The Weekly Roundup

Thursday, Oct. 27
Looks like yet another Senator is joining the ranks of those who will run
for seats in the Assembly. Senator Wes Chesbro announced that he will run
for the state Assembly in 2006. Chesbro, the chair of the powerful Senate
Budget committee, is barred from seeking another Senate term under term
limits. Like Sen. Richard Alarcon, who is also running for the Assembly,
Chesbro has never served in the lower house.

Friday, Oct. 28
In what was the first in a series of three separate special election polls
released this week, the Public Policy Institute of California released its
snapshot of the Nov. 8 election. The poll showed Props. 73, 74 and 75
running about even, and Props. 76 and 77 trailing by wide margains.
Perhaps because of that fact, the governor began airing a new ad today with
a kinder, gentler and more humble approach. “I’ve had a lot to learn, and
sometimes I learned the hard way,’ he says in the 30-second spot. “But my
heart is in this, and I want to do right by you.”

Saturday, Oct. 29
The governor made a stop in Orange County’s Little Saigon today looking for
votes for his four ballot measures. The Orange County Register reports: “The
Little Saigon appearance was the last of Schwarzenegger’s four stops in
Southern California on Saturday. Earlier in the day, he had coffee with
Persian community leaders in Los Angeles, toured a mall in Koreatown and
attended the Black Business Expo at the Los Angeles Convention Center.”

Sunday, Oct. 30
From our Heart Like a Wheel Files, the Chronicle reports that this Halloween,
Jerry Brown has summoned the ghost of a former girlfriend to raise some
campaign cash. “Linda Ronstadt is back in Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown’s life
— joining with actor Sean Penn as a special guest for a $1,000-a-head
fundraiser planned for Tuesday at Tosca Cafe in San Francisco to benefit
Jerry’s run for state attorney general.

No word yet on the Pat Benatar event for Rocky Delgadillo.

Monday, Oct. 31
When President Bush said he would pick judges in the mold of Antonin Scalia,
he wasn’t lying. Bush tapped another Italian-American conservative, Samuel
Alito, for the high court to help placate his base after the Harriet Miers
debacle. Alito has gained the nickname “Scalito,” because of his shared
heritage and political philosophy with Scalia.

Tuesday, Nov. 1
The Field Poll was released today, and it had bad news for the governor’s
initiatives. Even the two measures that were thought to be the strongest in
the polls – Props. 75 and 77 – were down below 50 percent in the polls and
trending downward.

Not one to be deterred by bad poll numbers, Steve Poizner dumped another $1
million into the Yes on 77 effort.

Wednesday, Nov. 2
While the polls have mostly bad news for the governor for the 2005 ballot,
the news isn’t nearly as bad for 2006. Against unnamed democrat – that is,
against Phil Angelides and Steve Westly – the governor is running dead-even,
according to the Los Angeles Times poll.

In next year’s gubernatorial match-up, both Angelides (37%) and Westly (38%)
slightly outpoll the governor, who would receive 34% and 33% against the
respective challengers.

Finally, from our Your Tax Dollars at Work Files, beach-goers in Malibu are
being warned to never try to surf a tsunami, part of a government safety
awareness campaign. “The pamphlets, part of an emergency preparedness
campaign, inform residents of Malibu that tsunamis often follow large
earthquakes and advise: “NEVER GO TO THE BEACH TO WATCH FOR, OR SURF, A
TSUNAMI WAVE!”

“Malibu’s emergency preparedness director said he thought it would be
prudent to address all possibilities. ‘Some people may feel that we are
stating the obvious and some people may not,’ Brad Davis said. ‘We want to
encourage people to move away from the coast rather than toward it.’