Ballotpedia says there will be a proposition in November to officially repeal 2008's Proposition 8 - the one that defined marriage as one man and one woman, which passed to our shame, but which got overturned by the courts later. The language of the bad Prop 8 is still in the state constitution, so the upcoming proposition (the fall propositions are not numbered yet) will remove that language from the state constitution and replace it with something more inclusive. I was wondering why we needed to do this, but then it occurred to me that with the current bunch of corrupt partisans on the Supreme Court, they may take away the actual right of gay marriage at any time, so we should really make sure the state constitution reflects what we want in case of Supreme Court ********ery.
Well, um, I looked at my sample ballot ... the real ballot is still sitting on the counter. I'll get around to it.
I spent like 5 minutes on my real ballot and just kind of noped out for another day. Maybe today I'll be more into it.
The overall ballot was pretty short for us. One state proposition, one local (school board) bond issue, and a bunch of primaries where the incumbent (a Democrat) does not have a serious challenger. The only primary which is interesting on my ballot is the senate race to replace Feinstein - my wife and I split our votes for Katie Porter and Adam Schiff. Either one of them would be fine, as would Barbara Lee, and if Steve ********ing Garvey makes it into the top two, it will be the easiest decision in November to vote against him for whichever Democrat is facing him. Edit - now I gotta find one of them mules to carry my ballot in. I hear there's two thousand of them.
Those clowns are pretty desperate.......They will actually raise Gavin profile even more. “Conservative activists are launching another attempt to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seeking to capitalize on anger over the state’s yawning budget deficit and arguing that the top White House surrogate must be stopped before he can make a presidential run of his own,” Politico reports.
Someone must be making money off this. Some coalition of political consultants and TV station owners who want to siphon more money out of the political system.
And lead to restrictions on the recall process in California. Restrictions that likely should have been put in place decades ago.
This is just the same thing they are working with Biden, just less to do with criminality and more trying to question his executive ability. They'll spin it as Californians trying to remove Newsom from office due to his mismanagement of the state without mentioning it is just Republicans. The media will pick up and run with it and they'll spin it up into a huge scandal for Newsom.
Alright, so I need to fill out my ballot and turn it in before this upcoming storm. What's the BigSoccer wisdom on Porter versus Schiff?
I think policy-wise it's a wash. They're both going to be party-line Democrats (i.e. none of this Joe Manchin stuff). They both have leadership qualities that they displayed in the House - Schiff during the impeachment hearings and Porter with her whiteboard. My wife and I split our votes for them. If you want to vote tactically to best take advantage of the top two primary system, if you look at the polls, you may find a reason to pick one or the other. Here's an LA Times article with polling information (it was not behind a paywall for me): https://www.latimes.com/california/...imary-creates-twists-and-turns-in-senate-race According to this, Schiff leads with 24%, Garvey with 19% and Porter with 18%. The tactical choice depends on your priority - as the article lays out, if Garvey is in the top two, the election in November will be pretty straightforward because Democrats have an immense advantage in statewide elections, so a lot more time and money can go into other races because Garvey will get whipped by whichever Democrat is in the top two with him. However, if the top two is two Democrats, they will compete with each other up through November, causing money to be spent here instead of races in other states.
That's what I've been struggling with. Do I want a Dem vs Dem general? Or do I want a Dem vs GOP general? In the past, I've tended to want Dem vs Dem generals. That suggests I should vote for Porter. But there are other considerations this year, and I'm thinking maybe we'd be better served with the Dem vs GOP non-race in California. So that recommends voting for Schiff. But then I think, a vote for Schiff helps Garvey. And maybe I don't wanna help Garvey. Seems like tactical voting is kind of letting me down this year. What about demographic voting? Perhaps, as a Jewish man, I should vote my fellow tribesman, Adam Schiff. But then I think, as Gen X'er, maybe I should vote for my generational cohort in Katie Porter. Or I could just flip a coin!
I like both Porter and Schiff and policy wise I here is no daylight between them. I would vote Schiff though to avoid he D vs D in the general and the insane amount of resources it would drain.
Here is my 2 cents: Schiff is 63, will be 64 when he wins the election. Porter is 50, and will turn 51 the day she is sworn in. Porter is in a district that was red or purple (I forget) and won. And I think it still is. Schiff is in a safe district. Porter would continue on the tradition of having a female senator from CA. Both are solid policy wise, and both would add quality to the Dem caucus in the Senate. No way Garvey is going to win. Reluctantly, I would vote Schiff.
Have you seen the name of Porter's super PAC? Women Have Initiative To Elect, Boost, and Organize for A Real Democrat (WHITEBOARD) That is awesome.
This reminds me, I didn't actually say why I ultimately voted for Schiff. Because of his leadership in the impeachment, I decided that Donald Trump probably hates Schiff more than he hates Porter.
I was looking at the ads I'm seeing for Schiff and Porter. And the annoying texts I'm getting - apparently, use ActBlue to donate once and you are forever cursed to receive fundraising texts from every goddamn Democrat on the planet. Schiff's ads are all, ******** Steve Garvey. Porter's ads are all, this could be the end of my political career, please help. She's not running for her House seat again, which is a tough one - it's coastal Orange County including a bunch of places like Newport Beach where people were being total assholes about Covid. It's supposedly D+3 but it's going to be close in November - we'll know more after the primary is done next week. I'm sure Porter will be fine - she can do any number of things to fundraise or whatever - but her real gift is embarrassing Republicans with her whiteboard, and she won't be able to do that unless she gets back into Congress at some point in the future. At the same time, we don't need eight months of Schiff and Porter running ads sniping at each other.