** CALIFORNIA VOTER TURNOUT HIGHER THAN SUPPOSED. On election day and night — only three weeks ago, although it seems much longer — several people asked me if the turnout would be over 50%. The answer, of course, was of course. But for some time it looked lower, and quite a few people, many of them on a losing campaign or two, went on about this as though it somehow justified their losing. “Schwarzenegger may have won big,” this sentiment went, “but only 35% turned out in Orange County in the lowest statewide turnout ever.” Many thought statewide turnout would be under 50%. But they, perhaps, forgot that nearly half the voters vote by mail now.
Actually, California voter turnout hit 54%, with more votes to count. Orange County is over 50%. It’s not exactly a proud achievement in democracy, but it’s substantially better than the barely more than 50% showings of the 2002 gubernatorial election and the 2005 special election. Considering that the outcome of the governor’s race had been fairly obvious for a few months, Republicans were mortified by their party’s Washington corruption scandals, the stunning disaster of Iraq, and mostly weak candidates, and Democrats confronted with an epically bad campaign at the top of the statewide ticket were left to push an oil tax initiative as a base mobilization device, the turnout is turning out to be not half bad.
** BUSH STIRS IT UP BEFORE FIRST EVER NATO SUMMIT ON EX-SOVIET SOIL. President George W. Bush, arriving in Eastern Europe prior to this week’s first ever NATO summit on former Soviet soil, is offering US help in settling disputes between former Soviet states and Russia. No word on how that is playing in Moscow.
** HASTINGS OUT OF HOUSE INTEL CHAIR MIX. Fox News just reported that Florida Congressman Alcee Hastings will get the word in a meeting this afternoon with incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he will not be the new chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. Hastings, a favorite of the Congressional Black Caucus, thought he had the nod from Pelosi. But his status as one of only a few federal judges tossed out of office made his appointment a PR disaster.
** Monitor computer memory prices on a daily basis.
** Track global and national energy prices in near real time via Bloomberg. Crude oil prices drifted up to around $61 per barrel on forecasts of a lingering Arctic air mass over North America and a possible OPEC move to set a $60 floor on price.
Read 
| Comments (32) |
At least we know Pelosi hasn’t completely lost it.
Smart move on Pelosi’s part–when you have a p.r. fiasco on your hands cut your losses and move on PDQ.
Will she do the smart thing and appoint Jane Harman?
Oh she was never going to do it…she telegraphed that in every interview she had CNN and Fox …and Rahm Emanuel was stressing both in memos and conversations that ethics and lobbying reform were important to this year’s success and to future success…there are several candidates who can hold that position just look at the sub committees on Intelligence Policy , Terrorism & Counterintelligence , Homeland security etc…
I just got an e-mail alert from John Edwards to sign a petition via internet to “Urge President Bush to lead the effort to create a NATO force to stop the genocide in Darfur now!” everyone please consider going to his One America site and sign it!.
Just what does a “nod from Pelosi” get you these days?
It gets you clobbered in the Recall. (Ask Cruz) It gets you clobbered in the General. (Ask Phil)
You can chalk those two pick up to bad luck, if you’re the generous type. But here’s the thing, Pelosi should have made her pick, made it stick and move on.
The longer this kind of palace intrigue goes on, the more oxygen it gives to “Democratic dithering” and the more it serves to lessen the glare on Bush.
well, Hastings cannot be very happy to learn this via Fox news…I wonder if that is true?…he must know already…that is Fox trying to rabble-rouse…
Didn’t you just say six minutes earlier Hastings was never going to get the chairmanship?
True…and he wasn’t …that does not mean that he understand that …or his Black Caucus colleagues…in any event the way Fox presente dit …it was to make Nancy look bad…they are determined to make their viewers see her in a negative light
George W. Bush, peacemaker. That is rich!
I am afraid that Ms. Pelosi has done far more to make Fox TV viewers see her in a negative light than Fox ever could.
I don’t See Pelosi in a negative light.
One of the hardest things in politics (and life) is to tell your friends “no”, especially when the decision is entirely in your control. Pelosi did the right thing this time, but we will see in the months ahead if she can keep her surly “Old Bull” committee chairs on the cooperation message point.
Hemlock: “I am afraid that Ms. Pelosi has done far more to make Fox TV viewers see her in a negative light than Fox ever could.”
I agree with Carole.
