** TRACKS. Trailing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides campaigned today with Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer, LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. Meanwhile, outstanding questions at the top of the ticket: Which will have the bigger victory margin? Arnold ’03 or Arnold ’06? Arnold Schwarzenegger for Governor or Jerry Brown for Attorney General?
** Former President Bill Clinton stars in his third TV ad for Proposition 87, the oil extraction tax for alternative fuels research. “Think of the children with asthma, they’re paying the price for our addiction to oil,” he says, in this second ad drawn from his LA rally speech before a crowd of 5000.
Clinton appears again in California for Prop 87 on Wednesday at 5 PM in a rally in front of San Francisco City Hall. The oil industry has already spent over $75 million to defeat Prop 87. Proponents have raised under $50 million, $43.5 million from Hollywood producer Steve Bing.
UPDATE: Steve Bing has just contributed another $6 million to Yes on 87, bringing his total to $49.5 million. Google co-founder Sergey Brin just kicked in $1 million, matching the $1 million Google co-founder Larry Page contributed earlier. On the other side, the oil companies are now up to $85 million for No on 87.
** Hunter for President. No, not the TV detective played by former Rams great defensive end Fred Dryer, this is San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter, current chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He announced today that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2008. Hunter, a strong advocate of the border fence and former ally of disgraced former Congressman Duke Cunningham, would be a distinct longshot in the race and has not previously figured in presidential speculations. He was swept into office in the Reagan presidential landslide of 1980. If Democrats take the House next week, as many expect, Hunter will lose his powerful committee chairmanship.
UPDATE: The start of Schwarzenegger’s webcast from the Reagan Library has been delayed an hour. It is now scheduled to begin at 11:45 AM.
** Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will deliver an address, webcast live today at 10:45AM, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the election of Ronald Reagan as governor of California. The event takes place at the Reagan Library. Reagan was a significantly more moderate figure as governor than many suppose.
** Outspoken liberal actor Alec Baldwin, who after starrring in the smash hit The Hunt For Red October, gave up the lead role in the Jack Ryan technothriller franchise to do a play, has dramatically disavowed a new documentary about Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger that he narrates. On the Huffington Post he writes that he was very troubled by the loaded way in which images are presented, most notably Nazi images associated with Schwarzenegger. The producers say the film will be re-edited so that Hitler will be replaced by Mussolini. Much better …
** John Garamendi and John Chiang, the embattled Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor and state controller, respectively, are holding press conferences today to hit their opponents. Garamendi will be in San Francisco at noon, appearing with California Institute for Regenerative Medicine chairman Robert Klein and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to criticize Republican Tom McClintock for his opposition to stem cell research and point out that the lieutenant governor gets five appointees to the oversight committee for California’s landmark stem cell research program. Chiang will be criticizing Republican nominee Tony Strickland for his heavy backing from casino tribes seeking favorable tax treatment.
CORRECTION: John Chiang is actually going after Intuit, the software giant and maker of TurboTax. Present at the press conference will be Stanford Professor Joe Bankman, the originator of the ReadyReturn program that Intuit is trying to kill by spending $1 million in the state controller’s race.
** 2:15 PM UPDATE: A high-ranking source says tax software leader Intuit is now up around $2 million in its independent expenditure drive to defeat John Chiang and elect Tony Strickland as California state controller.
** Track global and national energy prices in near real time via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices are sliding below sixty dollars a barrel on continued speculation that OPEC production cuts will be less than advertised.
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| Comments (39) |
Why do so many ahistorical liberals cry “Nazi” in politics? It is such a hack mentality to do so, not unlike filmmakers of the past who made Nazis stock characters in their B-movies, draining the Nazi label of all meaning.
But HITLER is being replaced by MUSSOLINI.
That makes a big difference because Mussolini was a Fascist, not a Nazi …
You can’t make this stuff up.
NWN:”John Garamendi and John Chiang, the embattled Democratic nominees for lieutenant governor and state controller, respectively, are holding press conferences today to hit their opponents”
Good! Good !Good! …stem cell research, casino tribes seeking favorable tax treatment…..important issues that will resonate with voters!…
That’s the documentary La Times said was “EDGY” but not NEGATIVE. lol
Actually, John Chiang is going after Intuit. Present at the press conference with his will be Stanford Prof. Joe Bankman, the originator of the ReadyReturn program that Intuit is trying to kill by spending $1 million in the Controller’s race.
Thanks for the correction, I’ll update the front page.
John Chiang is going after Intuit..
Even better!… especially since certain DEMS want to pound away at this “Indians targeting Asian Americans, Indians as racist theme…” Ridiculous,very counter productive!…Just TERRIBLE!…
Dang, now I gotta look out for a Nazi Governor and Indians!! Indians ARE targetting Asians. Look at the casinos, they’re always filled with Asians. This will all be over in a few days. Serenity now, Serenity now.
Actually, an Asian-American boycott of the six casino tribes involved with “Team 2006″ is being seriously considered.
