"Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and his challenger,
Phil Angelides, seeking to reach the state's fastest-growing group of voters,
have jumped into a fight over threatening letters sent to 14,000 Latinos in an Orange County congressional district here," reports the Chron's Carla Marinucci.
"The GOP governor, who took to the streets of this Latino bastion over the weekend, called the actions attributed to the campaign of Republican congressional candidate
Tan Nguyen a 'hate crime.'"
"And Angelides, the Democratic state treasurer, seized on the issue Monday, surrounded on the steps of the Santa Ana courthouse by dozens of flag-waving Democratic officials, Latino activists and a crush of news cameras and reporters."
"With just two weeks until the Nov. 7 election, the high-profile efforts by both candidates for governor to express their outrage over charges of voter intimidation highlighted how the issue has become an embarrassment to state Republicans and a cause among California Democrats."
The Orange County situation exacerbates the continuing struggle Republicans have had bringing more of the traditionally Democratic voters under the tent. The LAT's Peter Wallsten
reports: "A major effort to draw Latinos and blacks into the Republican Party, a central element of the GOP plan to build a long-lasting majority, is in danger of collapse amid anger over the immigration debate and claims that Republican leaders have not delivered on promises to direct more money to church-based social services."
"
President Bush, strategist
Karl Rove and other top Republicans have wooed Latino and black leaders, many of them evangelical clergy who lead large congregations, in hopes of peeling away the traditional Democratic base. But now some of the leaders who helped Bush win in 2004 are revisiting their loyalty to the Republican Party and, in some cases, abandoning it."
"'There is a fissure, and I doubt it will be closed in this election,' said the Rev.
Luis Cortes Jr., a Republican who founded the annual National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast that has featured Bush every year since 2002. His Philadelphia-based Esperanza USA boasts a national affiliate network of more than 10,000 churches."
The U-T's Bill Ainsworth looks at why Angelides' success as state treasurer
isn't propelling his gubernatorial campaign. "Angelides trails by double digits in the polls and his underdog status has left him lagging behind in fundraising, making it difficult for him to afford many TV ads to tout his record as treasurer."
"'What has he done for the past eight years? Nobody seems to know about it,' said
Jaime Regalado, executive director of the Edmund G. 'Pat' Brown Institute of Public Affairs at California State University Los Angeles. '
He does have things to crow about. He has accomplishments. He has vision, but it's not getting out.'"
"While average voters may know little about Angelides' tenure, his record was strong enough among Democratic activists to help him win his party's nomination for governor."
"
Tim Hodson, director of the Center for California Studies at California State University Sacramento, said Angelides has been effective in making his voice heard on issues such as bond sales and pension investments."
“'Angelides has been one of the more successful in using his office to get some attention and to implement his policy goals,' he said."
"Former Vice President
Al Gore, calling global warming a worldwide crisis that requires immediate attention,
urged Californians on Monday to approve Proposition 87, the ballot initiative to tax oil production to fund alternative fuel development," reports Matthew Yi in the Chron.
"In an energetic speech in Berkeley before hundreds of people at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Park, Gore likened global warming to other major crises of the day, including the genocide in Darfur, poverty in the developing world, and the degradation of forests and oceans."
"'Al Gore gave an impassioned speech about fighting global warming, but there was very little said about how Prop. 87 will achieve this,' said
Nick DeLuca, a spokesman for the No on 87 campaign. 'We're not voting on the principle of global warming, but what's in the pages of the initiative.'"
Yi also reports: "Democrats are likely to get a shot of adrenaline later this week when popular Illinois Sen.
Barack Obama travels to Los Angeles to campaign for Angelides. A charismatic first-term senator, Obama has set off a buzz among Democrats with recent statements that he is considering running for president in 2008."
The Bee's Andy Furillo
takes a look at Proposition 83. "California's worst sex criminals would be in line for more prison time, lifetime satellite monitoring and virtual banishment from urban society under a crackdown measure set for the Nov. 7 ballot."
