The SacBee published an article outlinin Alpine County’s preschool program.  The program offers free preschool for nearly every child in the county:

Like most 4-year-olds in California, Megan and Nathan Cruz spend their days away from home, in a bright colorful room where they draw, sing, socialize and learn the letters of the alphabet.
Unlike most children in California — whose parents pay an average $7,500 a year for child care — the twins attend a preschool that costs their parents nothing.

The unusual program in Alpine County — a rugged 727-square-mile stretch of the Sierra south of Lake Tahoe — offers both a glimpse of California’s rural past and a vision of what could become the state’s educational future.

Using public money generated by cigarette taxes, Alpine County has already done what the rest of California is now contemplating under Proposition 82 on the June ballot. For the past three years, it has provided free preschool to nearly all children whose parents want it.
***
Kati Bell has two kids at the preschool — 3-year-old Sophie and 5-year-old Ryan. The family moved to Alpine County this fall, in part because of the preschool. In Palo Alto, Bell said, she paid $150 a day for her children’s preschool. Now preschool is free and her children couldn’t be happier.

“They love it here,” Bell said. “If I come too early, they say, ‘Can we stay?’ ” (SacBee 5/20/06)

Prop 82 holds a lot of promise for the state.  Yes, it has its fair share of flaws.  But,as many reports have esitmated, we get $2.78 back from every dollar we invest in preschool programs.  Now it’s up to the people of California if they want to make that investment.

Today’s California Blog Roundup is on the flip. I’m pressed for time, so it ain’t as pretty as it normally is, but I’ve tried to sort things properly. No teasers, sorry.

• Hey, folks. Remember how much of CA’s recent good economy is built on building? Home sales are starting to tank, both north and south.
• Speaking of homes, see this guest piece from California Progress Report on some sensible measures for preventing and paying for floods.
• It’s going to be slow trains in California for the forseeable future, voter wishes be damned.
• Remember, it were a Democrat who wanted the infrastructure bond, and it were Democrats who delivered it.
• Julia on the negative air war in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. Dan Ancona on the better world he wishes we lived in.
• Julia again on Schwarzenegger’s fundraising. Sure, those aren’t special interests. Sure, there’s no strings on that money. Public financing, people.
• Greg Dewar doesn’t think much of the Westly campaign.
• Arnold says, “Please stop me. I can’t control myself.“
• D-Day ain’t optimistic, given Arnold’s current “reasonable moderate” shtick. Schwarzenegger is betting the public will forget his alliance with the extremist Republicans and the expensive special election power grab of 2005 long enough for him to get a chance to do it again.
• Randy Bayne catches Schwarzenegger resurrecting a defunct agency by packing it with his cronies, just to undercut the Democrats drive for increasing the minimum wage and adding cost of living adjustments.
• For them as care, Left in SF has the SF Guardian’s endorsements for the June election (state and local).
• There are a lot of immigration thoughts this week. First, Life Goes Off.
• Next, Marc Cooper, with the “My Granny Was Legal” myth.
• Robert Silvey of Rubicon, on the Bush Border Speech. Silvey’s writing is great; I wish he wrote more about CA politics.
• The Blue Voice rounds up reactions to the Bush Border Speech.
• Brad Plumer, on the assimilation of Latino immigrants (they do, and do well).
• Remember, there’s a whole country on the other side of the proposed border wall, with its own domestic politics. Well, at least someone will make money.
• The Blue Voice rounds up reactions to the Bush Border Speech.
• Ouch, just ouch.
• Last, the Talent Show, displaying common sense and fairness.
• The Party Line has a series of reports on the 50 State Canvas: Hollywood, SoCal, Central Valley, NorCal.
• Pombo Watch on the May 16 Tracy Republican CA-11 Candidates’ Forum. Say No To Pombo was there as well, and they were not impressed with Paid-For Pombo’s performance.
• Progressive 11th notices that Paid-For Pombo isn’t keeping his term-limit promise. Big Shock. He also can’t tell the difference between “legal” and “right”. Seriously, modern Republicans simply have no moral compass.
• The Senate Elections Committee punts on AB 583, the Clean Money Bill. (More here.)
• Common Cause Comments on Clean Money. As do these two gentlemen. Last, goatchowder, posting at Daily Kos, gives the common citizen’s impressions.
• Martini Republic interviews Brad Friedman of the BradBlog voting machine police.

You can help pick the winners of a contest that will give California students scholarship money for college. Before 11am PDT, May 21, visit the contest page of the Campaign for College Opportunity. There you can read finalist essays by middle and high school kids and view the posters and TV ads they’ve created on the theme “Save a Spot for Me in College.” Take a look and cast your vote for the overall winners.

