Today, the nation awakes struggling to understand the implications of the historic news from Tuesday:
Britney Spears finally filed for divorce from
Kevin Federline.
Here's
hoping there was a prenup...
And in other news,
Gov. Schwarzenegger coasted to an easy victory in California,
Steve Poizner had an investment pay off, and Democrats picked up the other statewide offices. Meanwhile, Republicans got a new covergirl for all their mail pieces, as
Nancy Pelosi is poised to become the first female Speaker of the House in U.S. history.
The first seven ballot measures passed, and then "yes" voters got tired. There will likely be no changes in the makeup of the Assembly, and this year's overtime "all lawyers on deck" race is in Orange County, where
Lynn Daucher has a 7-vote lead over
Lou Correa.
The Bee's Amy Chance
rounds up the post-mortems on the Angelides campaign:
Bill Carrick (Angelides consultant): "'Phil came banged up out of the primary and didn't have any money,' Carrick said. In focus groups, he said, Democratic voters were 'repeating Westly's ads.'"
Just as we figured -- It's all Westly's fault.
Gale Kaufman (labor consultant): "'You had the national current, you had all the right national as well as state issues. (Angelides) had the experience, he had the understanding of the issues,' Kaufman said. 'So
with a campaign that had a solid set of messages ... not only do I think he could have won, but he absolutely should have won.'"
Looking forward to the Democratic fisticuffs in Berkeley for the post-election roundup...
Steve Schmidt (Schwarzenegger consultant): The partisan crusade is 'what people are rejecting in Washington, D.C., and that's what they gave Arnold Schwarzenegger such a big victory for,' he said."
Garry South (Westly consultant): "'Phil was the wrong candidate running against the wrong candidate at the wrong time with the wrong campaign on the wrong issues,' South said. "I don't know how you can be more wrong than that in a campaign.'" South also writes a
full op-ed column in the Chron.
Dan Walters writes that the landslide
doesn't predict much for the governor's second term. "It will, of course, be interesting to see whether Schwarzenegger continues seeking bipartisan compromise on such issues as health care, which he's singled out as his chief second-term goal, or reverts to confrontation, but neither holds much promise of bringing truly effective governance to a state that's sorely in need of it."
"Ringing up a landslide re-election victory and amassing a record of incremental compromises such as those he signed this year may constitute a personal political success, but they don't necessarily add up to a successful governorship in the larger, more important sense."
The Chron's Carla Marinucci and Mark Martin say the Republican governor and Democrats in the Legislature are
back on a collision course for 2007. "After a year in which the governor and majority Democrats came to consensus on ideas they largely agreed on -- addressing global warming, for example, and building more roads and schools --
next year's hot topics are much more fraught with partisan pitfalls and may highlight core value differences in the Capitol. Administration officials say
Schwarzenegger will tackle health care, prison reform and water supply, and also will face what is expected to be a $5 billion budget deficit."
It was also a
good night for the governor's bond package, which he pushed for along with aforementioned Democratic legislative leaders. "A year after voters crushed his special election proposals, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger emerged as Election Night's biggest winner Tuesday with an overwhelming victory over Phil Angelides
and the approval of his $37 billion bond package," reports the Register's Brian Joseph.
"The approval of Propositions 1A through 1E re-established Schwarzenegger as a man of the people capable of turning to the electorate to implement his policy desires after a disastrous 2005 special election saw Californians roundly reject his initiatives."
"The biggest bond package in California's history allocates $19.9 billion for public transportation and relieving traffic congestion; $10.4 billion for school repairs and expansion; $4.1 billion for levee improvements and flood control; and $2.85 billion for affordable-housing projects."
"All five pieces won, including Proposition 1A, which prevents the state from using gas tax revenue on anything but transportation projects."
Bonnie Garcia and
Nicole Parra each appeared to survive tough election challenges, but ultimately
Riverside voters decided they wouldn't kick Garcia out of bed. Er, out of office.
"At 2:30 a.m. today, with all precincts reporting, Garcia led Democratic challenger
Steve Clute by 1,135 votes. Clute has not decided whether he’ll seek a recount."
"'This isn't about Garcia,' Clute said from his campaign party in Indio. "It's about the voters. It's no doubt close."
"'It's still within reach and I'm still hopeful of winning,' Clute said."
"Political observers considered the 80th district one of the five most competitive in the state in one of the most hard-fought races this season. Partisan jabs made headlines across the state and the nation. From charges that Clute was a carpetbagger - he moved into the district two weeks before the state campaign deadline - and Garcia's gaffs - telling high school students she wouldn't kick the governor out of her bed - the race saw its share of political mudslinging."
Parra survived a squeaker against Republican Danny Gilmore, reports the Fresno Bee's Tim Eberly. "Two-time Democratic incumbent Nicole Parra inched ahead in her state Assembly race around midnight and all but declared victory early this morning in the most tightly contested race for a Valley legislator."
"She appeared in danger of losing her seat Tuesday night as her opponent,
Danny Gilmore, clung to a slight lead in the 30th District for several hours."
"But Parra zipped ahead as results rolled in from her home county of Kern. Her confidence was buoyed around 1 a.m. with 96% of the district's precincts reporting."
Meanwhile, the fate of
SD 34 hangs in the balance. The Register's political team reports: "The narrow margin could mean a recount following the final tally, which could be done by the end of this week or early next week. The high-finance central county Senate battle attracted money from throughout the state, as it was Republicans' only chance to gain a seat in the upper house. Combined fundraising had reached $7.2 million as of Monday's filings, as both parties pulled out the stops."
"Daucher was recruited to run by state Senate Republican Leader
Dick Ackerman, R-Irvine, because it was thought that middle-of-the-road policies would appeal to a district almost evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats." Correa was recruited by
Don Perata for the same reason."
In Congress, one Californian is in line to become speaker, while another,
Richard Pombo, is on his way out. "In a night that saw Democrats sweep to power in the House of Representatives, little-known challenger
Jerry McNerney unseated Tracy's Rep. Richard Pombo from his perch as one of Congress' more powerful chairmen," reports the Tracy Press political team."
"In a stinging defeat,
voters dumped Tracy’s 14-year congressman, Rep. Richard Pombo, from power Tuesday along with at least 23 of his Republican House of Representatives colleagues, who lost control of the House to the Democrats.
"Fifty-one percent of voters in Pombo’s San Joaquin County stronghold voted in his favor, but that was too little to beat out
wind engineer Democrat Jerry McNerney, who defeated Pombo in Contra Costa, Alameda and Santa Clara counties."
If "wind engineer" isn't the perfect job description for a politician, we don't know what is...
While
Donald Rumsfeld is reportedly still on the job this morning, LA Times Editor
Dean Baquet was shown the door, er "resigned," yesterday.
From
LA Observed: "Here are the some of the best observations and news culled from the next-day coverage about the ouster of Dean Baquet as editor of the L.A. Times. Managing editors
Doug Frantz and
Leo Wolinsky say they are staying.
John Carroll, the former LAT editor, sounded his most downbeat ever about Tribune, telling the New York Observer, '
I think the chances of the paper succeeding under Tribune are zero.' In the same piece,
Michael Kinsley says, 'It could be very exciting if David Geffen buys [the Times] and makes
Arianna Huffington the editor.' Former LAT book editor
Steve Wasserman calls the Baquet firing 'panic at the top' and 'a triumph without victory.'"
And apparently, for some, it's never tooo early to start the next election cycle.
On to 2008...