That seems unfair. I just reviewed her legislative record and her statement on issues…They tell me she is liberal…that is not a dirty word to me anymore than conservative is…there is nothing there to make her seem like she along with San Fran are aliens from another planet and a threat to the Nation …which is the Fox News take.
Bierko appears to be saying she is not the brightest “political mind” around…which if correct that could mean that she may not be able to get important legislation thru…that is not good..but it TOO SOON to say that she will not be a good Speaker…and no matter what she does, she will be better than Hasteret, that I am sure of!…it was intolerable where the Reeps were taking us.
Power rises towards the top, and as it does it becomes greater, so the way in which power is exercised has to be changed to match. If she can make this adjustment she will be fine.
I just got my C-Span alert!!! …Litvinenko poisoning (Bierko should like that one!)
remember times are EST!!!
“C-SPAN Highlights
Tonight:11/28
* Newt Gingrich Address at “Politics and Eggs” Breakfast (8pm)
* Fed Chairman Bernanke on the U.S. Economic Outlook (9pm)
* British Home Secretary on Litvinenko Poisoning (9:30pm)
* Palestinian Journalist Mohammed Omer on Situation in Gaza (10:05pm)
Tomorrow:11/29
* U.S. House: In Recess Until Dec. 5
* Release of Report on Video Games (11am) – LIVE
* Panel Discussion on Supreme Court Global Warming Case (12:15pm) – LIVE
Tomorrow: C-Span-2
* U.S. Senate: In Recess Until Dec. 5
* British House of Commons Prime Minister’s Questions (7am) – LIVE
* Discussion on ’06 Elections & ’08 Presidential Elections (9am) – LIVE
Hey Carole!!!
take a look at this! …(see: below)
to heck with Sacto Arnold’s galas… we should go to DC for Nancy’s big 3 days! Maybe your Firemen have some “In” with Nancy’s staff! If not, I should try to find a DC boyfriend real quick! Gosh, it would be fun to be in DC for Nancy’s events! I bought a perfect dress in NY over Thanksgiving that would be great for the Italian Embassy dinner!
“The two-day extravaganza, beginning Jan. 3, features a “women’s tea,” cocktails and dinner at the Italian Embassy (she’s of Italian descent), a swearing-in brunch with a view of the ceremony, plus a concert and reception in her honor.
But that’s not all – those are just the events planned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pelosi’s office is planning a slew of other events, but won’t reveal the details.”
Speaker-elect Pelosi ain’t no dummy. She knows what time it is.
However, Democrats in Washington truly believe they won this year because their ideas were better. Sorry, thats wrong.
Newsflash: The Dems got over the top cause the Republicans covered up the fact that Mark Foley is a dirtball pedophile.
There ain’t any greater mystery than that about 2006.
Now, Speaker-elect Pelosi has a choice. Does she do a Newt Gingrich and keep on fighting the ideological fights or does she do what Gingrich failed to do — that is, start governing from the middle and not from ideology.
You see, Gingrich made a series of tactical political errors in 1996. He stayed to the hard right and tracked with the religious conservatives and ignored his instinct to govern instead of attack.
He remained, in effect, the attack-dog Minority Whip instead of becoming the governing Speaker of the House.
As a result, Clinton and the Democrats, for all of their failings, stepped on his head repeatedly and made his legacy a complete disaster. And, I would argue, it lead, in some part, to the events of November 2006.
It was also that period of time that meant the difference between the Reeps holding power for 40 years and losing it in 12.
Governing in America is hard work. We represent so many political sizes, shapes and colors. To date, we have the largest number of independent voters in our history. These folks are what turns America and keeps us a democracy.
Pelosi understands this but is being pulled apart by both sides. She needs to adopt the advice that Sam Rayburn offered following his party return to power after the 1952 elections. He, in effect, said that the Democrats will govern from the middle by making sure EVERYONE gets a piece of the agenda.
Rayburn understood how this country functioned and made every possible effort to see that political power within party was defused — ensuring that no one factioned gained total control. That way, Rayburn figured, he could force compromise and create real legislative authority within the Congress– interestingly enough, where the Constitution says it belongs.
Speakers who came after Rayburn, including the venerable Tip O’Neil, kept that tradition going forward. Speaker O’Neil had great, very astute people around him — like Chris Matthews (yes, that Chris Matthews of Hardball fame.). And ONeil was a pretty successful Speaker of the House.
