Remainders
Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget plan would strip cities and counties of cash. Darrell Steinberg, top Democrat in the State Senate, uttered, "You've got to be kidding" in response to the plan. Cuts to welfare support would be added pain to the state's poor. Meanwhile, the Governor's idea to get the federal government to fill-in the $6.9 billion gap in the state budget did not receive the kind of support he would have wanted from Nancy Pelosi, nor the state's Senate delegation.
Sacramento and San Joaquin County experienced all-time highs in bankruptcies and the Bay Area residents struggle to keep their heads above water, too.
The GOP candidates for George Radanovich's seat are so similar on the issues that the race is bound to get personal and nasty.
Jerry McNerney delivered $238,000 for a women's center in San Joaquin County.
George Miller, a Democrat from Martinez, and John Garamendi joined together to issue a call for a new direction on trade policy.
A sizable 6.5 earthquake struck northern California on Saturday. Early reports show no injuries or fatalities but minor damage and power outages. The event marks the third day in a row for the state. The quake, apparently, did not damage the Calaveras Dam, crews say.
Manteca Bulletin profiled Pombo-lite Brad Goehring with yet another Republican puff piece.
Hayward City Council unanimously passed a ridiculous measure that fines parents on a sliding scale for their children cutting class.
Schwarzenegger will appear on tomorrow's Meet the Press.
Remainders
In the legal battle of eBay v. Craigslist, an unflattering image of Meg Whitman continues to emerge.
Formerly anonymous conservative blogger critical of Meg Whitman banished from website after it is revealed he received payments from Steve Poizner's campaign as a "consultant."
State revenue continues to decline as state taxes fall short of November target by $439 million.
David Harmer, the Republican that lost to John Garamendi in the special election last month, may jump over a district to take on Jerry McNerney. So much for all those attacks on John Garamendi as a "carpetbagger" this year, ey David?
Continued talk of a switch by Tom Campbell to the GOP Senate primary could turn the race for governor into a Battle of the Billionaires. Question then becomes, "Can Poizner's money move the needle?" It has to because he's well behind and unable to crack double digits. Poizner partisans will point out that while Whitman has thrown money behind tons of ads, her numbers have barely improved.
Jerry McNerney, and other nearby legislators, secure much needed funds for local projects.
Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Conservative outsider battles the establishment. Yawn. The biggest news out of this Hotline post? Chuck DeVore campaign communications officials still use fax machines and that adviser Josh Trevino sought a meeting with the NRSC by contacting John Cornyn's Senate office. Genius.
Meg Whitman's website hates her.
Catalina Sanint, a 2006 graduate of San Ramon Valley High School, just finished an internship with Jerry McNerney in Washington, D.C.
CA-10: Election Results
The much ignored but important special election in California's 10th Congressional concludes tonight. Polls in California close at 8pm local time.
Prediction: David Harmer declares his candidacy for 2010 tonight instead of conceding the election.
| CA-10 | 100.00% |
| John Garamendi (D) | 66,311 (52.98%) |
| David Harmer (R) | 53,441 (42.69%) |
| Jeremy Cloward (G) | 2,314 (1.85%) |
| Jerry Denham (AI) | 1,435 (1.15%) |
| Mary C. McIlroy (P&F) | 1,672 (1.34%) |
Updated Unrelated to the 10th Congressional District completely, San Ramon City Council had an election for two seats and both incumbents, David Hudson and Jim Livingstone, comfortably won with 39 and 32 percent of the vote, respectively. Contra Costa Times had recommended Jim Brady and Doug Burr, for "much-needed change to a local government that must display more openness and respect for the will of the voters." So much for that.
CA-10: What a Garamendi Victory Means
Garamendi is expected to win today's special election.
Polls close in California's special election to replace former Rep. Ellen Tauscher in the 10th Congressional District at 8pm local time, but most observers discount any shot Republican David Harmer has to win in this heavily Democratic district.
John Garamendi, the state's current lieutenant governor, dropped out of next year's governor's race to make a play for this seat, and he is likely to do just that.
David Dayen wrote that a Garamendi victory is not yet another Democrat taking over a previous Democrat's seat. Rather, it is a transition from the Democratic centrists to the progressive caucus.
Democratic seat, “near San Francisco,” no big deal. A Democrat replaces a Democrat in Congress. Ho-hum.
Except the difference between the departed Ellen Tauscher and the incoming John Garamendi is numerous. Tauscher led the pro-business New Democrats; Garamendi, the state’s Lieutenant Governor, is one of California’s leading progressives and a longtime single-payer advocate. Tauscher ran away from progressive values; Garamendi charges toward them. Tauscher and her allies were fond of explaining that CA-10 was a moderate district and only moderates could win there; Garamendi ran as himself and will win today. In fact, because of the prominence of vote-by-mail in California, he probably already has.
One cannot help but to chuckle at the attempts of the conservative media and their allies to try to spin the race as competitive. Noel Sheppard, an "editor" of the far-right website, claimed in a FOX News opinion piece, "Today's Big Political Earthquake Could Be In California."
CA-10: Harmer’s Final Push TV Ad
Republican David Harmer quoted the liberal blog Calitics in a new, poorly-produced television advertisement. The ad includes two attacks on John Garamendi on healthcare.
The ad cites this answer from Garamendi in an interview with David Dayen last August:
DD: What are the pluses and minuses of putting this in the hands of the Feds?
JG: If it's a federal process, you'd have to set up a massive new federal bureaucracy. In the positive sense. But you have to have a police force, because otherwise, the insurers won't do it. That's a major, expensive undertaking for the federal government. There's an advantage to the existing mechanism in that it already exists, like with Medicare or Medicaid. However, you mentioned some of the problems with how the regulation changes depending on the state. So both options have shortcomings. Either way, if we have a bill based on insurance reform, it has to be dealt with. And I've been dealing with these companies for eight years of my life. I know how to do this.
The sourcing on the second attack came from Garamendi's announcement last year that he was running for governor and, in the article Harmer's campaign cited, Garamendi wasn't directly quoted as saying, "without apology," as the ad suggests.
Garamendi laid out broad goals of establishing universally available healthcare through a publicly financed insurance system, bolstering the state's universities and pursuing aggressive reductions in carbon emissions. He said he would resolve perennial budget stalemates through a combination of spending cuts, systemic reforms and -- without apology -- tax increases.
The only sources claiming it is a direct quote are the Marin County GOP, Yolo County GOP, Fresno County GOP, San Diego County GOP, California's Right to Life Committee, and the Breitbart right-wing attack site, Big Government.
Conclude what you will about those organizations' agendas.
To be clear, Garamendi continues to support tax increases on the wealthy as he did while running for governor but the Harmer campaign and Republicans want to make unsuspecting voters believe Garamendi wants to raise taxes across the board, which is just false.
