There have already been plenty of surprises in the ongoing contest to become the next governor of California, and chances are there will be plenty more.

To understand at least part of the scenario Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will need if he decides to run for governor next year, it helps to go back to 1974.

Ancient Egyptians first observed that only when we eliminate traditions do we discover why they became traditions in the first place.

There's a slowdown all along the Mexican border. Border Patrol agents caught fully 27 percent fewer illegal immigrants trying to sneak into the United States between Nov. 1 and April 30 than during the same six months a year ago.

Call yesterday’s election results a resounding vote of no confidence against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the entire cadre of politicians who run California state government.

There is silence now where once loud huzzahs erupted from medical marijuana advocates in California after U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder signaled this spring that federal authorities no longer will raid or interfere with medipot dispensaries in states where it is legal, so long as users abide by state law.

You might not like the idea of the sales tax, vehicle and income tax increases that would be extended through four years if Prop. 1A passes on Tuesday, May 19.

There's good news and bad news on the higher education front in California these days, but so far the bad news is trumping the good.

First the good news: California high schools over the last few years graduated tens of thousands more students eligible for admission to a University of California or California State University campus than ever before. The 11 percent increase in eligibles is a sign of major progress in the state's elementary and high schools, playing out at the university level.

All over California, protestors against new taxes and big government spending turned out in respectable numbers the other day for “tea parties” decrying tax increases enacted by legislators and Gov. Schwarzenegger in February and the extensions of those taxes contained in Prop. 1A, lead item in the May 19 special election.

You always know politicians are desperate when they begin threatening the voters who elected them.

So it is today in California, where voters are being told that if they don't okay all six statewide ballot propositions before them May 19, they will suffer grave circumstances.