Re:The boycott…
Well aware of that it is all over the news …the Asian-American community is very pluralistic….many DTS voters and REEPS …John Chiang does not need this to be the focus of his race…he is wonderful for the job …no one is hearing THAT..with all this noise…The Dems wait forever to help him then this…get him on the air in SF and LA with decent ADS…where’s Westly ?cant Westly form an IE for more ADS? Afterall the Ready Return was his baby….and Strickland will undo everything he as done…
Then you know that people are being motivated by hard economic and political interests, rather than a Dances With Wolves sort of multicultural sensibility.
I’m so glad daddy gave lil’Stevie all that money so he can tell us dumb ol’folks what to do (and all the folks that kowtow to him) with all that bad California oil.
Duncan Hunter for President? huh?? he must be angling for a Cabinet spot or long shot VP nominee at the next GOP convention.
I say, RICK Hunter for President!
I would guess that over the years Intuit has built up a mailing list (both snail-mail and email addresses) of at least a couple of million California taxpayers who use their products. I wonder if they will draw upon the (presumed) good will that their Quicken and Turbo-Tax brands have established to send out a last-minute pitch to their list on behalf of Tony Strickland?
If they did so, I suspect it would have a much more powerful impact than John Chiang’s press conference attacking them.
I use TurboTax. It’s a good product.
I’m not sure that’s the issue, however.
John Chiang going after Intuit is important…as this is a fight about corporate greed Vs Customer service and John Chiang is a great advocate for the taxpayer here:
From day one, when Controller Westly introduced the “Ready Return” there was opposition from the business sector that prepares tax returns …everyone asked: why is the FTB getting into the tax preparation business?
It is a simple answer…”good government”. More and more, those of us who work in government are asked to think of tax payers as “customers”… so how to provide customer satisfaction, quality of services, quality of products, now drive many of our government policy decisions in operations. The pilot program showed that the Ready Return was popular with Taxpayers/customers….Assembly Bill 2905 (Frommer) would have expanded the Ready Return pilot program …the bill died in the Assembly in June 2006 due to Intuit’s lobbying efforts….
It is important for voters to understand that the tribe money potentially compromises Strickland who will be not only crafting tax policy but also as Controller adjudicates on tax disputes…..and that in a John Chiang led administration, you have an uncompromised candidate, the tribes casino gambling tax interests will not get preferential treatment…
This is a matter of corporate, business special interest politics NOT race, so when you run around charging the “Indians are targeting Asian Americans” , your legitimate arguments get lost in the “race” charges which most people will view utter nonsense.
The tired “Corporate Greed” mantra-
Having served for nearly seven years in state government information technology management in California and in Massachusetts, I have always been rather skeptical about government agencies spending taxpayer funds to wander into the private sector business arena. My initial introduction to this phenomenon involved state governments building huge government owned networks for state agency use, then when under-utilized, offering broadband to businesses, competing with private carriers. Wi-Fi is the latest such battleground.
I also remember California state government venturing into this area some 10 years ago when tax preparation systems were first envisioned by FTB. These systems did not come cheaply nor without implementation problems over the next decade. We have seen the state face serious challenges when attempting to implement internal systems for DMV, child support or the Department of Corrections. Embarking on a ReadyReturn pilot for less than 1/3 of 1 % of state taxpayers seem harmless, but takes the state down a slippery slope which will surly not end there. Painting Intuit, a real Silicon Valley success story with terrific tax return application at a nominal cost to the public, as a nefarious corporate entity because it wants to protect its future and its 7,000 employees’ jobs seems a bit harsh.
I know you’re no fan of robo polls, Bill, but there’s a new Rasmussen poll out in Va. which puts Webb ahead of Sen. Macaca, 51-46. The same Rasmussen poll that had Webb losing by 2 points a week ago. And there’s a Garin-Hart poll out now which shows Webb up 47-43.
It looks like the tide is running out on Allen and he must know it. Maybe that’s why he tried that desperation crap last week about Webb’s novels. It would be really great to see it backfire – we can only hope…
Right, and Rasmussen has Arnold up over Phil now, 53-40. Funny, no more Angelides spinners and they’re not pushing that.
I’ll be back to Senate races tomorrow.
Since this is a non-random thread…
National Journal hotline has posted results of a DSCC-commissioned poll showing Jim Webb pulling ahead of Allen among likelys. (Sampling spanned 10/26-29, and Allen dropped the Novelgate non-bomb on the 27th, so its impact if any should show up here?)
Bill, what do you know about this polling outfit and the reliability of their methodology?
2. Webb Leads, According To Dem Poll:In VA, a Garin Hart Yang Research Group (D) poll; conducted 10/26-29 for the DSCC; surveyed 811 LVs; margin of error +/- 3.5% (release, 10/30). Tested: Sen. George Allen (R) and ex-Navy Sec. Jim Webb (D). Note: “W/Lnrs” denotes leaners included.
General Election Matchup
All W/Lnrs
Webb 43% 47%
Allen 38 43
Other/undec 19 10
I see Tim beat me to it while I was trying to decide whether to spell it “likelys” or “likelies”….
