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July 6, 2007
Drive-by fundraising By Mike
Lynch - - Is the era of drive-by fundraising in California presidential
politics coming to an end? California partisans of both parties have
long
become accustomed to seeing California relegated to the status of an Automatic
Teller Machine (ATM) in the presidential nominating process of both parties.
Hundreds of millions of dollars were raised here, and spent outside the state Two factors accounted for this: 1) California’s presidential primary was so
late in the primary season that the nominations in both parties were already
determined, and 2) California itself has not been competitive
in the November general elections for some time. It’s been 20 years since a
republican won the state in a presidential election, and the GOP is woefully
unsuccessful in most state wide races. The margins of democratic victories are
usually not even close. (Governor Schwarzenegger is the exception that proves
the rule; besides, many California Republicans think he is actually a Democrat). California’s experience with presidential candidates has
essentially been regulated to drive by fundraising visits to the Bay area,
Hollywood, Los Angeles, San Diego and a few other places.
Read more
McCain, Giuliani visit the Valley. Is this a sign of Valley's growing political clout? - - The recent visits by Presidential candidates John McCain and Rudy Giuliani suggest that the Central Valley is growing in importance on the national stage. What is behind the emergence of the Valley's growing political clout? The Insider spoke with three Modesto political players to gain their insights.
Central Valley Political
and Public Policy Headline News
A news service of Mike Lynch Consulting, 801 10th Street, Modesto, CA
95354 (209) 380-5841
www.mikelynchconsulting.com
McCain, Giuliani Coverage
Believe your eyes: Candidates finally come out to
the valley - - Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin has never believed in
Bigfoot. Now he's not so sure. Because so few presidential candidates ever
visit Modesto or Merced, Pazin usually refers to them as a bunch of yetis,
which, along with sasquatch, is another name for the mythical Bigfoot.
"We've heard of them," Pazin said. "There are a few grainy photos. But I
hadn't seen one until now." By visiting Modesto on Monday, Arizona Sen. John
McCain convinced Pazin that presidential candidates -- those political yetis
-- really do exist. See, sheriff? They're not just a bunch of mannequins
propped up to spew talking points during the televised debates. They only
seem that way, since they so rarely come to the valley. Until this past
weekend, Republican nominee Bob Dole was the last presidential candidate to
visit Modesto. That was in 1996.
<more> June 12, 2007 Modesto Bee columnist Jeff Jardine
McCain visits Modesto. GOP candidate is praised
as a 'good listener' at fund-raiser - -
Whatever else you know, or think
you know, about Arizona Sen. John McCain, know this: The man who would be
president of the United States is a good listener. And that's a very
important trait, said Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin, especially in a
region accustomed to being ignored when it comes to presidential politics.
"It was refreshing to finally be invited to the table to discuss some
substantive issues," Pazin said. "He took time to reach out to local
sheriffs. "It was a great opportunity to sit down and talk with an
individual who actually has the influence to make changes in our daily
lives. "(But) mostly, he's a very good listener." McCain, one in a large
field of potential GOP contenders for the 2008 presidential nomination,
rolled into Dewz Restaurant in downtown Modesto for a fund-raising
breakfast.
<more> June 12, 2007 Modesto Bee
Presidential candidates see valley as
destination. An increase in population, an earlier primary are why - - Veteran observers say upcoming appearances by two top Republican
presidential candidates reflect the Northern San Joaquin Valley's increased
visibility on the national political stage. Arizona Sen. John McCain and
former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are scheduled to be in the Modesto
area to raise money Sunday and Monday. "The valley has always been one of
the more competitive areas in California," said Mike Lynch, who was Ceres
Democrat Gary Condit's chief of staff when he represented the 18th District
in Congress. After Condit was defeated in 2002, Lynch returned to Stanislaus
County. "In a wide open year like you're going to see in 2008, we should see
a variety of candidates come to town," he said.
