Free Republic

The redrawn congressional district that stretches along the Pacific Ocean from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border is a political world like no other. The open seat vacated by retiring Democratic Rep. Lynn Woolsey of Petaluma is one of the few places in the United States where all but the two Republican candidates are running to the left of President Obama.For the eight Democrats and two left-leaning candidates who decline to state a party preference, the district is a progressive sanctuary where longtime Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart headlines a fundraiser and campaign trail visits from liberal icons...

Study Reveals Most Popular Cars Of Each Major Political Party Marketing research company Strategic Vision recently completed a study that sought to identify what new vehicles found the most favor with Democrats and Republicans. After 38,000 responses the study revealed some rather interesting results. The most popular vehicle of those who self identified as members of Republican Party was the not so conservative Ford Mustang Convertible, followed by the Audi A8, Mercedes GL, Ford Expedition and Ford F-150. In fact it seems convertibles are a big hit with members of the Grand Old Party, who were responsible for 69% of...

Surf. Sun. Disneyland. What’s not to love about California? Well, apparently, a lot of things. In a poll released Tuesday by the Public Policy Polling, California was the least popular state in the United States. Only 27 percent of Americans hold a favorable view of the Golden State compared to the 44 percent who view it unfavorably. “There’s this arrogance about Californians,” said Patrick Dorinson, a radio host in California who refers to himself as the Cowboy Libertarian. “Californians still think it’s this great star. It’s a tarnished star at this point.” The gap of 17 points puts California far...

With the race for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination in increasing disarray, Democratic President Obama has significantly strengthened his hand in California, where his margin over his strongest GOP challenger, Mitt Romney, has doubled in the past three months, a new Field Poll shows. Obama leads the former Massachusetts governor by 20 percentage points, 55-35, in the nation's most-populous state. Independent voters, who will be critical in the November election, prefer the president 59 to 27 percent, the poll found. The president has an even more commanding lead - of 28 points - over former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania,...

PEORIA -- Caterpillar Inc. will not be building its new North American plant anywhere in the state of Illinois, officials with the company told local leaders Tuesday, with part of the reason being continued concerns about the business climate in the state. The company will instead focus on a location closer to its division headquarters in Cary, N.C., Peoria County officials were told in an email sent to them shortly after the close of business and later obtained by the Journal Star. The plant stood to bring with it from Japan roughly 1,000 jobs manufacturing track-type tractors and mini hydraulic...

While blue California is almost certain to go for President Barack Obama come November, California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro sees opportunity for the GOP to be a major force from the presidential race down.Del Beccaro laid out his strategy and expectations for the 2012 election in a Wednesday interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau.>Can the Republican Party play at all against Obama in California? The Republican Party historically in California has sent money to other states. So we do have an impact, regardless of whether this particular state is in play. … It will look like a competitive...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt once said that “There is nothing I love as much as a good fight.” If so, he would’ve hated where the House is headed for the next decade, because by and large it likely won’t have all that many good fights. Instead of looking at the House through the competitive races, consider instead the uncompetitive races — the large number of seats that should be safe for one party or the other for the foreseeable future. Based on the latest Crystal Ball ratings, less than one in four of the 435 House seats will be competitive next...

The new congressional, legislative and Board of Equalization districts drawn by an independent commission made a long-evident political reality official: California, once a Republican bastion, is now solidly, even overwhelmingly, Democratic. Democrats will control the Legislature – with two-thirds majorities in reach – and the congressional delegation. And while it may not be impossible for a Republican to win statewide office, as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Steve Poizner demonstrated, it's at best unlikely, even when lavishly self- financed, à la Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina. California's most important political contests will either be over the state's biennial spate of ballot measures,...

For the first time in state history, an independent group of citizens has redrawn California's political districts, approving a set of maps this morning that are expected to help Democrats garner more power in the solidly blue state. The 14-member Citizens Redistricting Commission approved new district boundaries for the state Assembly, Senate and Board of Equalization on a 13-1 vote, with one Republican - Michael Ward of Anaheim - opposing the lines. Another Republican member, Jodie Filkins Webber of Norco, joined Weber to vote against the Congressional boundaries. In a written statement, Weber charged that the commission broke the law...

A federal jury in New Orleans on Friday handed down all guilty verdicts on 25 counts in the infamous Danziger Bridge shooting case, in which current and former New Orleans police officers were charged with civil rights violations, conspiracy charges, and weapons charges in the shooting deaths of unarmed civilians following Hurricane Katrina. In the infamous debacle in the chaotic days after the 2005 storm, police allegedly opened fire on a group that was crossing the bridge out of town, then lied after the fact, saying they had been fired upon and planting a gun on one of the victims....

