Yesterday, campaigns
worked in a frenzied pace to urge voters to turn out to vote today, write Mark Barabak and Robert Salladay in the Los Angeles Times.
"Stumping from Chico to Del Mar, the governor borrowed a line from his Hollywood days. '
Tomorrow is judgment day,' he told senior citizens at a Del Webb retirement community in Roseville, outside Sacramento. 'Tomorrow we are going to make a decision: Does the state move forward or does it move backward?'"
"'This election was absolutely unnecessary,'
Martin Ludlow, leader of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, told reporters at a labor rally in Burbank. 'There isn't a single thing on this ballot that actually moves the state of California forward.'"
Laura Kurtzman and Kate Folmar of the Merc News covered the
governor's stop in Roseville. "'
Give change a chance -- that's all I'm saying,' Schwarzenegger told star-struck retirees in Roseville, near Sacramento, who mobbed him for autographs. 'We need the change. Otherwise, we're stuck and we're going backwards with our state.'"
With all eyes on absentee votes tonight, the Bee's Laura Mecoy summarizes a new Field Poll that
Republicans have lost their edge in absentee ballots.
"The Field Poll, which estimates that 40.5 percent of voters will send in absentee ballots, also predicts Republicans will lose the edge they've enjoyed in the past with those voting via the mail."
"Among the 2.75 million absentee ballots expected in this year's election, the Field Poll estimates 41 percent will be cast by Democrats and 41 percent by Republicans. Historically, Republicans have outnumbered Democrats in absentee balloting."
John Wildermuth and Carla Marinucci write in the Chron that "An estimated
6.8 million Californians are expected to go to the polls today despite early concerns -- and Republican hopes -- that the all-initiative special election would be largely ignored by voters."
"The Field Poll estimate calls for about 43 percent of the state's 15.8 million registered voters to cast ballots today, not far from the 42 percent turnout predicted by Secretary of State Bruce McPherson."
The
poll predicts that the combined votes cast via absentee and at the precincts will be 43% Democrat, 38% Republican, and 19% Decline to State.
Dan Walters writes that today's results will
come down to voter turnout, which does not bode well for the governor. "Overall, Field said, Democrats are likely to vote in higher proportions than Schwarzenegger's fellow Republicans - bad news for the governor's chances of pulling out a win.
Dan Morain writes in the Times that, despite the over $250 million collected by campaign coffers this election year, many large donors
plan to keep giving next year.
"'
Win or lose this cycle, I'll continue to invest both philanthropically and politically," [Netflix founder
Reed] Hastings said via e-mail. 'I don't feel any donor fatigue, because improving California' is 'a multi-decade effort, not a one-shot fix.'"
Of course, Hastings was bounced by Democrats from his perch on the state Board of Education earlier this year. It's easy not to get "fatigued" when you're stinking rich,
and you've got payback on your mind...
Capitol Weekly's Shane Goldmacher reports that
black media publishers received more than $700,000 in political ads this cycle, after some help from Assemblyman
Jerome Horton. Horton helped convene a meeting with publishers, and invited interests from both the governor's team and labor and other interests to attend. "The meeting, according to its sponsors, had two goals. The first was to
open the lines of communications between the black media and the big-money players in Sacramento. The second was to begin to tap those players for advertising. On both counts, it seems to have been successful."
Sen.
Carole Migden told Capitol Weekly yesterday that she is
taking a "temporary leave" from her job as chairwoman of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. "Midgen says she is taking the leave to have more time to focus on Steve Westly's gubernatorial campaign. She will remain in the Senate, but with a lighter work load.
"I'm going to be talking to [the Westly campaign], and I'm sure I'll have some fancy title," she said. "But I intend to spend a great deal of time day-to-day working on this campaign, and I wanted a minimal workload in the Senate during the next six months."
Perata is expected to announce further committee chairmanship and leadership changes later this week. The Chronicle reports
Kevin Murray is likely to take over the gavel at Appropriations.
Los Angeles Mayor
Antonio Villaraigosa is coming under fire for taking a
corporate jet to Rosa Parks' funeral. The mayor hitched a ride on a plane belonging to
Ameriquest, "a mortgage firm that has a City Hall lobbyist assigned to press its interests with the mayor."
"Villaraigosa, who
once worked for the firm, flew last week on the private jet to Detroit with an aide and his security detail after receiving a last-minute invitation to speak at the funeral of civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks. 'Because of the short notice and the need to fulfill his official duties, the mayor needed the services of a private jet,' spokeswoman
Janelle Erickson said."
Oh, ok. Sorry we asked.
But wait, there's more...
"Ameriquest gave $75,000 to a political committee that Villaraigosa controlled while he was speaker of the Assembly from 1998 to 2000."
"When Villaraigosa left the Legislature, Ameriquest paid him more than $10,000 in 2001 and again in 2002 to serve as a consultant for the firm. At the time, Ameriquest was trying to blunt proposed consumer legislation in Sacramento and at City Hall."
"Villaraigosa has said he did not advise Ameriquest on lobbying politicians but on 'strategic thinking and problem solving.'"
"Ameriquest and its employees have contributed more than $21,000 to Villaraigosa's 2001 and 2005 mayoral campaigns."
"Ameriquest contributed $100,000 to underwrite his inaugural gala at the Music Center in June, an event that raised money for after-school programs."
From our
It Pays to Read the Morning Report files: Two women were
arrested for going topless in a Capitol protest yesterday. "The women, who were protesting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's ballot measures for today's special election, took off their shirts despite warnings from the California Highway Patrol last week that doing so would lead to their arrests —
and possibly their inclusion on the state's list of sex offenders. A federal judge Friday refused to grant a request from Breasts Not Bombs to block the police from arresting topless protesters."
"'We have done these demonstrations from San Francisco to Mendocino to the gates of the White House and never been restrained in this way,' said Breasts Not Bombs member
Sherry Glaser of Albion, Calif., near Mendocino, addressing about 100 onlookers."
