This morning I awoke from my slumber and made my way down to the car wash early. In Fresno, ever present construction and agricultural harvesting creates a dusty mess and car maintenance is a must! No sooner had I sat down with my paper and coffee than up walks former Secretary of State Bill Jones, the happiest non Governor and Senator in history. As you may have read in my post earlier this year, Secretary Jones is on the ground floor of a major ethanol deal here in California, and is continuing to farm on the Central Valley’s west side also. Our conversation was brief, but quite interesting, ranging from public service to local government to Iraq and the Middle East to the current ag situation. Bill Jones remains positively one of the finest people to ever serve in California politics and it was great to visit with him.
Former Mayor Jim Patterson was also in the "car wash" crowd. One of the most effective Mayors ever to serve in Fresno, he is considering a run in 2008 for Mayor again and would be the odds on favorite to win should he decide to run. And while he did alienate a significant number of business types in the local area during his term, it was mostly for being "too conservative" in the eyes of the business community. In GOP politics today, being "too conservative" is not one of our problems. The Mayor indicated to me that his decision to run or not run in 2008 would be made in a few days.
Finally, I found the article on the California Attorney General’s race to be quite interesting this morning. On the down ticket races, polls taken in July or early August are simply name id polls – nothing more. The dynamics of the down ticket races have not changed – its all about name id at this point. If the Governor does well at the top several of our candidates will run strong, including Chuck Poochigian.