Tag: California
Election 2012 May End Congressional Careers of Sonny Bono’s Widow and Her Current Husband, Florida Rep. Connie Mack
But that may not be the only political trouble facing Rep. Mack’s household. His wife, GOP Rep. Mary Bono Mack, the widow of entertainer Sonny Bono, is also facing the toughest reelection challenge since she assumed the seat representing Palm Springs that her late husband held until he was killed in a freak skiing accident in January 1998. Because Rep. Mack opted to give up his seat in Florida to run against Nelson, there’s a chance now that both Mack and Bono Mack will not be returning to Washington next year.
Rep. Bono Mack, who is considered to be one of the five most vulnerable Republican representatives in the House, appears to have really stepped in it when an “October surprise” lodged against her Democratic opponent, emergency-room physician Raul Ruiz, backfired, big time:
California Gov. Jerry Brown, 74, Challenges New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, 49, to an Athletic Contest
What came through from the Republican Convention was its angry tone, and no one does angry tone better than New Jersey’s Republican Gov. Chris Christie, age 49, who made sneering remarks from the convention podium about the age of California’s Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown, who is 74.
But now Gov. Brown, who is tall, lean and fit, has returned fire against Gov. Christie — who is, um, not — by challenging him to a triathalon of sorts:
NYT: California Republican Party ‘Caught in Cycle of Decline’
The slow-mo death spiral of the California Republican Party may have accelerated last week with the release of three separate economic reports. First, a new jobs report found that 38,300 net new jobs were added in California in June, with gains in most industries, including construction and professional services. Next, a report from Zillow indicated that house prices nationwide appear to have bottomed out and have risen slightly over the past four months, while another report found that the number of California homes entering foreclosure was down to 2007 levels. And finally, an assessment of commercial real-estate trends suggests that the office market appears to be bouncing back in Southern California.
Analysts predict the California Republican Party could drop to No. 3 in six years, behind Democrats, who currently make up 43 percent, and independent voters, with 21 percent.
This is all worrisome news for state GOP leaders who have pinned their strategy for turning around their party’s woes on hopes that the state will continue to suffer under a stagnant economy. Unfortunately for California Republicans, they do not have enough seats in the Legislature to deliberately obstruct economic recovery in the state as their counterparts in Washington have done to the national economy.
Making all that just a wee bit worse, just what the California GOP didn’t need — publicity. The national media — in this case, the New York Times’ Adam Nagourney — has noticed that the state party is withering on the vine:
Voters Abandoning California Republican Party – Independents Now Trail GOP Registrations By Just 8.9 Points
New voter registration tallies from the California Secretary of State’s office show that Republican Party is continuing to shed voters. Analysts say that teavangelical hardline opposition on social issues and tax policy in Washington and nationwide is driving voters out of the GOP column in the nation’s largest state.
“In California, the Republican Party has done tremendous damage to its brand with its positions on immigration and gay marriage. Add to that the no-tax pledge.”
— Matt David, California Republican strategist
— Matt David, California Republican strategist
In 1996, 37 percent of California registered voters were Republicans. In 2007, the number had dropped to 30.9 percent, or 5.3 million voters. The latest figures show a decline this year — despite a GOP pre-primary registration drive by Ron Paul supporters — to 30.2 percent, or 5,180,417 registered Republicans.
In 1972, just 5 percent of Californians were registered independents. By 1996, the number of independents had doubled to 10.7 percent. In 2007, it rose to 18.8 percent, or 2.9 million voters. Last year, fully one-fifth of California voters — 20.4 percent, or 3.5 million voters — had registered as independents. This year the percentage rose again to 21.3 percent, or 3.7 million.
The gap between registered Republicans and independents is already in single digits — 8.9 percent points now — and the trendline suggests it is narrowing.
