Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 5, 2012 0:23:43 GMT -8
Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon in a photo obviously from 2008. By primary election eve last June, we had received a total of 38 mailings for Raul Bocanegra and 15 for Richard Alarcon in my new state Assembly district. I lauded Bocanegra for spending no money that I saw on television and for sending campaign workers to our door. With one more postal day before the general election, we have gotten 22 mailers on behalf of Bocanegra and 13 for Alarcon. Cable TV is saturated with ads for Bocanegra, and this time, Alarcon sent a nice young man through our neighborhood. I've been voting for 36 years, and I never had to choose between two Democrats in November. But Bocanegra has made it easy for me -- he's backed by the biggest of the big business PAC's operating in our state. Three of the mailers we got were from the California Apartment Association, when one alone has always disqualified any candidate in my household. I surmise that the only reason the state Democratic Party endorsed Bocanegra was because of Alarcon's legal problems. More importantly, the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley and the Stonewall Democratic Club endorsed Alarcon, and most of the mailers we've received on his behalf were paid by the AFL-CIO. He's been a progressive City Council member, and if he's not convicted of any felonies, will be an effective legislator in Sacramento, where he could be of great help in saving the Verdugo Hills Golf Course. In the worst case scenario, we'll just have a special election in a safe Democratic district that hopefully won't involve a sellout like Raul Bocanegra.
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anni
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Post by anni on Nov 6, 2012 18:14:09 GMT -8
This 'too close to call' business has finally gotten to me. Going to the car for stomach soothing ginger chews...wash them down with some extra strong ginger tea. Will let you know if it works.
Brian just got home. He pulled into his parking spot, flung open the car door declaring, "the Florida race is tighter than Ryan's ass!" Everything looking much brighter...at least I'm laughing.
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anni
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Post by anni on Nov 6, 2012 21:12:53 GMT -8
Ahhhh. Breathing coming back.
Now for all the important CA. initiatives...
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 7, 2012 1:13:16 GMT -8
At this hour, with only 70 percent of the votes counted, I find little to disappoint me so far, with the notable exception of Proposition 34, the initiative that would have ended the death penalty in California. Click on the link above for the latest tabulations for any race in the Golden State.
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Brian
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Post by Brian on Nov 8, 2012 0:00:55 GMT -8
Before I could stick a fork in the salmon Anni grilled for dinner Tuesday, the presidential election was done. I took Wednesday off from work so I wouldn't have to face the world in the worst case scenario. Instead, I had a day to bask in many joys further down the ballot.
Let's start with the California House races. Adam Schiff got more than 70 percent in his new district, which takes in West Hollywood, so we can expect more progressive votes from him in the next Congress if we work him from the east. Brad Sherman beat Howard Berman, who had been outed as a friend of the worst hawks in the U.S. Senate. And Dr. Raul Ruiz defeated Mary Bono Mack in my late parents' district. She had so much right wing super PAC money behind her that they ran an ad in the L.A. media market -- when Palm Springs has its own television stations -- which was one of the nastiest I've ever seen. Elsewhere, the most unstable of the tea baggers, Joe Walsh and Allen West, lost their House seats after only one term.
The passage of Proposition 30 and the new Democratic super-majorities in the Assembly and Senate mean that if we don't solve California's fiscal crisis, Republicans could become relevant again in this state.
The Los Angeles municipal election began today. It's time to pick a new City Council member and a mayor.
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