Do this and you’ll be participating in an innovative grassroots lobbying effort.

The Campaign for College Opportunity seeks to impress on state legislators the need to support community college education for all students who graduate from high school. The state master plan has called for such support for many years; the state’s higher education system has been much of the engine of California’s prosperity. But state government has been hamstrung by the refusal of Republicans to agree to any new tax measures, and consequently, community colleges have begun to crack under demand that exceeds the supply of places. They have raised fees, limited the availability of classes, and cannot provide the counselors who might help get students through the bureaucratic maze.

So the Campaign wanted to collect California students’ own thoughts and dreams about college to share them with legislators. What better way than a contest with real money prizes?

Last month I wrote about serving as a reader in the first phase of the contest. It was a fascinating experience. Hundreds of us helped winnow down 8000 entries.

Now the Campaign seeks our online votes which will be used alongside those of a panel of judges who include:

• Farai Chideya, author and correspondent for National Public Radio

• Don Hahn, Interim Head of Feature Animation at the Walt Disney Company

• Joe Kapp, former NFL star

• Josefa Salinas, radio personality for Hot 92 Jamz in Los Angeles

• Peter Schrag, columnist for the Sacramento Bee

• Mike Sklut, host of “High School Sports Focus” on Action 36 in the Bay Area

Reading these student essays, what came through so poignantly is that these young people, many of them immigrants or children of immigrants, want to be what they think of as “good people” — productive workers, supports to their parents, participants in their community. Read their own words at the contest page and help give them a leg up toward their dreams..

The DCCC is a really great bunch of people who are very successful.  Ok, sorry, I need to stop laughing now.  Anyway Rahm and the crew are finally considering supporting a candidate against 15% Doolittle:

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said Wednesday that it thinks it may have a shot at unseating Rep. John Doolittle, who is listed as among the most powerful members of the California congressional delegation in a nonpartisan survey out this week.

“The DCCC is very interested in this race and will possibly invest in it,” said Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., the committee’s recruitment chief. Citing the Roseville Republican’s associations with key players in two congressional corruption scandals, Van Holleen said, “All the signs are good in this district.” (SacBee 5/18/06)

How forward looking of the DCCC.  They are challenging a corrupt Republican.  Wow, how ever did they come up with that idea?  Ol’ 15% has been cheating hhis consituents and the country as a whole, and you are going to think about sending some money in this direction.  Well, Representative, I suggest you think real hard about it.  California has been very, very good to the DCCC, perhaps it’s about time that the DCCC returns some attention in this direction.

And to the Democrats in this race: they are Lisa Rea, a Sacramento-area insider who has worked at the California Legislature, Charlie Brown, a retired Air Force helicopter pilot, and Mike Hamersly, a former whistleblower on large tax shelter fraud and employee of the California franchise tax board.  While it wouldn’t take much to improve upon 15% Doolittle, both Rea and Brown would be welcome additions to the California Congressional Delegation.

Welcome to the Poll Headquarters.  We’ll be posting notable
Polls
and Endorsements here. The dates are the date of release to the public,
not the dates of survey. The Governor related polls will be in the
main, congress, down-ballot, and other polls will be in the extended. Here
are the polls with primary data. If you know of any
additional polls, let me know. Thanks!

California Governor Polls

Phil Angelides (D) vs. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)

Descriptions:

Field California Polls

The dates are the date of release to the public, not the dates
of
survey. The Field Poll is the gold standard of California political
polls. I always trust the Field Poll when it’s in conflict with
another.

Rasmussen California Governor Polls

The Rasmussen poll is a computer polling operation. Its
results are
a little more questionable within California and can sometimes be
skewed towards the political right.

Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) and L.A. Times
Polls

The LA Times poll and the PPIC poll also have polls on down
ballot
races. I didn’t summarize them here, but click the links for the full
PDFs. The PPIC is known for in-depth research, and their survey guru,
Mark Baldassare, is highly respected for his statewide surveys. The LA
Times is, well, a major media organization. I’ll leave it at that.

Survey USA Governor Approval
Pollshttp://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReportEmail.aspx?g=1137993a-c120-4ea6-bc97-017dd6931c94

Are on the flip. There are lots of crosstabs available at
their website. 

Many of the links are PDFs.

The actual Survey USA site has the ability to do demographic
breakdowns.

California Proposition Polls

Infrastructure Bonds

Other Initiatives

Down Ballot Polls