In Upset, Tea Party Birther Queen Orly Taitz Is Trounced in Bid to Unseat California Sen. Dianne Feinstein
One disappointing result for Democrats from Tuesday’s California primary is that they will be denied the spectacle of having an even bigger tea party bozo on the ballot for U.S. Senate this fall than the bozos in the 2008 Senate races, Sharron “Second Amendment Remedies” Angle in Nevada and Christine “I am Not a Witch” O’Donnell in Delaware.
One possible reason for her change in fortunes is that Taitz, who has made her name demanding that Pres. Obama release his birth records, made news on the day before the election because she had failed to submit her campaign finance records.
Tea party birther queen Orly Taitz had been the odds-on favorite to take on the incumbent, Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the fall. But Taitz came in a disappointing fifth on the ballot, with just 3.1 percent or 113,563 votes.
There was no Republican elected official, high-ranking party member or GOP establishment candidate in the race. Instead, Feinstein will run against a political unknown, Danville autism activist Elizabeth Emken, in November.
The voting on Tuesday was the first in California’s new “jungle primary” system in which candidates’ party affiliation are not shown on the ballot. Feinstein faced 23 other candidates, 14 of whom were Republicans. The senator won 49.3 percent of the vote (1.8 million votes), while Emken received 12.5 percent (454,937 votes).
Taitz had the highest name recognition by far among the challengers. One possible reason for her change in fortunes is that Taitz, who has made her name demanding that Pres. Obama release his birth records, made news on the day before the election because she had failed to submit her campaign finance records.
What was she hiding? Possibly a poor showing in attracting donations. Records show that Taitz had been forced to lend own campaign $280,000 last month.
Birther Queen Orly Taitz Leads in Early Polling in California’s GOP U.S. Senate Primary
Now it appears that another Republican joke, birther queen Orly Taitz, could well win the Republican primary in the California U.S. Senate race in June. She is, by far, the best best known candidate in a field of 23, including 14 Republicans, who are vying to take on Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who has served in the Senate since 1992.
Calbuzz got a quote on the matter from the poor sap saddled with the job of being chairman of the California Republican Party:
“We’re aware (Taitz) has name ID,” state GOP chair Tom Del Becarro, who’s doing all he can to boost the candidacy of little-known but party-endorsed Elizabeth Emken, told us bravely. “We think the party’s endorsement will carry the day.”
Ha! As if:
California GOP Power Couple Quits Party
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Democrats hold every statewide office and, thanks to a new redistricting system once favored by the California GOP — despite its near-bankruptcy, the party funded not one but two rounds of ballot initiatives to get it passed but is now underwriting lawsuits to have the redistricting plan overturned — the party is on a glide path to devastating losses in U.S. House and state Legislature races in November.
The latest casualty in the party’s death spiral is the defection of one its few — maybe even its only — young power couples. Assmb. Nathan Fletcher, a candidate for mayor of San Diego, and his wife, the former Mindy Tucker, who served in high profile positions in the George W. Bush administration, the Republican National Committee and the Schwarzenegger administration, announced last week that they had abandoned the Republican Party for good and registered as independents.
Pres. Obama Determined to Depress Support Among Youth Vote, Liberal Base in California
The Obama Justice Department’s escalation of its assault on medical marijuana services in California are politically foolish and reckless:
Federal agents struck at the heart of California’s medical marijuana movement, raiding the nation’s first pot trade school and a popular dispensary, both run by one of the state’s most prominent and provocative activists, Richard Lee.
The raids in Oakland by the Internal Revenue Service and Drug Enforcement Administration sent a shudder through the medical cannabis trade and angered the plant’s devotees, who believe the federal government is trampling on California law and the wishes of voters who approved medical marijuana use nearly 16 years ago.
Now they are wondering what message the federal government is trying to send. President Obama promised during his 2008 campaign not to prosecute medical marijuana users who comply with state law, and Deputy Atty. Gen. David Ogden reiterated that position in a 2009 memo that many credit with helping spark the medical pot boom.
