Mid-term elections 2010

[Brian]

I can't remember one evening casually watching any local news program since January that I did not see Meg Whitman's face in multiple ads. Today's paper said she just hit the $104 million mark after her latest $13 million contribution to herself. Meanwhile, Jerry Brown is hanging back while unions attack Meg in their TV ads, saving his case for Labor Day. I trust him to do the right things, both for Californians in Sacramento and in his campaign to get there. Except for the 1982 Senate race, he's hardly faltered.

It's a battle for the soul of our big, beautiful blue state. I want to believe that the defeat of two corporation sponsored propositions in June proves that our voters are ready to sacrifice as necessary for a governor who values individuals over the big money interests that got rich at our expense.

I'm much more concerned about getting Barbara Boxer re-elected against Carly Fiorina, so much so that I've been donating, something I've rarely done in my 42 years of political activities. I hope I have time to volunteer after the October 15 tax deadlines.

Anni told me that Roberta, fresh from her cross country travel, took a break in the middle of the Running of the Bowls at the community center on Sunday to check out the Canada Crescenta Democratic Club meeting at a house nearby. Perhaps she has some election news to add.

[Roberta]

Aug 15, 2010 23:02:02 GMT -8 Brian said:

Anni told me that Roberta, fresh from her cross country travel, took a break in the middle of the Running of the Bowls at the community center on Sunday to check out the Canada Crescenta Democratic Club meeting at a house nearby. Perhaps she has some election news to add.

I slipped in for under an hour -- those bowls won't glaze themselves will they? -- but wanted to hear the speaker, an IFCW organizer speaking on why unions are important for us all. Many good Dem. candidates would have no money to speak of without union contributions, and he emphasized they are committed to closing down the ATM to politicians who don't follow through on worker issues. That is not a new promise, of course.

[Brian]

Oh no, what am I thinking? That's Carly Simon.

Barbara Boxer scored some points in last week's Senate candidates debate, especially when Carly Fiorina wouldn't take a position on Proposition 23. But overall, Carly came off better on television, looking into the camera and, mostly, appearing tough but reasonable -- and seldom as vacuous as Meg Whitman. In contrast, Barbara seemed distant and rehearsed, despite being right on all of the issues.

Fiorina also handles the retail side of politics well. In the TV news clips and newspaper reports I see, she's stopping to shake hands and talk to every volunteer and supporter. Of course, she got fired from her CEO job years ago and has nothing better to do while Boxer has to be a U.S. Senator. But Carly's good at it.

Barbara's a genuine progressive hero for Californians, but she may have to get down with the people throughout the next two months to win this election.

[dnomde]

You're spot on in your analysis, Brian. Carly did come off better on television even though she is so wrong for California. I don't know what is wrong with the Democrats. They don't seem to take campaigning seriously. Or maybe it's just an incumbency thing? She almost seems to be taking it for granted that she'll be elected again. I, too, felt like she scored her biggest points on bringing up Prop 23. I'm just afraid that isn't going to be enough. She should spend more time on Carly's record as a CEO. "It's the jobs, stupid" seems to be this year's quote. Hold Carly accountable on her jobs record. Employing people overseas shouldn't go over well with Californians. My fingers remain crossed.

[Brian]

Sept 11, 2010 21:00:06 GMT -8 dnomde said:

I don't know what is wrong with the Democrats. They don't seem to take campaigning seriously. Or maybe it's just an incumbency thing? She almost seems to be taking it for granted that she'll be elected again...She should spend more time on Carly's record as a CEO. "It's the jobs, stupid" seems to be this year's quote. Hold Carly accountable on her jobs record. Employing people overseas shouldn't go over well with Californians. My fingers remain crossed.

Well, you know that Barbara had tremendous luck with her previous three Republican opponents. Before Scott Brown was elected to Ted Kennedy's seat last December, I think she expected to breeze into another term because of her record and the large margins Obama and Feinstein got from Democrats and independents in California when they ran. But the Boxer campaign launched their online fundraising operation in the spring, which seems to be emulating Obama's Internet success in 2008. And since Edmond wrote his advice above, she's been airing a commercial that hits his points beautifully.

I know accepted wisdom says that TV ads are all that matters, and Barbara probably will keep producing the best ones. Still, from everything I'm reading and seeing, Carly is fabulous working an audience -- and she's been courting tea party groups in the Central Valley. Will her affiliation with extremists backfire? And will she avoid her propensity for saying something tone deaf or catty in the next six weeks?

I hope that Barbara doesn't need that kind of luck again. She won't if she mounts a serious get out the vote drive -- starting with the absentee balloting in two weeks -- and takes to the streets herself to sell it.



