( – promoted by SFBrianCL)

This PPIC Poll gives us quite a bit of information:

1) The California electorate doesn’t understand why the bond deal failed, and what the differences between the various proposals is/was.

Californians overwhelmingly support (69%) Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to restore and expand the state’s deteriorating infrastructure by spending $222 billion over 10 years. They also strongly support alternative infrastrusture proposals by Democratic and Republican legislators.PPIC Poll

This tells me that Californians really just want better roads, water storage and other infrastructure  projects.  They don’t so much care about the pay-as-you-go, bond division and the balance of projects.  Unfortunately, for the financial health of the state, the legislature must care.  The Governor and the Democrats in the Legislature were able to agree.  It was the failure of the Governor too bring along his own Party that caused the failure of the bond deal.  Now, getting voters to see that seems to be a bit more challenging:

Most voters do not blame Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for the failure of his popular rebuilding plan to make the June ballot, according to a new poll released today.
***
“He’s being viewed as someone with a lot at stake in the bond deal but one who was willing to compromise,” Baldassare said. “Unlike last year when he seemed to be saying, ‘My way or the highway,’ this year he appears to be conciliatory. He seemed to be willing to settle, and voters understand that.”(SF Chron 3/30 06)

2) As you can see from the above quote, Arnold’s numbers are improving.  His approval is up to 47%!  That’s an extremely sharp rise over the 40% he had in February. His disapproval is down to 45 from 50 in February.  These are all worrisome numbers, but not as worrisome as this:

n a contest with Angelides, Schwarzenegger got 41 percent of likely voters to 29 percent for the treasurer, with 30 percent undecided.

Against Westly, the governor received support from 39 percent of likely voters to 31 percent for the controller and another 30 percent undecided.(SF Chron 3/30 06)

Now, those are rather high undecideds.  So, I’m not THAT worried.  But, Californians are forgetting how divisive Arnold is.  We need to make sure that they don’t forget.

3) As for the Primary, it’s pretty much a dead heat. 

Among likely Democratic primary voters, 22 percent would vote for State Treasurer Phil Angelides, 23 percent for State Controller Steve Westly, and a majority 55 percent don’t know.  PPIC Poll

Undecideds are pretty high.  This also probably a big reason why the Governor is favored in the polls: he has high name ID compared to Angelides and Westly.  Once we get those up, it should help them in the polls against Ahnold.  And of course, finality (the June Primary) will give the Dem candidate a boost.  Also, the primary coverage itself will also probably contribute to better name recognition.

Read The PPIC Poll.  There’s lot of good stuff there.

Newsweek jumps into the fray regarding Howard Kaloogian’s deceptively labeled photo album. The real issues here is not that Kaloogian or someone on his staff made a mistake. The photo and its accompanying caption were posted at Kaloogian’s Move America Forward website long before it was moved over to his campaign website. The purpose of the photo was deception. The photo was used not because it was an accurate portrait of what was going on in Baghdad during Kaloogian’s July visit to the Iraq. The photo was used in a typical Kaloogian attack on the news media. It supported Kaloogian’s fantasy that things were going well in Iraq and that the liberal news media was ignoring all the good news. It should speak volumes that the only way Kaloogian could make his point was to select a photo of a different city in a different country.

Kaloogian, a candidate to replace the vacated seat of disgraced former congressman Randall (Duke) Cunningham, traveled to Iraq on what his Web site calls the “’Voices of Soldiers’ Truth Tour.” The photo in question had the following caption, “We took this photo of downtown Baghdad while we were in Iraq.  Iraq (including  Baghdad) is much more calm and stable than what many people believe it to be. But each day the news media finds any violence occurring in the country and screams and shouts about it—in part because many journalists are opposed to the U.S. effort to fight terrorism.”

In the end, the real winner here will be the American people. Already the blogosphere is filled with stories about Kaloogian, his astroturf Move America Forward organization and the relationship of Move America Forward with Republican PR firm, Russo, Marsh + Rogers. The truth that Kaloogian so passionately wants to be told is going to start to expose Kaloogian.

Here is a quick Kaloogian sampling from post at Words Have Power:

March 28 – Kaloogian And The Truth

March 12 –  howardisaliar.com

March 11 –  Kaloogian News – Or Maybe Not

March 5  –  Look Who’s Pimping for Kaloogian

February 16 –  Kaloogian Alert – Toxic – Full Protective Gear Required

December 27 –  More Lies….

August 31 –  Move America Backwards

August 20 –  Kaloogian’s Group Attacks Cindy Sheehan

August 2 –  PR for the Civil War

July 13 –  Astroturf Howard

Howard Kaloogian is part of the right wing noise machine. His job is divide this country not help solve its problems. He is running for congress so he can be part of the same ruling party that tolerated Randy Cunningham and sucked up to Jack Abramoff.

He is part of the problem, not part of the solution

With less than two weeks to go before the 50th congressional district special election, a new poll has Democrat Francine Busby within striking distance of a stunning victory that would make her the districts new congressional representative and preclude the need for a run-off election in June.

A SurveyUSA poll released today shows Busby favored by 45% of likely voters. There has been a change of position among her chief Republican rivals, with millionaire Eric “Gonna Buy Me an Election” Roach and “truth” impaired winger Howard Kaloogian moving past early Republican front runner, Brian “Lobbyist” Bilbray.

Analysis: In a Special Primary for the U.S. House of Representatives in California’s 50th Congressional District today, 3/28/06, Democrat Francine Busby tops a crowded field of Republicans, but falls just short of the majority needed to avoid a runoff June 6th. With 2 weeks to the 4/11 Primary, Busby is at 45%, trailed by Republican Eric Roach at 14%, Republican Howard Kaloogian at 12%, and Republican Brian Bilbray at 10%. Busby is supported by 85% of Democrats, half of Independents, and 10% of Republicans. Kaloogian and Roach are each supported by 23% of Republicans. The district is heavily Republican and whichever Republican survives the Primary would be favored in a runoff, but the Democrats have a chance to capture the seat if Busby can top 50% in the Primary. Busby gets 53% among female voters. The larger the turnout among women, the better Busby’s chances to avoid a runoff.

Is this Busby surge real? Are independents and undecided moving in her direction? The opportunity is there for Busby to take this thing outright. It will come down to GOTV efforts and advertising exposure over the next 12 days.

I expect to see Roach move his attacks from Bilbray to Busby over the next few days. He is the only one of the top three Republicans that can afford to change the direction of his advertising and he now has to slow Busby down to keep her from an outright win.