A new survey conducted jointly by The Institute of Governmental Studies (IGS) at UC Berkeley and The Field Poll finds the initiative backed by Governor Jerry Brown, Proposition 30, continuing to lead ...

There have been past efforts to increase voter participation.  In my first election as an adult, my generation launched "Rock the Vote," aimed at getting the participation of youth.  Later there was t ...

Last March, the threat of a protest by the Occupy movement caused the Davis Monsanto Plant to close its doors.  Now, beginning early this morning, protesters, led perhaps by Cindy Sheehan, will be bac ...

Jose Granda, the oft-times critic of the Davis School District, tried to take his fight to the legislature on Tuesday.  His target this time was legislation sponsored by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, ...

It has been a fascinating week in California politics.  We have a field poll release giving us interesting information about the state's political landscape, and news at the end of the week suggesting ...

A few years ago, Republicans, believing that legislative districts had been unfairly drawn, joined with the "good government" folks who believe that partisanship is bad to create a citizens redistrict ...

The Sacramento Bee and other media outlets are reporting this morning that Republicans have announced that they will support a signature drive to overturn the newly-drawn Senate Districts, prior to th ...

Critics Complain About Possibility of Voter Fraud, But Studies Show Few Instances of Confirmed Voter Fraud in Absentee Voting - In May, the Davis School District held an all-mail election for the parc ...

There has been a lot of talk about the new California districts; the consensus is that while there may be a limited case to be made for racial disparity and the disadvantaging of minority voters, Cali ...

The weekend, the "Citizens Redistricting Commission" announced they decided to skip the publication of a second draft of redistricting maps.One Commissioner, Cynthia Dai, told the media, "We were runn ...

There is an old adage in politics that I rarely subscribe to which is to be careful what you ask for.  After all you would be paralyzed if you adhered to that principle, unable to act.Nevertheless, Re ...

While much of the focus on Monday remained at the top with the swearing in of new Governor Jerry Brown, one of the biggest offices will undoubtedly be the California Office of the Attorney General whe ...

The first time I saw Kamala Harris was in San Jose back in 2008 at the California Democratic Convention.  It was during the heat of the primary battle, and both of the top Democrat contenders sent rep ...

The caveat, of course, is that things change in politics very quickly.  In 1994, California was not a blue state.  Pete Wilson had just been re-elected Governor by a wide margin, despite having extrem ...

Accusations Fly As Ballots Continue to be Counted - From the start, the California Attorney General's Race figured to be one of the most important races on the downside of the ticket.  The outcome of ...

As the campaigns in California were nearing an end, I ran a story on the Field Poll showing both Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer moving from close races to a big leads.  I pay particular attention to th ...

For much of the last decade, California has been ungovernable - beset by partisan polarization and hamstrung by a political system designed in another era.  The state was led by an inexperienced and a ...

Jerry Brown leads Democratic Sweep in California - Democrats were licking in their wounds on Tuesday night, but frankly it could have been worse - a lot worse.  Republicans took the House, but Democra ...

Democratic voters reading this ought to brace themselves for a rough night that is likely to rival 1994, if not exceed it.  Angry voters across the nation are poised to sweep out the incumbents yet ag ...

New Regulations Depend on Voters Opposing Prop 23 - Landmark global warming rules are set to start in January 1, 2012 under new rules released last Friday by state air regulators which would put rough ...