<more> June 9, 2007 Modesto Bee
McCain drops by Modesto - - Presidential
hopeful Sen. John McCain met this morning with law enforcement officers at a
downtown Modesto restaurant before talking with reporters during a brief
campaign stop
(see video). The Arizona Republican was one of two GOP contenders for
the 2008 presidential nomination to visit the area. Former New York City
Mayor Rudy Giuliani was the guest of honor at private fund-raiser Sunday in
Hughson. Standing in front of a war memorial outside the Stanislaus County
Courthouse, McCain said he discussed the area's methamphetamine and gang
problems with law enforcement representatives. McCain also touched on
immigration reform, the war in Iraq and the Central Valley's agricultural
importance during a 15-minute news conference.
<more> June 8, 2007 Modesto Bee
Political
News Briefs
Latinos join forces to round up new voters -- Major national Latino advocacy groups said Wednesday they will merge their budgets and strategies to turn out new voters in battleground states where they think the Latino voting bloc could sway the presidential election. More than 1 million first-time voters are forecast to join the rolls by November 2008, but no one knows how many will show up at the polls on Election Day. So rather than sink their money into campaign mailers, the groups plan to bankroll a $3.2 million effort to pump out slick, Spanish-language ads and to train volunteers to go door to door to convince newcomers that their votes count. New research shows those bilingual, personalized tactics are helping to build Latinos' voting clout in emerging cities such as Fresno, a demographically diverse region of California in which more than one-quarter of all registrants are Latino. <more> Nov. 15, 2007 Fresno Bee
Hillary Clinton campaigns in Fresno. Democrats’
hopers improve in region - - What's a Democratic candidate for president
doing in the state's conservative farm belt 100 days before the California
primary? "It had all of us scratching our heads," Jay Hubbell, secretary of
the Fresno County Democratic Central Committee, said with a chuckle.
Especially considering there was no fundraiser on the schedule. But the
candidate, Hillary Clinton, drew about 4,000 residents to a mid-morning
rally Monday in front of Fresno High School, providing a picturesque
backdrop for a candidate who is running away from her rivals in California,
according to several recent polls. Some old-timers said Clinton drew the
biggest turnout for a presidential candidate's rally since Robert F. Kennedy
stumped in Fresno in 1968. Clinton's visit was a recognition that while
Fresno may still lean Republican, the region is increasingly home to
Democrats, especially Latino and Asian voters, whose political clout has
been growing over the last decade.
<more> Oct. 24, 2007 San Jose Mercury News
Clinton energizes Fresno crowd. Democratic
front-runner draws thousands. - - Democratic presidential hopeful
Hillary Clinton hasn't raised much campaign cash in the Fresno area, but she
showed Monday that she can raise a crowd. The New York senator swept into
the Valley for a morning rally in front of Fresno High School that attracted
thousands of exuberant supporters. "I loved it. It gives me hope," said
Earlimart resident Teresa DeAnda. "I wish somebody had said 'H' is for
Hillary and 'H' is for hope."
<more> Oct. 23, 2007 Fresno Bee
Living on the Edge: Valley earnings lag state and
nation, census report says - - Northern San Joaquin Valley incomes fell
further behind those elsewhere in California and the United States in 2006,
new Census Bureau statistics show. While median family incomes rose about 5
percent in the rest of the state and nation last year, earnings were
stagnant in the valley. Stanislaus County families, for instance, earned a
measly 62 cents per day more in 2006 than they did in 2005. By contrast,
median-income families in California as a whole raked in an extra $8.48 per
day last year compared with the year before. The gap keeps growing between
what people earn in the valley and what they earn elsewhere in the Golden
State, according to data collected by the Census Bureau's American Community
Survey.
<more> Aug. 29, 2007 Modesto Bee
Local work-force survey expands to whole Valley -
- A work-force survey that has led to grants for new training programs in
Fresno County is now being expanded to cover the entire central San Joaquin
Valley, a move that proponents say could lead to a much better understanding
of the region's job-training needs. "We're targeting some key needs," said
Pam Lasseter, assistant director of the Fresno County Workforce Investment
Board. Last year, the board polled 700 employers in Fresno County and found
that efforts to fill up to 27,000 job openings in the next three years could
be imperiled by a lack of skilled applicants, she said.
<more> Aug. 17, 2007 Fresno Bee
Prop.
1B money will soon transform Highway 99
- - Proposition 1B,
the $20 billion transportation bond California voters passed in November
2006, contained exactly one earmark setting aside some of its money for a
specific project. That provision was a flat $1 billion for Highway 99. By
the start of the next decade, after the engineers are done drawing the plans
and the local transportation agencies assemble their matching funds, heavy
equipment will be moving dirt and pouring concrete from one end of 99 to the
other.
