This morning, the dominant headlines in California concerning Presidential politics are the results of a Field Poll that show, among Democrats, Al Gore is the most popular candidate – and he’s not even running. In the absence of the Academy Award winner, Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead.

Also big in the news are all of the fundraising numbers from the Presidential campaigns, which I will touch on in my commentary in about an hour.

In the midst of all of this news, the McCain for President campaign shot out a news release about three minutes ago (see the attachment below) sharing with us that former California legislator JIm Brulte is now onboard with the Arizona Senator’s campaign for the White House. Brulte served as Senate Republican Leader before term-limits brought his legislative career to an end. The Senator is known as a politically savvy pol, and his endorsement is a feather in the cap of McCain’s California campaign.… Read More

Today there is a lot of news to cover… GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a… Read More

Today there is a lot of news to cover… GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail, our ‘virtual’ FR Correspondent John Fund:

Daddy Warbucks

Why did Senator Dianne Feinstein of California suddenly resign as chair of a powerful military appropriations subcommittee last week? That’s the question much of Washington is asking, and liberal government watchdog groups are apparently not going to give her a pass on the issue. They believe her withdrawal is linked to her subcommittee’s allocation of millions of dollars in defense contracts to companies partly owned by her husband.

The story began two months ago when Metro Newspapers, a group of alternative weeklies in northern California,… Read More

California’s education system is struggling – despite billions of dollars and a never ending parade of Legislative quick-fixes, California students continue to fall behind the national averages in almost every academic area. One of the problems with California’s education system is the missmash of special funding (categorical programs) and the gross inequity created by a convoluted state formula for distribution of education dollars. Some schools accomplish a lot despite the inefficient system, but California’s largest school district (the Los Angeles Unified School District) is not one of them. Recently, LAUSD approved a teacher’s contract that creates a $213 million annual shortfall – and they readily admit they have no idea how to pay for it. This is more than just irresponsible budgeting – it should be criminal. Coincidentally, LA Assemblyman Kevin de Leon recently introduced… Read More

California’s education system is struggling – despite billions of dollars and a never ending parade of Legislative quick-fixes, California students continue to fall behind the national averages in almost every academic area. One of the problems with California’s education system is the missmash of special funding (categorical programs) and the gross inequity created by a convoluted state formula for distribution of education dollars. Some schools accomplish a lot despite the inefficient system, but California’s largest school district (the Los Angeles Unified School District) is not one of them. Recently, LAUSD approved a teacher’s contract that creates a $213 million annual shortfall – and they readily admit they have no idea how to pay for it. This is more than just irresponsible budgeting – it should be criminal. Coincidentally, LA Assemblyman Kevin de Leon recently introduced… Read More

If only it were a reality…you could get on a train high-speed train in Los Angeles and be at Disneyland in less than 30 minutes.

Well the California High-Speed Rail Authority is working on such things and apparently todos beneficiamos (they sent a brochure about some upcoming scoping sessions that are printed in English and Spanish).

If you want to weigh in on the project there are several public meetings in April in LA, Anaheim and Norwalk.

Apparently the the SoCal route could also extend down to Irvine.

If the thing operates over existing rail right-of-ways and doesn’t eliminate any current roads I am all for it assuming I don’t have to pay for it. I probably won’t ever take it but according to their studies they project 100 million passengers a year by 2030.

How will it be financed? Who pays for it? The slick… Read More

Ed Reyes represents the First LA Council District which encompasses the north and west of City Hall. It’s a major gang infested region, with legions of illegal immigrants, dilapidated housing and the birthplace of the unusually savage Mara SalvatruchaSalvadorian gangfrom the Pico Union neighborhood.

First elected in April 2001, Mr. Reyes has witnessed increased gang control, failing schools with the ‘misery index’ increasing for its residents.

So it should have come as miracle news that the Rotem Co, a subsidiary of Hyundai Automotive Group, wants to least he Union pacific owned facility in Taylor Yard to assembly high-tech rail cars under a $305 million Metrolink contract. Rotem officials claim over 200 jobs with annual salaries of $40,000 to $ 80,000 each would be created for as long as five years.

The Daily Breeze in a remarkable piece of journalism, written by Beth Barrett, exposed Mr. Reyes interference with this job creating prospect. The Breezereported that when Reyes was approachedby project leaders he informed them " they don’t need jobs in the area and they want to see a park developed and nothing… Read More