Whew! The most actively contested California presidential primary election in decades is over. Candidates Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton and Bernard Sanders were ubiquitous for a month, logging thousands of miles and dozens of rallies. New voters registered by the hundreds of thousands. It meant little in the end because of abysmal timing. Millions of Californians ended up voting in the … Read More

It seemed almost too good to be true when Republican state Sen. Andy Vidak of Hanford authored a bill aiming to keep many ex-legislators from lobbying their former colleagues in Sacramento for three years after their departure. Even better was the surprising response from majority Democrats: Unlike many proposals from Republicans, this idea did not die an instant death upon … Read More

Key questions in the June 7 primary election include not merely who will win in each major party and how many national convention delegates they might net, but also who will vote. That last question might decide the answers to the first two. Before all his opponents dropped out, it seemed that to do well, Republican businessman Donald Trump needed … Read More

You can tell by the television ratings that few are interested in the U.S. Senate primary. The two debates involving five candidates with the highest poll ratings among almost three-dozen aspirants to replace the retiring Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer drew among the smallest audiences of any political gabfests this year. One potential result could be the first really big showcase … Read More

Even before Californians at last start marking absentee ballots this month or begin to think about heading to the polls for the June 7 primary election, many onetime Republicans already had voted with their feet. Just over 400,000 of them. That’s how many fewer Californians were registered as Republicans early this spring compared to eight years ago. By contrast, Democrats … Read More

Nothing like a nice fantasy to keep a person feeling warm at night. Fantasy is what comforts Vermont’s Independent Sen. Bernard Sanders this month, as he insists it will make a big difference if he somehow ekes out a June 7 California primary win over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Reality is that California win or not, Mr. Sanders has … Read More

In more than a year since state Attorney General Kamala Harris declared she is running for the U.S. Senate seat soon to be vacated by retiring Democrat Barbara Boxer, Ms. Harris’s poll numbers have not changed much. She pulled 31 percent in the first public poll, 27 percent and 33 per cent in the two latest surveys. This leaves her … Read More

It was bound to happen once Republican presidential candidates like Donald Trump and Ted Cruz began building their campaigns on a foundation of anti-illegal immigrant rhetoric and policy proposals: Many thousands of legal Latino residents all around the nation began seeking U.S. citizenship so they could become registered voters and cast ballots against either Mr. Cruz or Mr. Trump, should … Read More

The revolving door in Sacramento is decisively alive and well today, but a move is afoot to crimp it a little. Nancy McFadden, chief of staff for Gov. Jerry Brown, is not the first to use the cycle that sends so-called public servants on a continuous and connected path between lobbying and government, but her case is the latest cause … Read More

It takes fewer valid signatures to qualify an initiative for a statewide vote than at any time in the last 20 years – 365,880, almost 150,000 less than just two years ago. Caused by the extreme low turnout in the midterm election of 2014, it has led many so-called experts to assume voters would be dealing with blanket-length ballots this … Read More