<more> July 19, 2007 Sacramento Bee
Romney picks up plenty of valley cash - -San
Joaquin Valley residents are voting with their checkbooks and presidential
candidates are scooping up the money. So far, count Republican Mitt Romney
as the regional winner.Romney raised more money from the valley than any of
his Republican or Democratic rivals, newly filed campaign statements show.
Boosted by politically active Fresno farmers and Modesto doctors, Romney
reported raising more than $100,000 from valley contributors in three
months. Romney raised at least $108,200 in individually reported valley
contributions, the filings show. This outpaced the $60,100 raised by former
New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and the $34,225 raised by Arizona Sen. John
McCain. Democrats and other Republicans raised only a pittance from valley
residents. Romney's success masked the region's overall political
stinginess. Fastgrowing and agriculturally fertile, the San Joaquin Valley
nonetheless offers relatively sparse pickings for national candidates. Some
candidates raised far more from the small but rich enclave of Beverly Hills
than from the region between Lodi and Tulare. "The valley has never been
known as a bastion of fund-raising," Modesto-based political consultant Mike
Lynch said Monday. "We don't have as many high-wealth individuals."
<more> July 17, 2007 Modesto Bee
Central Valley may gain political power - -
With a new state forecast predicting that California's population growth
will tilt ever more toward the Central Valley, Southern California's Inland
Empire and fast-growing areas around Sacramento, experts say the state's
political center of gravity may shift, too - away from the more urbanized,
coastal metropolitan areas that dominate the state's political and economic
life today. The Central Valley "will clearly gain heft compared with the
other metropolitan regions," said Carol Whiteside, president of the Great
Valley Center and the former mayor of Modesto. "It won't be the baby cousin
any more." The Central Valley will grow from 10 percent of the state's
population in 2000, to 16 percent of all Californians by 2050.
<more> July 16, 2007 San Jose Mercury News
Clearing air: Show biz or 'reality'? Gov.
Schwarzenegger owes us answers about firing of air board officials and cleanup
progress.- - Californians deserve straight answers. Maybe the hearing
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez has scheduled Friday in Sacramento will help get
them. Last week, Gov. Schwarzenegger fired Robert Sawyer, the man he appointed
as chairman of the California Air Resources Board. This week, the board's
executive officer, Catherine Witherspoon, quit. The governor and his staff
claim the pair was not moving fast enough to implement California's
groundbreaking plan to reduce air pollution and global warming. Californians
deserve some straight answers and a straightforward air pollution cleanup
strategy from their governor. The fallout from the ousters of Sawyer and
Witherspoon is that the California Air Resources Board has been thrown in
chaos just when it is supposed to be developing strict rules to curb pollution
and global warming.
<more> July 6, 2007 Bakersfield Californian
Veteran Bakersfield political reporter Vic
Pollard bids farewell -- Sadly, I have to report that this is the last
one of these columns. It may reappear at some point in a different form, but
my role as The Californian's Sacramento reporter will end next week. As you
may have noticed in a story we published last week, The Californian is
closing the Sacramento reporting office for financial reasons. This company
joins a long and growing list of newspapers forced to make painful cuts
under the relentless changes in the economics of the modern media world.
<more> July 5, 2007 Bakersfield Californian
Cardoza walking fine line in House. For 'seat at
the table' he must find balance on Rules Committee - - Dennis Cardoza
wanted a seat at the table, and he got it. Now the third-term Democratic
congressman from Merced is a Capitol insider, setting the rules for House
debate. But in a political twist, the position that grants Cardoza clout
could estrange some San Joaquin Valley voters. A moderate, Cardoza is
nonetheless a lieutenant to liberal House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He has her
ear. She, in turn, often has his vote. The result is a fine line to walk for
a congressman representing an often conservative district. "In exchange for
having a seat at the table," Cardoza said, "you agree that at the end of the
day, you're all going to be on the same page."
