U.S. Politics

Proposition 30 Election Results: California Secretary of State Calls Jerry Brown's Tax Hike Push 'Close Contest'

Update: L.A. County voters continue to come through for Governor Jerry Brown. At 12:26 a.m., with 46 percent of precincts reporting, L.A. voters back Prop. 30 with 58 percent of the vote. As of 10:47 p.m., Governor Jerry Brown and his Proposition 30 are still in the game. California Secretary of S ... More >>

Proposition 40 Absentee Ballot Election Results: Stupidest Measure on California's Nov. 6 Ballot Looking Like a Goner

With early results in, it looks like an embarrassing, costly, if not downright silly, re-do of California's 40 state Senate voting districts will not be required just a year after the California Citizens Redistricting Commission did a solid job of redrawing them. It all depends on how confused vot ... More >>

Assembly District 39's Dilemma

Alarcon, circling the drain over corruption charges? Or yes-man Bocanegra?

Will Felipe Fuentes and Gov. Jerry Brown Water Down Teachers' Evaluations?

California's education reform wars are popping up again -- this time over a controversial bill called AB 5, which reform activists say will water down teachers' evaluations. The grassroots group EdVoice has taken a full-page ad in today's A section of the Los Angeles Times to sound the alarm and g ... More >>

Richard Alarcon: Good Riddance and Hello

Making history by incessantly running for office

Subversive Comedy with Jimmy Dore

Lies Abound About Why Senate Bill 18, to Limit and Ban Gifts to California Legislators, Was Killed by those Legislators

madashelland.comCalifornia legislators were awash in lies as they killed another gift-giving reform.​Remember the names Kevin de Leon, Fran Pavley, Curren Price and Ted Lieu among California legislators who helped kill Senate Bill 18, which would have banned their sleazy acceptance of luxury g ... More >>

Beth Ditto Releases New Video, Would Want You to Contact our Local GOP about Their Attack on Planned Parenthood

Beth Ditto: Suck it, "Justify My Love"!​ In a world of wimpy indie boys, Beth Ditto is one of the greatest old-style rock'n'roll stars/icons at work. And she has a new video out, which pays homage to Madonna's "Justify My Love". But before you watch it, we're pretty sure vocal pro-choice adv ... More >>

Arnold Schwarzenegger, State Prisons Sued Over Sentence Reduction for Esteban Nunez, Son of Fabian Nunez

Esteban Nunez.​Did the Governator violate California's own rules when he reduced the prison sentence of Esteban Nunez, son of pal Fabian Nunez? A lawsuit filed this week claims he did. Baby Nunez was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison for his involvement in the 2008 ... More >>

Schwarzenegger's Chemical Romance

Angering environmentalists, Arnold rewrites his Green Chemistry initiative in his final days in office

FAIRY-y Tales

Kamala Harris Victory in Attorney General Race Thrills California Gay Rights Groups

California Attorney General-elect Kamala Harris​Two prominent gay rights groups in California didn't waste any time celebrating Kamala Harris's victory over Steve Cooley in the state attorney general race, which L.A. Weekly called yesterday. "Today's decision in the attorney general race mea ... More >>

Gavin Newsom Abel Maldonado Vote Results: Papers Call Race For Newsom, But Maldonado Not Conceding

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom​By Hillel Aron San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has won the California lieutenant governor's race, defeating the Republican incumbent Abel Maldonado, according to the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Nevertheless, in his victory speech, News ... More >>

California Election Results: Democrats Sweep Jobs You've Never Heard Of

"Bill" Lockyer, our once and future state treasurer​By Hillel Aron Hey, wasn't this was supposed to be a Republican tsunami/tidal wave/other oceanographic metaphor? Not in California, where Democrats are in the process of sweeping practically every important statewide race- and even most of ... More >>

California Proposition 20 Wins, Proposition 27 Loses: Politicians Will No Longer Draw up Their Own Districts

Billionaire and Prop. 27 supporter Haim Saban​Update, 11:50 p.m.: With 39 percent of California precincts reporting, Prop. 27 is heading for a huge loss -- 60 percent of voters oppose the ballot measure and 40 percent support it. California voters approved Proposition 20 and shot down Propos ... More >>

California 'Governor' Jerry Brown Will Call Special 2011 Election To Raise Taxes, Says Gloom Meister Gray Davis

Via OC Register​Via the mayorsam blog via the Fresno Bee, that super-upbeat, super-flashy guy, gloomy Gray Davis, is saying that California Governor Jerry Brown, um, probable governor, will immediately set a Special Election to ask Californians to raise taxes. God, which is worse? Another spe ... More >>

William Harsh, Meg Whitman's Princeton-Attending Son, Charged With 'Careless' Driving

GawkerDid Meg Whitman spawn demon children?​In her $160 million or so of self-funded campaigning (yeah -- it's up to $160-mil-plus now), Meg Whitman boasts that she ran a major corporation, eBay, so she'll have no trouble making Sacramento more efficient and businesslike if she's elected Calif ... More >>

Do You Trust A Candidate -- Meg Whitman -- Who Has Spent $140 Million Of Her Own Money To Try To Win California's Governorship?