I haven't really addressed the disgusting governor's race and a few truly wonderful propositions, but they will have to wait for future blatherings.

[Brian]

Courage Campaign and Credo have issued their recommendations for November's statewide ballot in the now familiar two-page PDF format, with a good synopsis of each proposition and columns comparing their endorsements alongside nine other organizations:

www.couragecampaign.org/page/share/2010VoterGuide

Wherever the groups took a position they agreed, except for the League of Women Voters' opposition to Proposition 27 to repeal the redistricting commission. On my printout, I added another column for the Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles, which only broke with the others on Prop 22, saying yes while three groups came out against another budget engineering constitutional amendment.



I've had strong feelings about most of these initiatives for months. My favorite is Prop 21, which would permanently fund state parks for $18 per car annually. It is a regressive tax and more budgeting by ballot, things I usually oppose, but our natural treasures are threatened. And the most crucial proposition will finally eliminate the two-thirds requirement to get budgets passed in our legislature. Yes on Prop 25!

[Brian]

Isn't this the most bizarre election of our lives? I just watched part of a primetime CNN Senate debate featuring Christine O'Donnell of Delaware, who can't even find the appropriate preposition to use in each sentence. It took Atlantic Magazine to reveal that a Republican Congressional candidate in Ohio dresses as an SS officer on weekends, then posts pictures of himself in full drag on his group's website. And Russ Feingold, of all people, is fighting for his Senate seat in Wisconsin, of all places.

Yet most of the polls this month have been swinging to the Democrats' advantage nationwide, perhaps reflecting an awakening of the reasoned and reasonable electorate, also known as the Base. Or we're getting scared, just in time for absentee voting. As Bill Clinton put it at a rally this week, referring to the foreign and domestic corporations who are trying to buy this election, "Be mad. They're playing you."



Even stranger, perhaps: I got my first political mailer Wednesday, from the California Chamber of Commerce and its friends urging no on Propositions 24 and 25 and yes on 26. Three weeks before the state primary in June and the city council elections last year, I had dozens. I've been reading that campaigns are micro-targeting voters, so maybe the Democrats are saving money on people like Anni and me, who always vote and only do so at the polling place. And Meg Whitman, who's committed $140 million of her own money so far, can tell from my magazine subscriptions alone that I'm for Jerry Brown.

[Brian]

I've been looking for this Jerry Brown for Governor ad on local television since Chris Matthews ran it on Monday's "Hardball" -- I agree with Chris that it might be the best political commercial ever:



Anni points out that people who like Arnold and Meg, which might be 25 to 30 percent of California's population, won't be swayed. However, the so called independents who are lukewarm about her could just decide to skip her name on the ballot, even if they don't vote for Jerry. And that ad is so simple, brilliant and devastating that it could help motivate Democrats. Where is it running besides You Tube?

[Brian]

Since my last post, I've only seen that "Echo" ad with Arnold and Meg once, and I've read that Jerry Brown was reluctant to air it because of his relationship as attorney general with the governor, but Arnold dismissed it in good spirits publicly in one of his constant Tweets.

Have you seen the latest ad with Meg talking to the camera? Geez, it's political poetry -- pitch perfect. Worth $141 million by itself. Mike Murphy and his team are true geniuses. I hope Jerry Brown has his own great feel-good commercial in the can -- but first, he'd better start running "Echo."

Jerry's pulling away from her in the polls, and so is Barbara Boxer from Carly Fiorina, according to one I just saw on the "Meet the Press" rerun, hitting the sweet spot of 50 percent with an eight-point lead. Since that poll was taken, she introduced the President at USC, gave a press conference at a mostly empty beach and showed up at a big volunteer rally with Gavin Newsom and other statewide candidates. Barbara's at her best when she touts her accomplishments -- enough of just bashing Carly.

[Brian]

Just like the election news I consume, I've focused far too much on the campaign ads and opinion polls. As Election Day dawns, let's take up some issues.

I heard almost nothing this year from any federal candidate about the war in Afghanistan and military spending, both of which keep getting bigger and growing worse. And since John Edwards disappeared in ignomy, nobody talks about poverty, despite the recent official government statistics, based on a long outdated model, that say millions more Americans and their children are suffering.

Instead, the President and most Democrats appeal to the whiny, inattentive middle class, too stupid about money to realize that a third of the stimulus last year went into their pockets, however briefly, via tax cuts. So it would be futile to try to explain other subtle provisions of the Recovery Act, such as the investment in energy research and development -- in today's dollars, more than we spent to put a man on the moon -- because that's about the future.

In the next two years, the remaining Democrats who want to do right are going to need us to speak out.