The Field Poll
drops a bombshell this morning, finding the governor trailing both
Phil Angelides and
Steve Westly. Field uses the scientific lingo: "Sharp diminishment in voter inclination to re-elect Schwarzenegger."
The Bee is a bit more blunt with its headline, "
Poll: Governor would lose in '06", as is the Chronicle "
Poll: Arnold Would Lose."
Unfortunately, the Daily News apparently doesn't subscribe to the Field Poll, but if it did, the headline would probably have been "Poll: Governor Trouncing Bulworth."
Here are the numbers (among registered voters):
Angelides - 46%
Schwarzenegger - 42%
Westly - 44%
Schwarzenegger - 40%
Schwarzenegger would edge
Rob Reiner by 2% and
Warren Beatty by 9%. A hypothetical match-up between the guv and
Snuffleupagus was considered too close to call.
While it proves that the governor may not have been as popular as he once was, it is also a pretty good indication that voters don't know too much about his potential Democratic challengers. And the governor's team will tell you a poll
15 months before Election Day is about as instructive as a
San Francisco 49ers training video.From the Bee: "'I am paying about as much attention to these poll numbers as I am to Tom Cruise's lectures about religion, which is to say none,' campaign adviser
Todd Harris said."
From our
Kicking and Screaming Files Senate Democrats
unveiled their redistricting proposal yesterday, which "would begin redistricting in 2011 - after the next federal census - while the [Ted Costa] ballot initiative calls for lines to be redrawn immediately." The proposal, amended into
Alan Lowenthal's
SCA 3 would have a committee of seven draw the lines. The committee would include two appointees each of the Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature, one of the governor, one of the president of the University of California and one of the Judicial Council.
The
blogosphere immediately criticized the proposal from across the political spectrum. The issue most criticized is that
only four of the seven committee members would have to agree on the district lines.
Dan Weintraub called the unveiling "
just more evidence that they are not serious about reform," while former Democratic staffer
Christiana Dominguez writes that having "
monkeys with darts" drawing the lines might be preferable.
John Myers writes that the significant differences in proposals demonstrate "... that the odds of avoiding a November showdown--on everything--are getting slimmer."
The governor yesterday named energy lobbyist
Cindy Tuck to be the administration's
new point person of the Air Resources Board. "Democrats in the California Senate
vowed to block Tuck's appointment, calling her unfit to head the internationally renowned air pollution agency that forced automakers to add catalytic converters three decades ago and approved regulations to reduce greenhouse gases from car tailpipes last year," reports the LA Times.
The Register writes up the
flurry of sex offender bills considered by the
Senate Public Safety yesterday. Speaking of the committee, "'It's stocked with the most liberal, pro-criminal and pro-defendants' rights members of the Legislature,' said
[ Assemblymember Todd] Spitzer, a committee member. '
It should be called the criminal-rights committee."
The committee did approve a bill by
Rudy Bermudez (D-CCPOA), which was amended to prohibit the state from giving out the little blue pill to sex offenders. "'Reimbursing child molesters and rapists for their Viagra prescriptions is an
offensive use of the state's resources, and it must be stopped immediately,' Bermudez said."
Speaking of offensive use of state resources, both houses are expected to have check-in sessions on Friday!
From our
Deja Vu All Over Again Files, Matier and Ross report that the state is
ready to take bids on the Bay Bridge -- again. "
Sunne McPeak, the governor's secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, predicted Tuesday that Caltrans will be able to go back out to bid for the showy, $1 billion-plus self-anchored suspension tower within days.
Speaking of paying more for local services, Los Angeles voters may be voting on
a new, $150-per-home tax for homeowners to pay for local schools, according to the LA Daily News. "Under the draft plan, the tax would be in effect for six years, and the funds would be intended for use to reduce class sizes, improve libraries, bolster campus safety and provide more nurses and counselors."
In
You Got Served news, Rep.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham said he has
received a subpoena in the investigation into the sale of his home to a defense contractor.
"The FBI and U.S. attorney's office are probing the November 2003 sale of Cunningham's home in Del Mar Heights for $1,675,000 to
Mitchell Wade, president and chief executive of Washington-based MZM Inc. Wade bought the house sight unseen, according to an MZM spokesman. He sold the house seven months later for
a $700,000 loss, which critics suggest is proof that he
paid an inflated price to funnel money to the congressman, who has supported his firm's bid for contracts.
Speaking of questionable behavior, the publicity-starved trainwreck that is
Tom Cruise took his one-man circus to Berlin, where he told a newspaper that
he believes in aliens. When asked whether he believes in ET, he said "Yes, of course. Are you really so arrogant as to believe we are alone in this universe?"
What do you mean
we, freakshow?
