Juan Vargas has declared victory over Assemblywoman Mary Salas after 11,000 uncounted mail-in ballots were tallied in Riverside County Friday, The Desert Sun reports.
"Former Assemblyman Juan Vargas narrowly won the Democratic nomination to the 40th Senate seat in the June 8 primary election, according to results that now include final tallies from Riverside County and were posted early Saturday morning.
“It's been a long road, but we've reached the finished line,” Vargas said in a statement released Saturday evening.
"Despite the narrow results, there will not be an automatic recount, but any candidate or member of the public can request one if they pay for it."
Beuller...? Beuller? Anyone?
The NYT's Michael Luo looks at Meg Whitman's foray into the business of politics.
"Ms. Whitman, a billionaire and former chief executive of eBay, made the investment in late 2008, according to her campaign, taking a $1 million stake in a fledgling movie production firm started by none other than Mike Murphy, a very prominent and much-sought-after Republican strategist.
"In the months before the deal was closed, Mr. Murphy had been flirting with working on the campaign of Ms. Whitman’s future rival in the Republican primary for governor, Steve Poizner, the state’s insurance commissioner. But he had an about-face.
"Was it strictly a business decision, or part of an effort to ensure that a coveted political strategist did not work for the competition? Or perhaps a way to sweeten the pot so he would eventually sign on with the right team?"
Republican and Silicon Valley insiders dish on the fraught history between Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina.
"Whitman and Fiorina have often been painted as one and the same, Silicon Valley duplicates now part of a rising sisterhood of leaders in the Republican Party. Although they are the first California women to serve as their party's nominees for the offices, they are no more ideologically or stylistically similar than any two men who might occupy the roles. Nor did they run their companies in the same manner.
Representatives for both women said that their relationship was friendly and without friction and that any suggestions to the contrary were fabrications. In the case of the economic meeting, Fiorina took notes "of her own volition," spokeswoman Julie Soderlund said.
"Those are spun-up stories that have to be considered ridiculous," said Whitman spokesman Tucker Bounds.
Hey, never let the facts get in the way of a good story...
Patrick McGreevy looks at the influence of big money in three of the state's most competitive legislative primaries.
"The issues and the special interests that pursued them in last month's primary election are familiar: Big oil, tobacco and insurance companies seeking armor against litigation and taxes; trial lawyers looking for more opportunities to sue; the state Chamber of Commerce working against proposals its members deem costly.
"But even battle-hardened veterans of special-interest wars were alarmed by how some of California's most influential groups flooded a few small campaigns with money in an effort to achieve their goals.
"Under innocuous umbrella names such as the California Alliance and Put California Back to Work, they poured more than $1 million into each of three contests for rank-and-file legislative seats — races that merely determined who would advance to the general election."
Jennifer Steinhauer begins the look at the Schwarzenegger legacy.
"He is despised by the state’s workers (whose pay he cut), Democrats (who loathe his aversion to new taxes and his desire to cut entitlements) and Republicans (who wish those respective aversions and desires were stronger), as well as college students, public school parents and people who hate the smell of cigars...Independents are to politics what diets are to eating. Everyone loves what they promise, but then dislike them intensely when they actually have to live with them," she writes. "
Lawmakers are backing a plan to allow oil companies to leave large parts of decommissioned drilling rigs in the ocean off California's coast.
Jack Dolan reports, "A plan to let oil companies leave large parts of decommissioned drilling rigs in the ocean off California's coast, saving them hundreds of millions of dollars, is sailing through the Legislature at a time when the Gulf of Mexico spill has made the industry politically toxic.
"The "rigs to reef" idea, which proponents say would create marine habitat, has been around for more than a decade. Former Gov. Gray Davis vetoed such a proposal in 2001, citing a lack of proof that abandoned oil rigs help the environment."
And finally, for our Southern California readers, beware of buns on the 405. The AP reports, "California Highway Patrol Officer Monica Posada said the first call came at the height of rush-hour Thursday — a man with no clothes was in the center divide of the freeway. Then came a rush of calls reporting the man in the buff.
"Long Beach police detained the 21-year-old man and gave him a mental health evaluation."
The man was later released after explaining that he was driven to the madness after sitting in Southern California traffic.