LAT: Election shows state's true colors: pastel

[question everything]

latimes.com

Election shows state's true colors: pastel
George Skelton
Capitol Journal

November 9, 2006

THIS is not a deep blue state, regardless of recent presidential elections. Color us light blue, if you must. California voters reconfirmed what they're all about Tuesday, and it is not the image normally envisaged by outsiders. Currently, and over the long haul, we're centrists. Sure, we've voted for the Democratic candidate in the last four presidential races. But in the previous 10 elections, we voted nine times for the Republican. Each of those contests had its own dynamic, but party label was the least of it. This state never has been and is not now solidly Democratic. Put up former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani or Arizona Sen. John McCain as the GOP nominee in 2008 and watch the pendulum begin to swing.

(snip)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's overwhelming reelection victory is Exhibit A of California centrism. The governor ran as a typical state voter: anti-tax, fiscally prudent, pro-environment and left-leaning on social issues like abortion. He was supported by 57% of moderates, a Times exit poll found. That pretty much mirrored his overall vote, about 56%.

(snip)

But Republican moderate Bruce McPherson was ousted as secretary of state by Democratic Sen. Debra Bowen of Marina del Rey, a left-leaner. Credit the national Democratic wave, although it reached California merely as a ripple. The weak wave had its biggest impact in the asparagus, delta and windmill country between Stockton and the East Bay. There, conservative GOP Congressman Richard Pombo was beaten by liberal Democratic windmill consultant Jerry McNerney. Pombo chairs the House Resources Committee. Voters decided they'd had enough of his anti-environmentalism and questionable ethics, not to mention President Bush's botched war. The reason there weren't more "had enough" messages sent to Washington from California was that the Legislature had erected a breakwater called district gerrymandering to protect incumbents from any political wave.

(snip)

You can find more evidence of California's moderate mosaic in the ballot measure results. Depending on the issue, voters listed left or right, but averaged out in the middle. We're pro-environment, passing Proposition 84, a $5.4-billion water/parks bond issue. (Pombo paid the price for trying to gut the Endangered Species Act, among other anti-environment antics.)

(snip)

But we're conservative on law and order, placing residency restrictions and GPS tracking devices on paroled sexual predators. "This is not a liberal state, it is a libertarian state," says Democratic consultant Darry Sragow. "Basically, its about Western American values." So spare us all the "left coast" yuk yuks. And recolor the red/blue maps.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap9nov09,1,5764840.column?coll=la-headlines-california

[marmar]

1. By that measure, no state is "deep blue"....

States go blue because of very, very blue cities. California as a whole might be "pastel," as the Times asserts, but San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Los Angeles et all are as blue as the ocean.

[msongs]

2. "fiscally prudent"? that's a BIG lie! borrow/spend & dump it on grandkids is

more like it. arnold wants his debts to be paid by somebody else after he dies. pay as you go or don't spend it? not this guy.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[Feuerhexe]

3. I think pastel is the wrong metaphor

That would work if we had large moderate areas. What we really have is a hot red inland core with a cool blue coastal crust. Perhaps an IT professional brand of libertarian bubble here or there. I guess the writer's point is that we are moderate on average ... which is sort of how I think things should work. Besides I like the "left coast" and "Land of Fruit and Nuts" yuk yuks, personally.

[question everything]

5. Think the Arnold Vinick character of the West Wing

played by Alan Alda and, not coincidentally, from California.

I think that most of us expected him to win, not "Matt Santos."

Lucky for us, someone like him will never get the Republican nomination.

[madmusic]

4. The implication is that the libertarians supported Prop 83. They didn't.

And I didn't know this:

Proposition 83 -- NO
Sex Offenders. Sexually Violent Predators. Punishment, Residence Restrictions and Monitoring. Initiative Statute.
Secretary of State's Summary of Prop. 83

http://ca.lp.org/voteguide_nov06.shtml#initiatives

And their http://ca.lp.org/lp20061031.shtml">perspective on 83 is perhaps the best common sense analysis on it I've read (too late) anywhere.

Maybe my uninformed opinion of them was too harsh. Yes, it was.

While I agree that California is not liberal, is far from liberal, that is in part due to the wingnut propaganda machine, Prop 83 only the latest example.

However, since so many Democrats support fiscal responsibility, maybe the state could be libertarian overall.

It would be interesting if DUers browsed their site and posted what they agree/disagree with.