Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton at a presidential candidates debate. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock.)Democratic presidential contenders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders plan on spending about $2 million combined on TV ads in California as their primary election campaigns hit the final stretch. Clinton began her effort Thursday, with about $940,000 committed so far in those three communities. Sanders began the day before.
A California voter casts a ballot. (Photo: Vepar5)OPINION: In a fairly rare occurrence, this year’s primary election in California could actually matter in terms of who becomes the Republican Party’s nominee. California had a chance of being relevant with March primaries in 1996, 2000 and 2004; however, Bob Dole and George W. Bush already had largely sealed their deals.
Illustration by Tim Foster, Capitol WeeklyOPINION: For the experts, take your pick: “Can Donald Trump be stopped? Should he? What’s your look ahead to the general election? Are we looking at a brokered GOP convention? And what’s the outlook for Hillary?”
Patty Lopez and Raul Bocanegra (Illustration by Tim Foster/Capitol Weekly)If someone comes to you and says, “I won my election because I was the first name on the ballot,” you should immediately check for the tinfoil hat — and then show them the door. The notion that a democratic election for something as important as a legislative or congressional seat, or even a city council, can be decided by the order on a ballot is the domain of wild conspiracy theorists. Until it actually happens.
The Republican national convention in Cleveland's Public Auditorium in 1924. This year's GOP convention is in Cleveland, too. (Photo: Everett Historical, via Shutterstock)ANALYSIS: The conventional wisdom says fuggedaboutit. Pundits, campaign managers, and the politicians themselves express doubt about the possibility. Not as much as previously, but still doubt. It might happen. And California could be in the middle of it all. We’re talking about a “brokered” convention.
Field Poll: Three Democrats –- former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti –- receive the largest proportions of early voter support. Greater than four in ten voters say they would be inclined to vote for Villaraigosa and Newsom, and nearly as many say this about Garcetti (36%) if they were to be candidates for Governor in 2018.
The Los Angeles skyline late at night. (Photo: Songquang Deng, via Shutterstock)Where are the Southern Californians? We are at the beginning of the run-up to the 2016 political season; candidates and potential candidates for statewide office are beginning to make their presence known. But where are the candidates from the land of palm trees and Valley Girls? An outside observer could be forgiven for thinking Northern Californians are taking over the state’s politics, given the outsized disparity between Southern California’s population and its candidate offerings.
The state Capitol, Sacramento. (Photo: AMadScientist, via Wikimedia)Legislators may serve a maximum of twelve years in the Legislature. Someone could serve six, two-year terms in the Assembly, or three, four-year terms in the Senate, or some combination of terms in both houses. This system replaced a more chaotic term limits system of six years in the Assembly and eight years in the Senate, which resulted in Assembly members constantly seeking to “jump” from the Assembly to the Senate in what fairly can be described as a non-stop series of elections and musical chairs.
OPINION: Make no mistake, while modest, legislative gains made by GOP candidates were the result of a well-crafted strategy, quality candidates and disciplined campaigning. The blueprint for these elections can become a foundation for a continued Republican resurgence and, long-term, it can help the Party compete and win statewide.
Before the Nov. 4 general election, California’s political watchdog examined “every advertisement relating to state and local ballot measures” – a total of 172 state and local propositions – and ordered corrections in 19 of them, mostly for failing to make it clear who was financing the ads.