President Bush is in California today to
raise money for Richard Pombo and John Doolittle and other congressional candidates, reports the Bee's Ron Hutcheson. "In the last midterm congressional elections four years ago, the president's efforts paid big dividends for his party, but since then the political ground has shifted.
He's still a big draw for Republican fundraisers, but some candidates who proudly campaigned with Bush in the past are keeping their distance now.
Bush's three-day swing through Nevada, California, Arizona and Colorado, which began Monday, is packed with closed-door donor receptions, but
doesn't include a single open-door event or public rally."
Well, that makes Gov. Schwarzenegger's job of avoiding the president that much easier.
A day after endorsing
Bill Lockyer, the Bee looks at both
the treasurer's race and the
race for lieutenant governor.
A recent Field Poll showed Lockyer"had a 25-point lead over Republican Board of Equalization member
Claude Parrish, an anti-tax activist unknown to more than 80 percent of voters.
It may be an uneven match, but the treasurer's race presents voters with a stark choice on the November ballot.
The attorney general, armed with a $10 million campaign war chest, recently told The Modesto Bee that he isn't worried about the race.
Parrish, he said, is 'a kook with no money.'"
OK, pop quiz, boys and girls. Which one of the aforementioned attributes is the bigger barrier to being in politics? Send your answers the the address you see on your screen.
Speaking of which, John Wildermuth previews the
Mountjoy vs. Feinstein smackdown. We're taking Feinstein, minus the points.
Meanwhile, Judy Lin says lieutenant governor may be among the offices the GOP can pick up in a Schwarzenegger landslide. "Garamendi, a two-term state insurance commissioner, appears to have lost traction with voters while support for McClintock, a state senator known for his fiscal conservatism, has held steady. The latest survey shows 41 percent of likely voters supporting Garamendi, and 39 percent favoring McClintock."
And we all know how important
that election is...
Oh, and this just in --
Schwarzenegger is ahead of Phil Angelides. So reporteth the Chron's Carla Marinucci. "The new poll released Monday by the San Jose State University Survey and Policy Research Institute showed that two-thirds of voters in the nation's most populous state -- including 57 percent of Democrats, 58 percent of liberals, 69 percent of independents and 65 percent of moderates -- say
Bush's leadership will have no influence on their vote for the next governor."
Dan Morain
discusses the oil tax initiative, and focuses on the money. "Five weeks before election day, California oil companies and a rich Hollywood producer are waging an $85-million battle over an initiative that would impose up to a $485-million-a-year tax on the oil industry.
In any other state, the $45 million that oil producers have shelled out to block Proposition 87 would be a political gusher of historic proportions. But in California this year, there's an equalizer: Stephen L. Bing, movie producer, heir to a real estate fortune and one of the biggest financiers of Democratic and environmentalist causes in the nation."
But the oil company money isn't coming out of
Elizabeth Hurley's child support check.
Meanwhile, Nancy Vogel looks at
the new water bond. "like the last water bond to go before voters, in 2002, Proposition 84 was
written by a Sacramento lobbyist whose clients are land preservation and environmental groups that stand to win public money for pet projects through the measure.
If passed, the initiative would help fund capital projects over the next decade or so. It would shunt money to several state agencies, which would weigh competing proposals from cities, counties, water districts, conservancies and other groups and decide which to fund."
The Times helps close the book on the
Barry Munitz vs. Getty saga. "After a yearlong investigation, the California attorney general's office has concluded that the J. Paul Getty Trust's former chief executive,
Barry Munitz, and board of trustees misused organization funds on lavish travel, gifts and perks.
In a report issued Monday, state officials said they would not seek further penalties against the trust because they found no fraud and the misspent money was recouped when Munitz agreed to repay the Getty $250,000 and forgo more than $2 million in benefits when he was ousted in February.
Nevertheless,
the attorney general took the unprecedented step of appointing an independent monitor — former state Atty. Gen.
John K. Van de Kamp — to make sure the $10-billion private foundation follows through on a long list of promised reforms."
OK, what's worse -- British food, or their taste in music?
You be the judge: "
James Blunt's "Goodbye My Lover" is the song most requested at funerals and remembrance services, closely followed by
Robbie Williams's "Angels", according to a survey released on Monday.
The survey of 5,000 people also uncovered some unusual final choices for the final goodbye with rock songs like "I'll Sleep When I am Dead" by Bon Jovi, competing with classical tracks and soul."