Gov. Jerry Brown and his fellow Democrats in the Legislature were frustrated this year in seeking a few Republican votes to close the state's budget deficit by asking voters to approve billions of dollars in tax extensions. Support from at least two Republicans in both legislative houses was needed for the two-thirds majorities required to pass the special election constitutional amendment that Brown and Democrats sought. As the months-long talks collapsed, the Democrats said they'd try to pick up enough seats in the 2012 elections to secure two-thirds margins, thereby cutting the GOP out of future tax issues. And the...

The Obama re-elect campaign has released a list of its top bundlers -- think big-money donors who also arm-twist their pals into giving -- and no surprise, roughly a quarter of the $34 miiiiiiiiiiiiilllion raised this way came from California. Of the 244 individuals who have harvested millions for The O re-elect, 56 were from California. Any wonder why the guy visits so often? And we thought it was because of the views...

....Four years ago, in an effort to increase the region's influence during the presidential campaign, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia held their nominating votes on the same Tuesday in February, creating what came to be known as the "Potomac primary." Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain won in Maryland en route to capturing their parties' nominations. But under pressure from the national parties, the Maryland General Assembly moved the 2012 primary back to April. The later date will also help elections officials comply with a new federal law giving military and overseas voters more time to receive and...

San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris claimed victory in the hard fought race for state attorney general today, the deadline for counties to finish counting votes. "We did it," said the Democrat, who will be the state's first female, first African-American and first Indian-American attorney general when she is sworn in next month. Speaking in front of a room full of supporters in Los Angeles, Harris listed tackling mortgage fraud, the state's 70 percent recidivism rate, environmental issues and civil rights as some of her priorities.

Consider this factoid of California political history: In the last 70 years, just one governor finished his term of office and handed it off to someone of the same party. Voters' habit of switching parties in gubernatorial elections has created a cycle. While governors must work with the Legislature to achieve their policy goals, they can unilaterally veto bills and appropriations. Thus, while liberal interest groups can usually achieve their aims in a reliably Democratic Legislature, they are often thwarted by a Republican governor's vetoes, creating a pent-up agenda that bursts forth when a Democratic governor is installed. We saw...

Los Angeles Democrat and Assemblyman Kevin de León, who played a key role in galvanizing Latino voters for Jerry Brown, said this week he's expecting the new governor to be "honest, transparent with all of us. And I expect him to be compassionate." "On election night, the Latinos in California provided a huge lift to Jerry Brown," said de León, who's pictured at right. "And now Latinos expect him to help get California back to work. Latinos have been disproportionately hit by the recession." Then there's an estimated $12 billion to $15 billion budget deficit -- and what to do...

alifornia Republicans woke up Wednesday with a political hangover. Nationally, they celebrated the GOP's taking control of Congress, but their dismal showing in California gave them a lingering headache. Many of them wondered how they missed the national wave - and differed on which direction to go next. They lost nearly every statewide office, drubbed by double digits in most of the races. Meg Whitman couldn't win the governorship despite straddling the political middle and spending a record $160 million. Carly Fiorina couldn't roust Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, despite tacking right and exploiting Boxer's low approval ratings.For months, party officials...

Sacramento's Dave Jones emerged the winner Wednesday in a high-dollar battle to be California's insurance commissioner, becoming one of six Democrat victors in the seven down-ticket races for statewide offices. The seventh race is a political cliffhanger for attorney general hopefuls Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and Republican Steve Cooley. Hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots haven't yet been counted, and the race for the state's top law enforcer is tight enough that the late votes will determine the outcome. Regardless of that race's result, the down-ticket balloting confirmed that California is a solidly Democratic state. "The Republicans in California had...

It's November 3, 2010. You think you are waking up to a sunny California morning only to realize it's a dark, dark day. Jerry Brown is governor, Gavin Newsom is lieutenant governor, Kamala Harris is attorney general, and the rest of the Democrat ticket has prevailed. California is going to be controlled by San Francisco politics. Got your attention now? Tea Party folks have brought a refreshing candor to the conservative scene, demanding from conservative candidates a return to conservative principles. But we don't live in a perfect world. And in California, we live in a deeply skewed political landscape...

Blue-state Connecticut has undergone a jolting metamorphosis over the past three years, with potential ramifications for the Senate contest between Linda McMahon and Richard Blumenthal. Many residents have become a lot more like red-state Texans than blue-state New Englanders. Now, they're enthusiastic supporters of the death penalty and are fond of handguns and shotguns. It's all due to a horrific home invasion in 2007 in the affluent town of Cheshire, a New Haven suburb. Chilling details of the "Cheshire Murders," as they're known, have played out in a New Haven courtroom this fall during the first of two trials. Now,...