Nancy Pelosi, in spite of what the fool Sean Hannity, et.al. say, is no San Francisco liberal. She is from a politically pragmatic, yet forward thinking family from Baltimore. She still thinks like those same back-east politicians — no matter what ANYONE tells you. She is smart, capable and the Republicans should not underestimate her. She raises money like a Wall Street banker and thinks five steps ahead of everyone else.
What she needs now, more than ever, is a political consiligiere of the same, moderate, pragmatic stripe to run her political operation. That person, whomever she chooses, has to be astute as to the ways of Washington as well as to how to make the message heard and understood by that important “middle” voter. Having that person is the linchpin to her future success.
To her credit, Nancy already knows this and she has told her colleagues to be pragmatic. Example: Barney Frank, George Miller, etc. have already said so-called “large liberal items” won’t be on the agenda in their respective Committees the next Congress. Charlie Rangel is calling for a draft — further squeezing the Republicans by triangulating them on a key issue — the war.
I guess folks, in the end, in comes down to this. Nancy Pelosi has reached the pinnacle of her career. But there is more she can and should do. She has the chance to retrench the Democrats in Congress for next few decades. She has the chance to make America more a reflection of what she truly is –rather than the negative image the soon to be former Republican majority allowed our nation to become.
But to do so, she can’t act like a member of the minority party. She has to govern like a Speaker — and governing this nation, as I said, is damn hard work.
P.S. The story I heard is that Harman will get the Intelligence Chair in spite of the issues she and Pelosi are supposedly having. Personally, I think its the staff having issues with each other rather than the two women. A good political consigiliere would be able to solve these problems in advance.
BTW, Hastings will get a key subcommittee on Intelligence or chair of another Committee.
I take back the Harman thing…CNN is saying Pelosi told both of them no.
I now predict Norm Dicks from Washington State will get it.
CADTS:”Nancy Pelosi, in spite of what the fool Sean Hannity, et.al. say, is no San Francisco liberal. She is from a politically pragmatic, yet forward thinking family from Baltimore. She still thinks like those same back-east politicians — no matter what ANYONE tells you. She is smart, capable and the Republicans should not underestimate her. She raises money like a Wall Street banker and thinks five steps ahead of everyone else.
What she needs now, more than ever, is a political consiligiere of the same, moderate, pragmatic stripe to run her political operation…. Having that person is the linchpin to her future success”
CADTS.. Good to hear!Great Stuff !…when she picks whoever it is for the “political consiligiere” please come back and tell us! I bet you are going to DC for all the parties! especially that Italian Embassy party! Lucky Girl!!!!
Mr. Bradley,
You should provide a link to your Gray Davis portrait article!….I think you wrote it around this time last year! It was so funny so wonderful…it was the first thing that I had ever read by you ! Toodles!
Barbara,
Just saw your comment, I would love to go to D.C…(don’t laugh)…I have never been to the east coast (exception) …Florida.
CNN reported that before, they better be wrong because Pelosi should name Harman.
Carole,
Well then you must just look those Firefighter Union guys in the eye and tell them they owe you big time !…for Westly, Prop 87 …and you don’t care how they do it but they have to find you invitations to Nancy’s parties …then you GO GIRL!…I have to go now take my dogs to the dog park right now ! Shoot! we should all go to DC for the parties! Gosh this is terrible, I don’t even know any Dem guys! Now where is Tommy Boy? …I wonder if he is going to the Nancy’s DC parties? Toodles!
CADTS!
You are wonderful!
CADTS, hmmm. Some good points there, especially on the cause of the Democratic “wave” nationally, though you did leave out Iraq.
…Just saw a trailer for “The Good Shepherd”…can’t wait to see it. Does anyone have any comments on the story? Is the movie based on a real person?
I think it’s a roman a clef, a fictionalized version of the James Angleton story.
CADTS you have posted some great thoughts….I basically agree with all of them but have some doubts if she will live up to them….you are totally correct in that they won because of the Foley incident and the fact they got nothing accomplished and earmarked themselves out of the majority…both parties should heed what the voters said….it will be interesting to see if they do
Merci
You’re welcome. Angleton was the longtime CIA chief of counterintelligence. The man saw many moles, not all of whom were there.
Years ago there was a fascinating documentary that ran on PBS about Angelton. It gave a peek at the shadowy world of intelligence during the height of the cold war, where logic often could be turned on its head. In the end Angelton became entangled in his own house of mirrors view of the world, and ironically was investigated as whether he himself was a mole.
In other words, he drove himself insane.
Thanks for posting, i was thinking about you the other day.