It’s a tough road for California Republicans: No statewide office holders, voter reg numbers only slightly above DTS, and no up-and-comers boasting major name-ID with voters. Add in the perceived anti-Latino sentiment that lingers from the Prop 187 fight, and the low approval numbers for the Republicans in DC and it gets uglier. Carla Marinucci looks at efforts to rebrand the GOP for the San Francisco Chronicle:
“’Right now, the Republican brand is defined by Washington, by the party in Congress,’ said political analyst Sherry Bebitch Jeffe of the University of Southern California. Democrats won the recent fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, but the drama, Bebitch Jeffe said, focused attention on ‘Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Boehner — and that’s a real problem for California Republicans. ... They’re tarred with that brand.’
“Even conservative Tom Del Beccaro, another former state party chairman who has formed an exploratory committee with an eye on the U.S. Senate seat, expressed disdain for the goings-on in Washington.
“’I don’t accept what Republicans have been doing for the last six years’ in Washington, he said.”
The road to capturing Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat just got even bumpier for the GOP, as it appears that party fave Condoleeza Rice won’t be running.
Mark Barabak at the Los Angeles Times: “Rice has made her lack of interest in elected office repeatedly and abundantly clear. Still, when a Field Poll came out last month showing Rice atop a list of 18 prospective Senate candidates, statistically tied with Democratic front-runner Kamala Harris, there was a whole new burst of Condi-mania.
“Fundraisers (cynically, greedily) ginned up a draft Condi email solicitation. Reporters pursued Rice to see if she had changed her mind about running (she hadn't).”
That still leaves Asm. Rocky Chavez (R-Oceanside), right? Judging by today’s report in Calbuzz, his campaign – or at least his Press Secretary – isn’t ready for prime time.
“If Rocky Chavez confounds conventional wisdom to run a stronger-than-expected race for U.S. Senate, it most certainly will not be due to the efforts of his asshat press secretary, Christopher Pickard.
“In a stunning display of unprofessional oafishness, the twit Pickard physically broke up a conversation that several reporters, including your Calbuzzards, were conducting at the recent GOP convention with Assemblyman Chavez...
“[Chavez] was making a nice first impression at his reception suite, during an amicable and interesting informal interview. Suddenly, and without warning, his bush-league Assembly lackey thrust his arm, legs and beefy ass in between reporters and the candidate, nearly toppling one of our aging Founders, who makes his way through life with the aid of a cane.”
Oof.
Given the state of the state’s GOP, one might think that making a point of spotlighting a Bay Area state Senate candidate’s Republican affiliation in an endorsement wouldn’t be top of the strategy list. Not so, insist the Asian American Small Business Political Action Committee, which sent a mailer touting Republican Michaela Hertle for SD-7. One problem: she’s already stepped out of the race. Do we smell politics?
From John Myers at KQED: “On Friday, the California Republican Party filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against a political action committee that sent out mailers in support of the GOP candidate on the ballot in Senate District 7, Michaela Hertle, which include a tiny elephant logo….
“The mailers in question were produced by a campaign committee, the Asian American Small Business Political Action Committee, that includes traditional Democratic donors among its contributors. And the GOP candidate it endorses, Hertle, isn’t even campaigning for the job but has instead endorsed Democrat Steve Glazer, the mayor of Orinda.”
And speaking of John Myers- be sure to check out his debut as the host of Capitol Weekly’s Politics on Tap today at 11:30 AM on CalChannel (Comcast channel 108 in Sacramento).
That SD-7 election is one of three state Senate seats to be decided on March 17 – Patrick McGreevy looks at all three here.
Marc Lifsher looks at the legislation that is coming back from the dead this session. Sad to say he does not use the term “zombie bill’ anywhere in the article.
From the Los Angeles Times: “Proposed legislation killed one year routinely is resurrected the next. And even landmark bills that do pass are targeted in following years by opponents seeking to revise and weaken them.
"’They keep rising from the dead,’ said Bill Dombrowski, president of the California Retailers Assn., a two-decade statehouse veteran. ‘A lot of bills fail the first time. They're more research projects than real possibilities.’"
Dan Morain looks at freshly-minted assemblyman Marc Levine’s bill to allow boutique distilleries sell their wares at tasting rooms, much the way wineries or breweries do. Seems simple, but opposition may be fierce.
“Based on history, Levine probably will face opposition from the established liquor industry. He is, you see, proposing to tweak a business model that dates to end of Prohibition. Then, as now, some of this town’s most influential lobbyists do the bidding of the interests Levine is challenging….
“Manufacturers can’t advertise where retailers sell, except for all the exemptions won by operators of stadiums, aquariums and zoos. Manufacturers can’t sell retail, except for all the loopholes lobbyists have carved. Pages are filled with exceptions to the tied-house rules.”
And, as we look forward to another globally-warmed, near record-setting beautiful day here in Sacramento, we should remember our friends to the east who don’t have it so good. Not the East Coast – farther east. Way further. Russia further. (with photos)
“A motorist had the shock of his life when he woke up to find his car frozen solid in a huge block of ice after leaving it parked up during a blizzard .
“Vlad Pokrovski, 32, had left his £5,000 Lada Priora parked in a small ditch on the side of the street outside his block of flats in the city of Saratov, Russia…
“Glum Vlad said: "I can’t believe this. If I hadn’t parked in that ditch this would never have happened, but who would have thought it?”