<more> June 18, 2007 Modesto Bee
Rules Committee position gives Blue Dog's bark
more bite By DENNIS CARDOZA - - I am writing to set the record straight
about my role on the House Rules Committee in response to "Cardoza walking
fine line in House" (June 18, Page A-1). The overall tone of the piece
suggested that I agree with Democratic leadership 100 percent of the time.
While I am proud to be a Democrat, I don't agree with anyone 100 percent of
the time and I will continue to put the interests of my district before
party politics. My seat at the leadership table has enhanced the position of
moderates and conservatives in the Democratic caucus, not undermined them.
My moderate and independent views have not changed.
<more> June 22, 2007 Modesto Bee
Garamendi speaks at Modesto Democratic fundraiser
- - Some problems facing the San Joaquin Valley today are the same ones
Lt. Gov. John Garamendi sought to address more than 30 years ago as a rookie
assemblyman. Poverty, access to education and air quality top his list of
challenges for the area, just as they did when he represented parts of San
Joaquin and parts of Stanislaus counties in the Legislature. But some of the
obstacles are new, namely, adapting California's water system to a warming
climate. "The reservoirs today are operated on historical records. The
reality is, tomorrow, everything's different," Garamendi said Thursday
before a Central Valley Democratic Club fund-raiser at the McHenry Mansion.
<more> June 22, 2007 Modesto Bee
Supreme Court rules against
public employee unions. The justices say states can ban labor groups from
using forced dues for political purposes unless individual employees give
their explicit approval. - - In a setback for
organized labor, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that states may bar public
employee unions from using compulsory dues for political purposes unless
individuals give their explicit approval. The 9-0 ruling opens the door for
states to pass laws restricting use of union dues. Nationwide, 12 million
workers in public- and private-sector jobs are required to pay dues or fees
to a union even if they elect not to join, and the National Right to Work
Committee and other opponents of unions have fought these forced dues as
unconstitutional. President Bush and other conservatives have campaigned in
favor of "paycheck protection" laws to limit the political use of union
dues, long a major source of funding for Democratic candidates. Thursday's
ruling in favor of such a law in Washington state implicitly endorsed those
efforts. But these laws have gained little traction in Congress or around
the nation. Twice in the last decade, California voters have rejected ballot
initiatives that would have required unions to ask the permission of
employees before using their dues for politics. The most recent defeat came
in 2005, when Proposition 75, strongly backed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger,
lost by 7 percentage points.
<more> June 15, 2007 LA Times
Florez announces bid for lieutenant governor -
- State Sen. Dean Florez says he’s running for lieutenant governor. It’s the
office that is traditionally viewed as the most meaningless job in state
government, but it may never be the same if he wins. Florez, famous for
calling frequent press conferences to announce proposals or criticize
government agencies, said he believes the office can be used as a “bully
pulpit” to push for new programs to benefit consumers, workers and the
environment.
<more> June 8, 2007 Bakersfield Californian
California's absentee voters may complicate
campaigns. With the primary slated for Feb. 5, millions could cast ballots
by early January. And those votes could be crucial.
- - As states jockey
for early power in next year's presidential caucuses and primaries,
California could have an unexpected edge. Under the present — and evolving —
calendar, absentee voters here may be able to cast ballots before the
traditionally first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries.
The votes wouldn't be counted until California's scheduled primary on Feb.
5, but the prospect of millions of Californians being able to vote beginning
Jan. 7 complicates strategy for the major candidates. And playing California
right could be crucial: The state will send at least 440 delegates to the
Democratic National Convention, more than the current five early voting
states combined. The Republican delegate allotment won't be set until later
this year, but California's population means it will be among the largest
delegations to that convention as well. None of the campaigns would discuss
their plans, but one issue is sure to be how much money to spend seeking
early voters in California — usually reached with television ads and direct
mail — while campaigning in more than 20 other states.
