Today's Fresh Meat

Congress is considering an omnibus bill that would restore salmon flows to part of the San Joaquin River, a project that has drawn the ire of agriculture groups and Republican activists throughout the state, the Sacramento Bee reports. It is unclear whether the legislation, which has been bunched together with projects throughout country, will get the green-light.

Some news articles really assume that voters are dumb, and in a sense, by creating and perpetuating their own conventional wisdom, it can almost become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Today, the San Francisco Chronicle reports that blue-collar white men will vote for McCain because Sarah Palin's husband has blue-collar roots and because the Palins like the outdoors. I guess leadership, experience and stances on the issues are so 2004.

Willie Brown has his own take on Sarah Palin's impact on the race, saying that she "floats like a butterfly and strings like a bee." McCain's post-convention bounce has left the race roughly where it was before the conventions: Obama has a slight edge in national polls, but not by much. Brown is openly superficial and hackish, which is sadly refreshing. He paints in broad strokes, but his insight can be onto to something. He is warning Democrats not to underestimate Palin's appeal, and on that count, he's right.

For still another look at the Palin factor, see this Los Angeles Times article that talks to actual moderate women voters who have taken a look at Palin and concluded that she does not understand their concerns. Perhaps issues will win after all.

The only poll that really counts is on election day, but here in California, we can glean some of the changes to expect based on movement in party registration, where movement away from the GOP, and toward the Democrats or Decline-to-State status is noticeable. It could be enough to turn a few red districts blue, and maybe more.

Lastly, Calitics looks at the nascent effort from the prison guards union to recall Arnold, a more-than-likely dead-end effort that would not improve leadership in Sacramento or the lives of Californians.

That's all for today!

Print this report | Send to a friend

About Sean Barry | All Reports by Sean Barry

---

Browse in : [ Reports ]

There are no comments attached to this item.

Ratings