A view of the main floor at the state Democratic Party convention in San Jose. (Photo: Alvin Chen/Capitol Weekly)First, take 3,000 political junkies, mix in a few dozen ambitious politicians, stir thoroughly. Let simmer for three days and — Whee! — you have California’s Democratic Party Convention. It was an earnest carnival reflecting what makes California politics so much fun.
The latest statewide Field Poll finds that fewer than half of likely voters in California’s June 2016 Democratic presidential primary (47%) are now intending to support former Secretary of State, U.S. Senator and First Lady Hillary Clinton for President, a decline of nineteen points since May. Over this same period Democratic voter support for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has increased nearly four-fold from 9% to 35%.
A campaign stop in Oxnard during a presidential contest. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)Republicans have created a political mosh pit featuring 36 declared candidates and filled with no shortage of pointed invective. Of the 36 Republicans, 17 are considered serious contenders. As usual, those contenders have descended on early primary and caucus states, chumming through New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina in search of support and generating plenty of news along the way. At the moment, in California, they are only chumming for money.
In the wake of a tragedy like Newtown, there’s an understandable impulse to fight fire with fire. To fortify schools with fences, barbed wire and metal detectors. To call for more police officers and even suggest that teachers and principals should carry weapons alongside their lesson plans. To do anything that could protect our