The latest
Field Poll finds that the governor would
easily dispose of any Democrats considering the challenge, and the best candidate for the Dems is
Meathead.Of course, polls this early in the game are simply tests of name ID, but it does serve as a reminder of just how few people even know the Democrats who may be running for governor.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania, they may be looking to a former Pittsburgh Steelers star to run for governor. Hall of famer
Lynn Swann has
opened an exploratory committee to run for the state's top job. "Swann is chairman of the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a position held by California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger under former
President Bush from 1990 to 1993."
Before heading out on a
multi-state fundraising trip, Gov. Schwarzenegger will have to
defend his Proposition 49, which came under attack yesterday as part of Legislative Analyst
Liz Hill's annual budget review.
During the short tenure of The Roundup,
Kevin Shelley has been forced to resign his state office, his mother passed away, and now,
his house has been burglarized. Shelley says someone broke into his San Francisco home, and went straight for his Blackberry device. Let the conspiracy theories begin ...
While Dan Weintraub writes in his blog
that more competitive districts will bring more moderate legislators, Dan Walters just flat out calls opponents of redistricting reform
unreasonable.California reaches 200,000 lawyers: So reporteth
Steve Harvey in today's LA Times.
In related news, San Diego's budget is
$26.5 million short, with $5.6 million of it spent on unexpected legal costs.
Already a two-man race? As the LA Mayor's election limps anonymously toward Election Day, it looks as if the two front-runners are poised to offer the city a repeat of last year's match-up.
Jim Hahn and
Antonio Villaraigosa are
in the best financial position to hit the airwaves, according to new campaign finance reports.
Bob Hertzberg, it appears, is going
Al Checchi right before our very eyes. "Hertzberg has spent his campaign money at a more rapid pace than his rivals. Last week, he was forced to halt his ads on broadcast television for five days to save cash. Earlier this month, Hertzberg was the first candidate to start TV advertising, a strategy aimed at introducing himself to voters in a positive light before opponents could start tearing him down in attack ads." Though we should mention, Hertzberg does still have $800,000 in the bank, according to the new reports.
OK, now that we've made the Hertzberg/Checchi comparison, and Dan Walters is
comparing Hahn to Gray Davis, does that make Villaraigosa the Jane Harman of this race? Moving on...
Tom Torlakson gets our award for
cutest new constitutional amendment. A new measure introduced by Torlakson would give schools the same funding guarantees that the governor helped local governments secure through Prop. 1A last year. How do you, politically, make the argument that schools are not at least
as important as funding for special districts?