<more> June 11, 2007 LA Times
Politics
and New Media
YouTube Passes Debates to a New Generation
-
- The quadrennial ritual of presidential debates has long followed a tried
and true format. A guy in a suit asks mostly predictable questions of other
suits. The voter is a fixture in the audience, motionless until he or she
gets to address the candidate, briefly and respectfully. Everything is
choreographed. Now imagine a kid in jeans and a T-shirt asking a question,
less reverentially, more pointedly and using powerful visual images to
underscore the point. Maybe he or she will ask about the war in Iraq — and
show clips from a soldier’s funeral. Or a mushroom cloud. If global warming
is the issue, the videographer might Photoshop himself or herself onto a
melting glacier. The question might come in the form of a rap song or
through spliced images of a candidate’s contradictory statements. The
presidential debates are about to enter the world of YouTube, the
anything-goes home-video-sharing Web site that puts the power in the hands
of the camera holder. YouTube, which is owned by Google, and CNN are
co-sponsoring a debate among the eight Democratic presidential candidates on
July 23 in South Carolina, an event that could define the next phase of what
has already been called the YouTube election, a visual realm beyond Web
sites and blogs.
<more>
June 14, 2007 NY Times
YouTube users invited to
join debates. Presidential candidates at CNN events will answer questions
posed in videos posted on site - - A man,
holding a camera up to himself as he stands in front of a check-cashing
store, wants to know how the next president will stop the services from
taking advantage of the poor. A woman, posing with a framed picture of her
brother, a Vietnam veteran, questions how the candidates plan to care for
soldiers returning from Iraq. These two ordinary citizens have recorded and
posted their questions for the candidates in video format and placed them on
the online video-sharing site YouTube. And they may even get some answers.
In the latest example of politics embracing Web 2.0 trends, YouTube and CNN
said Thursday that they will stage two debates letting voters present their
questions to the politicians. <more> June 15, 2007 SF Chronicle
YouTube Fuels -- and Foils
– Campaigns -
- For months, the presidential wannabes have been churning out serious,
talking-to-the-camera videos for YouTube. So far, viewers prefer the
spontaneous, unauthorized, less flattering fare. Traffic on YouTube related
to the 2008 presidential race spiked in March and April, largely on two
unofficial, critical videos, one about Democratic front-runner Hillary
Clinton, the other about Republican John McCain, according to a study of
YouTube traffic by Nielsen/Net Ratings. An anti-Clinton "1984" video, in
which the New York senator is portrayed as a Big Brother-ish figure,
accounted for about 75% of all traffic to candidate-related videos on
YouTube in March, Nielsen found. A month later, a video of Mr. McCain, the
Arizona senator, joking about bombing Iran to the tune of the Beach Boys
classic "Barbara Ann," helped him attract more than twice as many visitors
on YouTube than his Republican rivals. While overall viewership of political
videos is relatively small, the clips are becoming increasingly important in
the elongated 2008 presidential campaign cycle. Lesser-known candidates are
using YouTube as a low-cost method to get some attention, while the leading
candidates are trying to avoid any embarrassing on-the-trail goofs that can
be exploited by opponents or their supporters.
<more> June 13, 2007 Wall Street
Journal
Wiki
politics cedes power to the people.
A user-controlled
site hosts exchanges between Utah legislators and constituents, showing the
Web's potential to influence policy on other levels.
- - As the 2008 U.S.
presidential contenders struggle to mesh old-style politics with the
fast-evolving Internet culture, the future of online politics may have
already arrived in this green swale of a town two hours northeast of Las
Vegas.
Steve Urquhart, a local
lawyer and state legislator, launched wiki-based Politicopia.com in January
hoping to create a virtual town square where Utahans could debate issues
coming before the Legislature.
Debate they did, creating
an online forum between elected officials and their constituents that
ultimately changed state policy.
<more> June 18, 2007 LA Times
Grassroots Activism
Woman is Arvin's air apparent for change - - Raji Brar just wanted to clean up downtown Arvin. he 31-year-old opened a Subway sandwich shop on the city's main thoroughfare in 2003 and had a vested interest in seeing the surroundings revitalized. So with $3,000 -- about half of which she borrowed from her father -- she launched a campaign to run for City Council. And won. Soon after taking office late last year, however, Brar realized that Arvin had far bigger problems than a dilapidated downtown. The city was in the midst of a pollution crisis. In recent years, it had more smog violations than any other place in the country. Earlier this year, Brar was appointed to the board that oversees the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District, the agency charged with cleaning the valley's notoriously dirty air. Three months in, Brar has shown she's not willing to rubber-stamp plans or go easy on industry. <more> June 11, 2007 Bakersfield Californian
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