Posts Tagged: democratic

News

Reporter’s Notebook: The search for unity

A delegate at the Democratic National Convention passes by a group of pro-Bernie Sanders protesters. (Photo: Brad Bailey)

Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic nomination for president Thursday as the nation’s first female nominee of a major party, a historic moment captured in a blaze of pomp and color. It was the culmination of four days of speeches that targeted the national convention’s fundamental theme — unity. But in the California delegation — the largest of the 50 states — unity at times was a rare commodity.

News

Exit poll: The down-ballot races

Voters in Ventura County cast ballots during a recent election. (Photo: Spirit of America, Shutterstock)

CA120: Will Orange County, along with neighboring San Diego and the Inland Empire, look a little bluer on Wednesday? If so, is it a harbinger of things to come? Or is it just the impact of the Democratic presidential primary still being contested while Donald Trump has the GOP nomination wrapped up?

News

CA120: The voter registration surge

A California ballot box. (Photo illustration, Hafakot, via Shutterstock)

The growth in voter registration in the past five months has been record-breaking. With some counties still completing their 15-day close of registration, we have surpassed all prior registration records with more than 2.3 million voters registering for the first time or updating their registration. This despite some high rates of counties purging deadwood from the files and making “inactive” large numbers of voters who have not participated in past elections.

News

CA120: Confusion lurks in the California primary

Voters casting ballots in Ventura County during an earlier election. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, Shutterstock)

As we enter the June primary, we have an electorate that has been seen in polling to be more energized and with a desire to vote more commonly in general elections. The last time we had anything close to this kind of engagement was during the 2008 presidential primary. Since then, we have seen a 35% growth in No Party Preference registrations and an 88% spike in the number of Permanent Absentee Voters. In total, the population of non-partisan voters who get their ballots by mail has nearly tripled.

News

Poll: Calif. turnout crucial as Clinton-Sanders race tightens

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, prior to a presidential candidate debate. (Photo: Joseph Sohm, via Shuitterstock)

Field Poll: Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s once commanding lead over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has declined to just six points. Clinton is currently the choice of 47% of likely voters in this state’s Democratic presidential primary, while 41% now favor Sanders. Clinton’s current six-point lead in California is only about half the margins found in each of the last two Field Polls conducted in January and October.

Podcast

Capitol Weekly podcast

Cardboard cutouts at the state Democratic Convention. (Photo: Capitol Weekly)

Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster chat about California politics, including the state Democratic Party’s convention, forgotten assets, the possible end of Daylight Savings Time and more.

News

Check it out: The state Democratic convention

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.

News

Motor voter: An electorate in flux

As rush hour approaches, traffic on the Golden Gate Bridge. (Photo: Frontpage)

To political experts up and down California, California’s new Motor Voter law is a question mark that likely will involve rethinking some practices and require a great deal of new effort. To Democrats, it’s the long-overdue removal of a barricade to full participation in California’s civic life. To Republicans, it poses a danger that a flood of illegal immigrants will start participating in political decision-making.

News

Brown shoots down drone legislation

A professionally operated drone heads into the sunset. (Photo: Concept W, Shutterstock)

A squadron of drone bills that emerged from the Legislature wound up crashing on the governor’s desk. Gov. Brown vetoed three measures over the weekend that sought to block drones from flying over schools or prisons, and which would have allowed emergency personnel to shoot down a drone if it came into a fire zone.

News

Assisted death bill derailed in Assembly

On the eve of a dramatic Capitol hearing, the backers of legislation to allow dying people to end their lives with physician-supplied drugs abruptly sidetracked the bill Tuesday at least until next year so they could try and to round up more votes. Just hours before the committee hearing, which was to include public testimony from dying people in support of the bill, the decision was made to not bring the measure up. The last-ditch maneuver means SB 128 by Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, could be pushed back until 2016.

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