JTFlynn:”Painting Intuit, a real Silicon Valley success story with terrific tax return application at a nominal cost to the public, as a nefarious corporate”
“nominal cost” is how middle class voters might see it ..if you are low -income wage earner,no computer, perhaps have stressful or a chaotic lifestyle (divorce, illness, etc.) so that you risk missing filing deadline …you welcome this program!….in the end it is depends much on your “view of role of government” many taxpayers felt this was just the sort of program government, especially a tax authority should offer especially to low-income wage earners as it proved convenient and saved them money…
The Senate races are very exciting, I saw a poll that shows the “RURAL VOTE IS UP FOR GRABS!” …which is very important in Missouri, TN and Va …unfortunately Harold Ford is screwing up a bit in Tn …but who knows, maybe all three Dems willpull through!
Daniel,
As a user of Turbo Tax, should I receive anything political from them I will never again use their product. In fact, given what they are doing, it’s a good bet I won’t use their product again.
ReadyReturn is a good concept and should be expanded. I only hope that Intuit’s attempt to purchase a Controller blows up in their face.
Government should make it as easy as possible for citizens to obey the law, including the payment of taxes. As a convenience to the many taxpayers using computers, the FTB should offer a free way to file taxes over the Internet, just as the DVM does for auto registrations. If Intuit can add value for the taxpayer above the electronic filing, then they would have every right to charge more for those who choose to pay.
Sorry, no technology monopoly for Intuit for this government function. Whose tax collection process is it any way??
Wilbur, that’s a good polling firm.
I’ll be getting back into Senate races et al tomorrow.
Also more on the down ballot.
And on the shapes of things to come at the top ranks.
Solon,
Obviously Intuit would have to do a cost-benefit analysis to decide whether enough customers feel the way you do and would stop using their product versus the additional votes for Strickland that a mailing to their customers might generate. I expect that they’ve already done a similar analysis regarding their $2 million (or more) Independent Expenditure contribution on Strickland’s behalf. In that case they’ve clearly decided that the number of people like you whose business they would lose was tolerably small compared to the business they could potentially lose to ReadyReturn.
Although I still use Quicken, I switched from TurboTax to H&R Block’s TaxCut software back in 2002 when Intuit tried to install Digital Rights Management controls which limited TurboTax’s flexibility. I let Intuit’s upper management know what I thought of that decision, and received some very conciliatory replies and an eventual apology after public pressure forced them to back down. But now that I’ve switched, I have no strong reason to switch back.
So send Intuit an angry email, and get others to do the same, if you’re that unhappy about their actions. With only a week left, it’s probably too late to effect their actions in this race, but maybe they’ll think twice in the future if enough customers object.
I personally disagree with you about ReadyReturn, but I won’t try to get into that since this isn’t a forum for debating its merits. NWN is about politics.
Arnold 06 by more than Arnold 03. Jerry Brown by more than Schwarzeneger.
Daniel,
Good response. Thanks. And totally agree that this is about politics not RR.
Enjoy your evening.
Ann,
Hope this doesn’t ruin your evening, but we are in complete agreement!
Put my ballot in the mail yesterday. Now I’ve just got to sit back and wait. Anybody have any good wine?
Wow, a new special interest: Californians for an Unnecessarily Complex Tax System. This group, CUCTS, apparently supports Strickland.
I’m usually a pretty reliable republican voter, but with this Intuit thing and the tribe casino thing, Strickland is OUT. OUT, OUT, OUT!
Speaking of IEs, corruption,buying elections etc…
I just came across this Associated Press/Mercury News/by Juliet Williams article which just came online…the article is about Phil and his relationship with Angelo Tsakopoulos. Mr.T, is of course a major reason why we were stuck with Phil as the Dem candidate due to his funding of the 9-10 million so-called IE for Phil last March. he was also giving funds to Doolittle!… with so much at stake in taking back the House… CIRA ,the War, minimum wage… and Mr. T who “Sacramento Magazine” called Mr. Democrat, any amount of funds for Doolittle is too much!
“This spring, Tsakopoulos also gave $4,200 to Republican Rep. John Doolittle, of Rocklin, a conservative who is among the GOP incumbents being targeted this fall by Democrats. The family controls land in Doolittle’s district.”
Assoc. press /Merc News/Juliet Williams
Ann I agree with you re Arnold but not with Brown who will win but not by more than Arnold…I’ve said all along Arnold will win by 20 points and I don’t think the turnout will get Brown’s numbers up that high…just my nickel…SS I have some great pinot grigio from TJ’s….only 1 glass for me tonight though..Bill hope you had a wonderful weekend and I eagerly await your take on the Senate races, etc….
I think intuit has learned the lesson of spammer Bill Jones and won’t contact everyone on their mailing list.
Clues coming on the Arnold ’03 vs. Arnold ’06 and Arnold vs. Jerry victory margin questions.
Jillian,
Thanks. Found a lovely bottle of Bogle Petit Sirah laying around and was forced to remove the cork. Like you, I allowed myself only one glass. And, given the excellent of the product, that was hard to do.
Finding that I like a lot of the wines produced by the fine folk at Bogle. Very drinkable and quite affordable.
Might just be the winning candidate for my wine of choice on election night.
Bill…sorry for digressing from politics. But, unlike oil and water, wine and politics do mix!
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Alison Kirk…
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