Ted SoquiIs Meg Whitman trying to buy the state's top office?​Comments are raging about who won this week's California gubernatorial debate between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown. Both sides have good points -- with some questioning the true success of Meg Whitman's tenure at eBay and others po ... More >>

Lee Baca: Meg Whitman Doesn't Know What She's Talking About When It Comes To Jerry Brown And Crime

Lee Baca​Meg Whitman launched an attack ad on Thursday accusing Jerry Brown of being soft on crime. At today's press conference on Prop. 19, L.A. Sheriff Lee Baca fired back, saying Whitman "doesn't know what she's talking about."Brown has touted Baca's endorsement in pushing back against the Whit ... More >>

10 Terrified States Want Gay Marriage Ban to Stand in California

Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg​10 states not known for their gay-friendliness are mightily nervous about last month's federal court ruling that deemed California's Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. Why? If the Proposition 8 decision stands as it goes through the federal appeals ... More >>

Five Reasons Meg Whitman Is Looking Like a Slight Favorite

​Republican candidate for governor and former Ebay doyenne Meg Whitman came to the Weekly's hometown of Culver City Tuesday, and though she didn't stop by the office, she was at nearby Function Drinks, a high-end beverage maker, for a town hall style meeting. (Function Drinks sample product: U ... More >>

Ken Mehlman Comes Out; Great News For Prop 8 Opponents

​Ken Melhman's decision to come out and identify as gay, thus confirming one of the oldest rumors in Washington, is a big victory for opponents of Prop. 8, the California ban on gay marriage. Prop. 8 is currently up on appeal after being struck down by a federal judge earlier this month. Mehl ... More >>

Schwarzenegger Predicts Victory For Jerry Brown?

​So Patricia Sellers is an editor-at-large at Fortune, and as such she hangs out in L.A. restaurants where you might just happen to run into people like Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger.Upon bumping into Schwarzenegger on Monday at Le Pain Quotidien, Sellers asked the governor what he thoug ... More >>

Election '08: Sealing Reagan's Tomb

BY MARC COOPER Republican strategists are now privately admitting they face the real possibility of an historic down-ticket catastrophe come November 4th. The demise of the entire Reagan Era could possibly be certified by the Democrats winning a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Re ... More >>

Politics of Engagement

The Latest Republican Cover-Up: The Presidency of George W. Bush

Ready to hit the reset button: At the GOP convention, plenty of Mac and cheese, no W

Queer Town: Obama's Gay Moment

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama undoubtedly thrilled, and probably somewhat shocked, gays and lesbians last night when he spoke this line during his nomination speech in Denver: “I know there are differences on same-sex marriage, but surely we can agree that our gay and lesbian br ... More >>

Clinton & Obama's Good Ship Lollipop

The vibe was heavy at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood on Thursday night, and an always blood-thirsty press didn’t imagine it into existence. With U.S. Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debating one-on-one for the first time in a long campaign season to decide who would be the next Democrati ... More >>

Sacramento Bites Back

With Antonio preoccupied by an affair, L.A. loses its rail funds. You can thank Mike Villines

Rise of the Machines

Pretty Boy and the Nerd try to bring down the Terminator, while the Democratic Party searches for its soul

The Shape of '06

The Republicans have one theme, but that’s one more than the Democrats

Brawling Democrats

The fight begins to knock out Arnold

IS THE DOCTOR In?

Howard Dean and the fight for the DNC's soul

Impeaching Presidents — and Messengers

Bush, The New York Times and the Patriot Act

Is the Doctor In?

Howard Dean and the fight for the DNC’s soul

Don’t Mess With Texas

Gay governors, oil money, KKK fish camps and Karl Rove

The Anti-PATRIOTs

Unlikely allies oppose sweeping police powers

Texas Crude

Racial politics hits another low in redistricting fight

Take the Money and Run

The rise of unremarkable Cruz and his sidekick Richie

The War on Due Process

With Patriot Act power, Bush and Ashcroft try to conquer the legal system

Powerlines

Without vision, the party — well, a Senate majority — perishes

Grand Illusion

South of Disneyland, the Republicans gather for the last charge

The Breakfast Club

Party Animals

Gray has a blast; Dick, a sour time

The Natural

Despite his deficiency of backbone, Bill Clinton was the greatest pol of his generation

What Los Angeles Needs To Know About the Democrats

Can the world’s oldest continuous political party regain its majority? Its activists? Its purpose?

Clinton's Wedge

China cracks the Democrats

Irrational Exuberance

The Dub Bubble

Conservative Collapse

From Gingrich to Lungren, the right is routed

Our selections in Tuesday's General Election

Endorsements 98