The numbers from the Field Poll
continue to roll out today, and there's finally a bit of good news for the governor.
"The Field Poll survey of likely voters
showed 57 percent of them backing the so-called 'paycheck protection' measure and 34 percent opposing the initiative that has qualified for the special election ballot scheduled for Nov. 8."
Expect the following historical bit to be repeated a lot by labor today: "In December 1997,
registered voters polled by Field liked the dues-restriction proposal by a margin of 72 percent to 22 percent. They eventually defeated it, 53 percent to 47 percent."
In fact, that bit was highlighted in the release from the Alliance for Better California, the labor group organized to defeat the governor's measures.
"As for the battling drug initiatives, the
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers Association proposal is leading among likely voters by 57 percent to 26 percent. The Health Access-sponsored measure also is ahead, but not by as much - 48 percent to 33 percent."
"The Field Poll showed voters
favoring parental notification of teen abortions, 48 percent to 43 percent."
George Skelton writes that the
governor appears more willing to discuss the budget separately from his ballot measures, a change that Skelton attributes to the Field Poll results.
"'
It is a very clear message by the California people," Schwarzenegger told reporters Tuesday. 'They are saying to all of us here at the Capitol: 'Work together.''"
The AP's Beth Fouhy writes that, while the governor appeared to be responsive to this week's Field Poll,
his political team wants to ignore it."'I've been running campaigns in the state for 25 years as have a number of our colleagues in the governor's high command,' [Schwarzenegger fundraiser Marty] Wilson said. '
Not once have we made a decision based on what the Field Poll says. And we're not going to now.'"
As proof, things returned to normal yesterday, with the governor back on the $22,000-rubber-chicken circuit, and the
protesters all there to greet him.You can decide what to do with it yourself, and check out all the poll results
here.At least the governor will be able to
continue to raise money in larger chunks for the election, as a judge ruled in his favor in a campaign finance lawsuit. "A state court judge has declined to order political committees affiliated with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stop accepting contributions over $5,600 and said a lawsuit brought by a watchdog group was 'not strong,'" reports the Chronicle.
Dan Weintraub takes a look at why legislative
Democrats and their allies are willing to negotiate. "The Democrats and their public employee union allies, meanwhile, have to wonder if they can defeat the proposals to
change tenure rules and
undercut union influence. It is possible that by spending tens of millions of dollars, they could defeat both measures and the rest of the governor's agenda. But it is just as possible
they could spend all of that money and lose. Then their coffers would be depleted heading into the 2006 elections at the same time they are dealing with a new rule that makes it harder for them to replenish those war chests."
Meanwhile, the administration announced a
new $18.4 billion deal with the feds on Medi-Cal funding, calling it "the best hospital financing agreement in the nation."
"But hospitals, counties and Democratic lawmakers quickly disagreed, saying the deal could force hospitals to close or cut services because it would not provide enough money to keep pace with the projected growth in needy and uninsured residents or with rising health care costs," the Bee reports.
From our
2002 All Over Again files, the Sacramento News and Review writes about a fight brewing among Republicans in the
battle for insurance commissioner. "At the recent annual Los Olivos weekend gathering of Republicans,
Gary Mendoza, a former deputy mayor of Los Angeles, announced that he is running for insurance commissioner. He caused a stir when he said that if moderate Republican Silicon Valley multimillionaire
Steve Poizner, who also is seeking the Republican nod for insurance commissioner, were to beat him, Mendoza
would not back Poizner against the Democratic candidate. In Congressman Bill Morrow news, the LA Times
breaks down the Duke Cunningham story. Reads a lot like a rough draft of a political obituary.
Sean, Shawn, Shaun Yesterday, we correctly caught the Associated Press' errant spelling of the last name of Code Pink victim and
George Plescia staffer, who the AP referred to as "Sean Flanagan." The New York Daily News had it as "Shaun Flanagan." We went with the trendy, but understated "Sean Flanigan." We were all wrong. The correct spelling of the stiched-shin staffer's name is "Shaun Flanigan."