On June 11, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said he could not have won a semi-closed Republican gubernatorial primary. See this story. Actually, according to exit polls in the special gubernatorial election of October 2003, 74% of registered Republicans voted for him in that special election.
In a related vein, supporters of Proposition 14 said during the campaign, over and over, that Republican primaries in California always result in victories for extreme conservatives. However, in all the contested Republican statewide primaries this year, with a semi-closed system, the more conservative candidate (among those who had big campaigns) lost in each instance. Steve Poizner lost for Governor, Sam Aanestad lost for Lieutenant Governor, Orly Taitz lost for Secretary of State, Tom Harman lost for Attorney General, and Chuck Devore lost for U.S. Senator.
Abel Maldonado pushed for Top Two because he was afraid he could not win a statewide Republican primary. But on Tuesday he was nominated for a full term as Lt Governor – in the primary in which only Republicans or Independents could vote.
Admittedly, he had the advantage of being appointed Lt Governor and getting the advantage of incumbency. But the Republican leadership has been trying to get more Hispanic candidates, and would have supported him in any case, despite his betrayal on tax hikes.
Another irony of the Prop. 14 vote is that San Francisco County has the highest proportion of independent voters, and San Francisco County was the least favorable county in the state (out of 58 counties) toward Prop. 14.
I certainly hope that a##hole Maldonado loses in November.
Memo to Bob Richard: You asked a question about Prop. 14’s constitutionality in your comment on my blog. Here, courtesy of Richard Winger, is the response.
Democracy = Majority Rule, direct or indirect.
Democracy prevailed regarding Prop. 14 — regardless of the usual suspects.
Next step –
P.R. for legislative bodies
App.V. for NONPARTISAN executive officers and all judges.
NO primaries are needed.
The W-A-R for REAL Democracy continues (against the usual suspect monarchs / oligarchs)
— since Adam and Eve came along.
Santa Clara has the 2nd highest percentage of DTS, and was the strongest big county for Prop 14 at 60%.
Mono has the 3rd largest DTS, and then San Mateo and San Diego are 4th and 5th, and were relatively strong supporters among big counties at 56% and 55%, respectively.
#3 Federal District Judge Coughenour, who is presiding over the Washington Top 2 litigation in his August 2009 opinion rejected ballot access claims similar to those Richard Winger makes.
Coughenour was aware of the cases cited by Winger, and explained why they were not applicable.
Judge Coughenour simply ignored the U.S. Supreme Court’s language in Munro v Socialist Workers Party, on page 197, “We are unpersuaded, however, that the mechanisms are of constitutional dimension.” The two mechanisms were petitions to get on the November ballot, versus a vote test in a preliminary election to get on the November ballot. But Judge Coughenour later rejected the state and the Grange motions to eliminate the ballot access claims from the complaint, so the 9th circuit will review the Coughenour decision. Also Judge Coughenour will allow evidence on the ballot access question at the upcoming November 2010 trial.
Have always thought Arnold would be better placed in the Green Party ,,
#7 Judge Coughenour wrote that since it was his August 2009 order had dismissed the ballot access (and trademark) claims, that the political parties had a right to appeal. That was why he allowed those claims to be continued to be asserted.
If the trial court has already dismissed a claim based on the evidence presented to the court, what is the purpose of considering additional evidence?
#9: Any issue that is dismissed by a lower court can be appealed to a higher court.
It’s not necessary for the lower court to “allow” such issues to be reviewed by the higher court.
25 independent or 3rd party candidates have filed for the legislature in Top 2 Open Primary in Washington.
17 independents (or no party) and 1 each expressing a preference for the Bull Moose, Constitution, Lower Taxes, Senior Side, Independent Democrat, Conservative, Happiness, and Green Party.
It appears that even more independent or 3rd party candidates will finish in the Top 2 than in 2008.