The video can be viewed here.  Jerry holds up well, but not great.  All in all, I would have to give this one a toss up.  I’m going to bet that the Chronicle endorses Brown, simply because Pooch really is far to the right of the general population of California, doubly so than the population of SF.

Two “debates” are scheduled today.  I guess calling them debates is a bit of a stretch as the candidates won’t have much interaction with each other, but well, what can you do.  First, in CA-AG Jerry Brown will face off with Chuck Poochigian.  Pooch has been running a very negative campaign, hoping that enough people will simply vote against Jerry Brown to carry him to victory.  It’s a very risky straegy.  The debate is really a forum for the editorial board of the SF Chronicle, but will be webcast live on CBS5’s website.

As for CA-11, Jerry McNerney  faces down Evil Incarnate.  Ok, Ok, maybe that’s too far.  Let’s just call Richard Pombo corrupt and anti-environment and leave it at that.  They will be participating at a Candidate Forum hosted by the Tracy Press at 7 p.m. at Poet Christian School, 1701 S. Central Ave., in Tracy. If you want to attend, try to get there early as seating will be limited.

Ok, if you live in CA-11 or in Tracy or Stockton, or something like that, this “debate” is going to be broadcast on Public Access TV.  I would really love it if somebody knew any additional information.  Better yet, record it and post it on YouTube  or EyeSpot.  I’m thinking of heading out there, so if you want to carpool from SF, let me know. 

We need to get this “debate” out to as many people as possible.  Pombo is in trouble people, let’s make sure we are doing everything possible to make sure that happens.

The Field Poll (PDF) continues to dribble out.  In today’s installment, we get numbers for CA-Sen, CA-AG, and CA-LtG.  First of all, I must add the caveat on all of these down-ballot numbers.  Most people generally aren’t that informed about down-ballot races and don’t even care to get informed all that much.  Consider the numbers with a grain of salt. 

Oh, and CA-Sen isn’t a race.  Why people even bother to poll this one is beyond me.  Feinstein is ahead of Crazy Dick Mountjoy 57-29. I guess if that shows us anything, it’s how messed up that Datamar poll was that showed this as a 11-point race.  Datamar really needs to work on their likely voter model.  It’s like they think that the entire state has the same voting model as San Diego.  It doesn’t.

CA-AG Jerry Brown v. Chuck Poochigian

Jerry Brown’s lead shrank down to 15 points over Chuck Poochigian.  (July)

Brown(D)  45(54)
Poochigian (R) 33(30)
Other  8(1)
Undecided  18(12)

Interestingly enough, the gains weren’t really to Pooch, but rather to Undecided and Other.  I guess that may be a function of Pooch pretty much running a negative campaign without much in the way of positive ads.  Pooch’s name ID is pretty low, so he better get to getting his name out there or the new, tougher Jerry Brown model will nameID him to death.

CA-LtG: John Garamendi v Tom McClintock

This race tightened up a bit.  Here are the numbers (July)

Garamendi(D)  41(48)
McClintock (R) 39 (38)
Other 8 (1)
Undecided 12 (13)

Garamendi is leaking some Dems to third party candidates.  So, tell your friends…there will be no 3rd party voting on Lt. Gov.  We really don’t want Tom McCrazytock getting anything of a platform.  McClintock still has a bunch of residual name ID from the recall. However, I think low-40s his really his ceiling.  He really is just too conservative for this state.  When people see his positions they get a bit queasy on voting for him, whether or not he can dish out some “straight talk”.

I’ll be updating the Poll HQ with these numbers after all of the down ballot numbers are released.

Apparently Chuck Poochigian missed the notice on this one: calling someone a liberal in this state willl not hurrt their election chances.  It just won’t.  It will get the politically active conservatives, the ones who were already going to vote, to vote for you.  But, that will not be enough to even make a serious run at Jerry Brown.  But, Pooch still thinks he’s running in Fresno:

Democrat Jerry Brown is portraying his rival, state Sen. Chuck Poochigian, as a right-wing “extremist” linked to President Bush, while the Fresno Republican has hit back calling the Oakland mayor a “flaky liberal,”…

“The ads are an effort to remind voters who recall Jerry Brown’s disastrous record as governor and mayor of Oakland and of just how out of touch he is with the majority of Californians, Spillane said.(SF Chron 9/25/06)

Oh, you must mean back in the early 80s when California still had one of the best educational systems in the world.  Now, we’re 43rd.  And why is that? Oh yeah, Prop 13 took away revenues from the state and locals and left us with a budget mess.  The good people of the Golden State will see through Poochigian’s pandering to the right.

The down-ballot Field Poll came out this morning, with pretty good, although unsuprising news for Democrats in statewide races. All 6 down ballot Dems are leading, and only SoS and Insurance Commissioner are really close right now.

However, these numbers should be taken with more than just a grain of salt. As shown in the table below, many voters have no opinion of either or both candidates. So much of this poll is really based on mere party affiliation. I suppose that it’s good to know that a D in a statwide race of unknowns still stakes you to a lead.

See the flip for the full table of information from the Field Poll. I’ll also put this in the extended of the Poll HQ.