CA-Taxpayers Reject Universal FingerPainting for the Pre-School-Aged

This morning's LA Times:

Voters also rejected two ballot measures, a $600 million bond issue for libraries and a universal preschool initiative that lost 61% to 39%. The bond issue failed 53.1% to 46.9%.

Thank goodness! I wasn't too much on the ball with the California Primaries, and lost track that yesterday was voting day. I hadn't even sent in my absentee ballot. But Meathead's Prop 82 bugged me so much, I had to turn in my voting ballot. I was pressed for work, but fortunately, discovered the nearest polling place was 2 blocks away from where I live, and can include myself in the proud 34% who voted. Glad 60% of the California voters gave it the dunce cap and kicked it to the corner. More...

A gauge of the national mood — and possible precursor of November's midterm election — was the San Diego County congressional race to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who was convicted in a corruption scandal.

Republican Brian Bilbray defeated Democrat Francine Busby in what in any other year would have been a safe GOP district, the 50th in San Diego County.

The race drew national attention because it focused on immigration, a thorny issue that Democrats are hoping will help them wrest control of Congress from the Republicans.

Good for San Diego!

For many, the election's main draw was the Democratic contest for governor, a race so spiteful that many Californians cringed at the choice they faced.

In TV ads, Westly portrayed his foe as a former developer who polluted Lake Tahoe, bulldozed wetlands and took campaign money from oil firms.

Angelides, in turn, depicted Westly as an untrustworthy politician who broke his vow not to run negative ads, rewarded a corrupt campaign donor with state favors and backed Schwarzenegger's school and healthcare cuts.

Ads by both Democrats were short on context. In some cases, they misled voters, who were forced to sort out accusations by each man that the attacks from the other were dishonest. In the end, the vicious back-and-forth gave Schwarzenegger a head start in defining his Democratic challenger in negative terms.

"It's hurt the Democrats' chance of beating Schwarzenegger in the fall," said Gary C. Jacobson, a UC San Diego political science professor.

The mud fight also came at a time of California voter fatigue, brought on mainly by the 2003 recall and last fall's special election, called by Schwarzenegger. With their bland personalities, Angelides and Westly each struggled to captivate voters. The dry nature of their state finance jobs heightened the challenge.

The Gubernator may not be the "über" Republican the conservative base wish him to be, and despite the humiliating blow he received in the special election (regarding Prop 73, As semper fi sarcastically questioned the logic of it, "your 14-year old daughter must continue to need parental permission to take her antibiotic at school for her sinus infection but needs no parental permission to have an abortion."), the man has the stature and name-recognition to win elections. Go Arnie!

More at Flopping Aces.