Posts Tagged: 2016

News

CA120: In 2020, don’t forget California’s GOP primary

Donald Trump at a 2016 political rally in Costa Mesa, Orange County. (Photo: mikeledray, via Shutterstock)

With the coming 2020 Presidential primary, all eyes are on the plethora of Democratic candidates joining the fray, and the big possibility that an early California contest could catapult one or more contenders past Super Tuesday.
With all this activity on the left, few are looking at what could be going on with the Republican side of the ticket. Could there be something in California for a Republican challenger to President Donald Trump?

News

State auditor targets prison rehab programs

Folsom State Prison east of Sacramento. (Photo: Wikipedia)

The state auditor says the California prison system’s programs to reduce recidivism aren’t working, noting that inmates who complete the programs wind up back behind bars at roughly the same rates as those who don’t. “These results are  serious enough to highlight an urgent need for Corrections to take a more active and meaningful role in ensuring that these programs are effective,” California State Auditor Elaine Howle reported. 

Analysis

CA120: Republicans picked a bad time to stop winning elections

An attendee at a Democratic political demonstration in California prior to the 2018 mid-term elections. (Photo: Karl_Sonnenberg, via Shutterstock)

ANALYSIS: The 2018 election should have been a breeze for California Republicans. But three simultaneous forces, all moving toward Democrats, blew those prospects away. While one might think things can only get better for the GOP, there are some serious short- and mid-term obstacles to their recovery.

News

Partisanship roils voting reform efforts

A sign outside a Los Angeles voting location in 10 languages. (Photo: Underawesternsky, via Shutterstock)

Moves to make voting easier in California have caused yet another divide between Republicans and Democrats. The Republicans say they are worried because the door to voter fraud might swing wide open. Democrats say California needs greater civic participation by groups who have historically shown lackluster voting turnouts, and automatic vote-by-mail and electronic registration will help.

News

California’s valley fever on the rise

Lab supervisor Marilyn Mitchell pulls samples during tests for Valley Fever at the Community Medical Center lab in Fresno. (Photo: Fresno Bee/Craig Kohlruss, 2014, via AP)

The first sign that Rob Purdie had valley fever was when he woke up one day with what felt like a hangover but he hadn’t taken a drink. He had a splitting headache that was so bad that he had to stay in dark room with the blinds drawn and his sunglasses on. He was eventually diagnosed with coccidioidomycosis meningitis, the most severe form of valley fever.

News

Cash-strapped stem cell agency reaching out

An illustration of stem cells in mitosis. (Image via Shutterstock)

Stem cell researchers rarely have a chance to talk directly about their work to thousands of people at a time, including those in the farthest reaches of the globe. But Jeanne Loring at the Scripps Research Institute did it last week. The California stem cell agency did it last month with Stanford researcher Gary Steinberg.  And it could well be that the technique that they used will emerge as a critical tool in the effort to stave off the death of the $3 billion, stem cell program.

News

June 5 primary: The chase is on

A voter casts a ballot in the 2016 election in Ventura County. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shutterstock)

The chatter online and in the media is all about the June 5 Primary Election. But, for those of us working in these races, the election has been ongoing for weeks. In fact, as of Memorial Day weekend, 1.25 million California voters have cast ballots, approximately 20% of the expected total turnout of by-mail and poll voters.

News

June 5 primary: Voters head to the mail box

With California voters turning increasingly to the mail box to cast their ballots, five counties have set up an expanded vote-by-mail system for this year’s elections. Sacramento, Madera, Napa, Nevada and San Mateo are swapping out more than 500 neighborhood polling places and replacing them with nearly 80 high-tech “vote centers.”

Podcast

Capitol Weekly Podcast: Paul Mitchell

Conor Lamb, a Democrat, campaigns in Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District. (Photo: Conor Lamb's Facebook page)

Political Data’s Paul Mitchell joins the podcast to chat with John  Howard and Tim Foster about Democrat Conor Lamb’s surprise victory in the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District — a district that the GOP has carried for years and Trump won in 2016 by 20 points. The big question: What does this win mean — if anything — for California?

News

CA120: Chasing the GOP vote

Republican candidates for governor -- Doug Ose, left, John Cox, center, and Travis Allen. (Illustration: Tim Foster)

The Republican side of the governor’s race has become an interesting contest to watch because, if for no other reason, of the way these candidates are trying to differentiate themselves before the June primary election. A debate in San Francisco led moderator John Diaz from the Chronicle to exclaim “This is the first time in San Francisco I have heard an argument among people about who most supports Donald Trump!”

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