cable, including particularly the video that had bee deceptively edited to portray Shirley Sherrod, a civil rights activist and federal employee, as being racist toward white people. The RNC insisted then that the fundraiser would be rescheduled, but, as I predicted then, “…it’s safe to say the RNC is rescheduling its Breitbart fundraiser for either the 12th of Never or possibly the 14th of Not-Gonna-Happen.”

It wasn’t a fundraiser, but last weekend, Breitbart did attend a tea bagger rally in Beverly Hills. There were a few celebrities there — if you define “celebrity” down to people lower in Hollywood claim to fame than the Kardashians, by which I mean Pat Boone and Victoria Jackson.

(And this was literally a tea bagger rally, as the Los Angeles Times photographed one attendee with tea bags stapled to his headgear.)

Breitbart spoke, of course, as did serveral others but the white people on the stage stood aside to allow one of the few African Americans in the crowd of 200 get to the heart of what animated the tea party movement from the outset and what drew them all together in Beverly Hills that morning:

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Verbatim

Trish

They say it is easier to get people to dislike a politician than to like him or her, but I wonder if automobile makers spent all their time accusing each other of making lousy and dangerous cars, whether anybody would buy one at all. Which maybe is one reason more people don’t vote.

–St. Petersburg Times columnist Howard Troxler, commenting on advertising for the midterm election.

LA Sen: Ad from Democrat Charlie Melancon Revisits David Vitter’s Prostitute Scandal

Jon Ponder

TPMDC:

This summer, Louisiana Dems hinted that their fall strategy to defeat Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) would be to vividly remind voters of Vitter’s prostitute-laden scandal sheet. They unveiled a five-minute web ad that included a reenactment and a recreation of the “crime scene” where Vitter and a prostitute liaised.

Now, his challenger, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA), has turned that web ad into a two-minute long TV spot, which will run on Louisiana cable statewide starting tonight or tomorrow.

CA Gov: Meg Whitman’s Housekeeper Said to Have ‘Explosive’ Allegations, Has Hired Attorney Gloria Allred

Jon Ponder

photo-meg-whitman-handHere’s some news breaking in the California governor’s race that is doubly intriguing because it is not coming from the political press — it’s from the Sunset Strip-based gossip-on-steroids outfit, TMZ:

The former housekeeper for Meg Whitman — the Republican candidate for Governor of California — is about to make “controversial and explosive allegations about her former employer,” TMZ has learned.

We’re told the housekeeper has lawyered up with none other than Gloria Allred. The housekeeper and Allred will hold a news conference today in Gloria’s office at 11 AM PT, “to tell how she suffered as a long-time, Latina household employee in Meg Whitman’s home.

We’re told the housekeeper will be filing a legal claim against Ms. Whitman.

From what we’re hearing, the disclosures could have a significant impact on the campaign and possibly the election.

If the allegations involved anger issues at Casa Whitman, they would not be the first.

Update 2:24 p.m.: The issue turned out to the fact that the maid was an undocumented alien when she worked for the Whitman-Harsh household for nine years. This comes one day after Whitman’s debate with Democrat Jerry Brown, during which she called for tough sanctions against employers of undocumented workers:

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