I apologize for the long stretch of nothingness from me.  I was in Brazil and intended to post something to that effect.  In the hubub of travel I forgot to post that.  My apologies.

As I mentioned earlier, In the next 2 weeks I’m going to do some research on the Gubenatorial candidates, and then post my reviews.  I intended to get this done before I went to Brazil, but that didn’t happen.  My apologies.  I will  be scouring the Internets, but if you have anything, send it my way.  Also, I intend on doing Lt. Gov as well, and maybe more as the election draws closer.

First of all, I apologize the long silence here.  I’ve been out of town visiting family.  You know how that can be… As for good ol’ California politics, well, don’t worry, I never leave that behind:

When Ahnold was strong, we had two candidates announce for his position.  The logic for the early entry into the race for both candidates was that they needed plenty of time to challenge such a strong contender.  Obviously this is not the case anymore.  But now we still have two candidates.

Their similarities are some of their strengths.  They both had successful business careers.  Both have been involved in Democratic politics for some time.  However their similarities can be their weakness, with less than stellar name recognition being cheif among these.

For the most part, Angelides and Westly have taken similar stands on high-profile issues. Both favor abortion rights, gun control and gay marriage. Both have been forceful advocates of environmental protection. Both have championed organized labor.

Both are also strangers to most Californians: a Times Poll in October found 70% of likely voters knew too little about Angelides to have a good or bad impression of him, and 83% drew a blank on Westly. LA Times 12/27

The worrying thing about this is that the primary could get messy.  A messy fight is the last thing we need when trying to defeat a well-funded, well-known commodity like the Governator.

With big-name Democrats passing up the chance to make a run at ousting Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, the party’s June primary is taking shape as a race between two virtual unknowns who appear headed toward a harsh campaign that some party leaders fear could benefit the Republican incumbent.

“The Democrats can’t afford a bitter and nasty campaign,” said state party Chairman Art Torres. “The voters will be turned off by that.”

Check out the whole article, but you get the point.  Over the next few days, before I head out of town to Brazil after the new year,  I plan on combing the Internets and building profiles of both candidates.  perhaps I’ll finally be able to settle upon one as my favorite…or perhaps not, but either way, it should be informative.  I hope to have the first one out (on Steve Westly) in a couple of days.  The Phil Angelides one should be a few days after that.  Keep an eye out. 🙂

Well, looks like there will be no Meathead v. Terminator election in 2006.  Rob Reiner officially declared that he is not running for governor:

“This is a decision that has taken me a while to come to,” Reiner said. “Essentially, I’ve been having a lot of discussions with my wife and family. I have young children, and they really are not all that keen on me doing this right now. They know what’s involved, and they know how difficult it can be.”

While it would have been a lot of fun to have an all-Hollywood race, I believe that we have some strong candidates already.  Both Angelides and Westly are far more qualified than Ahnold.  I look forward to a Democrat Governor again.

Oh and by the way, apparently Reiner is going to hang around the scene for a while:

Reiner — who has two sons, 14 and 12, and a daughter, 7 — said he would not rule out running for public office when his children are older.

The filmmaker has been active in politics for more than a decade, working on initiatives to improve education and healthcare for children in California.

That’s a good thing, he’s doing good work with the preschool initiative. (Although for the record, I’d prefer legislative action.  Governance by initiative is a mess.) I hope to see Reiner around the California political scene in the future. 

Well, I guess Arnold really meant it about bridging the partisan divide.  Well, maybe.  But he started by appointing Susan Kennedy to be his Chief of Staff.  It’s really quite a shrewd move by the Governator.  Now, as for Kennedy, who is an out lesbian, why she would want to be the CoS for the man who ousted her former boss Gray Davis, is beyond me.  Beyond the visibility, what’s in it for her?  This is a man who vetoed Mark Leno’s marriage legislation and yet she wants to work for him?  Strange.

Robert at Left in SF has this to say:

Kennedy, a lesbian, is brilliant, and respected by a both sides of the aisle. Some may remember her as a former aide to ex-Governor Gray Davis and that she defended Senator Feinstein last year who argued that marriage equality had happened too soon shortly after the election. Her defense was not a widely respected position in the LGBT community. I mean, come on.

Nonetheless, beating Schwarzenegger just got a lot harder.

And I predict that Schwarzenegger will oppose the right wing attempt to ban marriage equality and domestic partner benefits that will appear on the ballot next year.

I guess shouldn’t have expected him to continue the bad streak, eh?

I think the special election skewed Ahnold’s public image far to the right.  In terms of what would make his re-election feasible at this point, he needs to shift back to the middle (or Left). Hiring Kennedy Was probably a good move.

I guess we should be watching the clemency of Tookie Williams for a sign too. That he will move left is undeniable at this point. Just how far to the left Ahnold will swing remains unclear.

Well, no confirmation on this, but P.J. Corkery reported that Loretta Sanchez is running for the Democratic nomination for governor:

Phil Angelides’ folk were irked with me a few weeks ago when I reported that Orange County Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez would be running against him for the Dems’ gubernatorial nomination. They said she had endorsed Phil! But last week there was Loretta in Myles O’Reilly’s Holy Grail in Polk Gulch telling fans she indeed is running for governor and fully expects to beat Phil and then Arnold even though she’s just a girlie-woman.

Well, she, like Angelides and Westly, would make a great candidate.  Much ink has been spilled on her running in 2010, but perhaps she has decided differently. Now, I don’t know if there’s any official confirmation that she plans to run, but I’ll be watching.

Now that the special election is fading in our rearview mirror, we move on to something that everybody loves: ROADS!  

Sacramento — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is turning his attention to a multibillion dollar infrastructure bond for the state, but his proposals may center on concepts Democrats have been reluctant to support.(Chronicle Nov. 28)

Now, that’s all well and good, but the Governor called that stupid waste-of-time-and-money special election to resolve deficit issues.  Yet, once again we’re talking about spending more money?

While Democrats and Republicans favor investing in the state’s roads, ports and levees, the specific projects and how they will be financed could become a contentious issue in the next legislative session. The administration had been careful to say that not all of the money — which could be as high as $50 billion — will come through general obligation bonds, which taxpayers would be paying off for decades. Among the options are revenue bonds, fees and partnerships with private companies.

$50 billion? I think that maybe we should be addressing our underlying concerns of balancing our budget before we start doling out extra cash for roads.  Especially with the impending massive cut in federal spending that could be pending:see California Budget Project.