"Proponents say that Proposition 83, the so-called "Jessica's Law" initiative, will save lives if it passes, and that children such as Samantha Runnion and its namesake, Jessica Lunsford, might be alive today if it had been on the books in the states in which they were kidnapped, raped and murdered."
"'The priority of government should always be protection, and certainly the protection of children should be its highest priority,' said state Sen.
George Runner, R-Lancaster, who, along with his wife, Assemblywoman
Sharon Runner, is a chief proponent of Proposition 83."
"'Jessica's story is horrific, but I don't think it's good public policy to draft legislation based on a single story,' said Assemblyman
Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, a Proposition 83 opponent."
"'This ballot measure is extremely complex. I support much of what's in it, but that which I support we already have accomplished legislatively.'"
Jim Sanders
uses the truth serum on a pro-Prop. 89 ad. "The ad attempts to strike an emotional chord with Californians disgusted by a seemingly endless string of political hit pieces."
"But the claim that Proposition 89 would end political ads that are 'lies, distortions and half-truths' is overstated."
"The measure proposes no restrictions on how campaign funds are spent."
"Passage of Proposition 89 would not eliminate one-sided ads, unfair attacks, bloated promises or 'lies, distortions and half-truths.'"
Well, the pitch may be a bit distorted, but it's at least half true...
"Instead, the measure hopes to curtail the quantity of ads, not alter their content, by targeting special-interest funding."
Dan Walters writes "[w]ith just
two weeks remaining before Election Day, California's political dissonance with the rest of the nation is becoming ever starker. Everywhere else, it shapes up as a strong Democratic year, perhaps strong enough to capture control of both houses of Congress. But in California, Democrats are running scared as Republican Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger heads toward what could be a landslide re-election that could carry several other Republicans into statewide office."
"With its gerrymandered congressional districts, California is largely insulated from the national angst over Iraq and other issues, thus undercutting earlier Democratic hopes of profiting from the anti-GOP tide. Schwarzenegger's Democratic challenger,
Phil Angelides, briefly attempted to tie the governor to
President Bush but that proved no more successful than all his other tactics, an unbroken string of jabs that have missed their targets and left Angelides stuck somewhere below the 40 percent mark."
Could
Gavin Newsom really bow out? Democratic political consultants are desperately clutching their wallets and crossing their fingers as
the San Francisco Mayor considers life without politics. The Chron's Cecilia Vega reports.
"He expressed frustration with
media attention paid to his hair and to his 20-year-old Republican girlfriend who might or might not have been drinking alcohol on their dates and about not being able to find the right balance between work and his personal life.
'I don't know if I really want to do it for four more years,' he said. 'And I'm dead serious.'"
Meanwhile, his reelection is gearing up, and critics are teeing off. "It would be great if he didn't run. San Francisco needs an adult to run this city. But I'm sure he will run,' said Supervisor
Gerardo Sandoval, who represents San Francisco's Excelsior and Outer Mission neighborhoods. '
I'm sure he's just read some best-seller that talks about one of the Founding Fathers and one of them being a reluctant patriot. Give him a week or two, and he'll bounce back.'"
Man, they play mean in San Francisco.
Perhaps Gavin should be a bit more like
Loretta Nall. "The Libertarian Party's write-in candidate for governor of Alabama, is
campaigning on her cleavage and hoping that voters will eventually focus on her platform."
"'It started out as a joke, but it blew up into something huge,' said Nall, a 32-year-old with dyed blond hair."
Unfortunate turn of phrase, Ms. Nall.
"Her campaign is offering T-shirts and marijuana stash boxes adorned with a photo of her with a plunging neckline and the words: '
More of these boobs.' Below that are pictures of other candidates for governor — including Republican incumbent Bob Riley and Democratic Lt. Gov.
Lucy Baxley — and the words: 'And less of these boobs.'"
God bless America.