The Skinny: The next election

It’s easy to sit back and criticize national coverage of California politics. But a recent CNBC story on the governor and tailpipe emissions deserves some special attention. Phil LeBeau claims it was Gov. Schwarzenegger who made the new federal tailpipe emissions happen, crediting the governor with bringing “the naysayers and feet-draggers in the auto industry to their knees.” We suppose we could mention that the bill in question was written by Fran Pavley and signed by Gov. Gray Davis back in 2002, when Schwarzenegger was but a humble superstar, but that would clearly be off message…Now, getting an extra vote is Karen Bass’s problem. With Curren Price moving over to the Senate officially, the Dem caucus in the Red Carpet Room is back up to 25 members. But in the Assembly, it’s down to 50 until Price’s replacement can be elected. But that won’t happen until well after the budget is passed. At least, we hope we have a budget by then. There are already candidates lining up to replace Price in his Inglewood-area district. The odds-on favorite to replace him is Gardena spokesman Steven Bradford, who reportedly has the backing of Speaker Karen Bass. Inglewood councilman Eloy Morales is also reportedly looking at the seat.