From the SacBee.com

Democrats are outpacing Republicans in the drive to recruit new voters in the Sacramento region ahead of the November general election.

Amid the change, Placer County has fallen from its post as California’s chief Republican stronghold, a shift that may affect a closely watched congressional race.

Since the two parties largely settled on presidential nominees in April, voter rolls have increased by roughly 19,500 – or 2 percent – in Placer, El Dorado, Sacramento and Yolo counties, according to new figures from the California secretary of state’s office. Democrats accounted for 10,500 of those new voters. Just 2,400 were Republicans. Most of the others declined to state an allegiance.

The regional numbers mirror a statewide trend. California’s Democratic voter rolls have increased by 181,118 since April while the number of Republicans grew by 6,823. Republicans saw a net loss of registered voters in 25 counties, including a loss of more than 15,000 in conservative Orange County. Similar trends are playing out nationally, in several battleground states.

“We’ve had a little weariness with the current administration,” said Craig MacGlashan, chairman of the Sacramento County Republicans, explaining the apparent preference of the new voters. But he said the numbers don’t reflect a recent wave of enthusiasm for the presidential campaign of John McCain. “I’ve seen an uptick with interest since John McCain picked Sarah Palin” as his running mate.

That interest has not been enough to counter the shift in Placer County, which since 2002 had been the state’s Republican leader.

Modoc County, in California’s rural northeastern corner, is now statistically the state’s most Republican.

And no longer are most Placer County voters registered Republicans.

The party’s share dropped from 52.2 percent before the 2004 election to 49.7 percent today.

During the past four years, the Placer County Democratic Party has grown by roughly three registered voters for every two who have joined county Republicans, state figures show.

More recently, from April though August, Placer’s Democratic tally grew by 1,269 while Republican ranks increased by 585, state figures show. Since Labor Day, Republicans have narrowed that 684-voter gap to 424, Placer election officials say.

“I’ve got to attribute that to a strong Democratic effort to get new registrants – a stronger effort than Republicans,” said Gary Dietrich, a local political analyst and president of Citizen Voice, a nonpartisan voter-awareness group.

That drive could play a role in the contest between Democrat Charlie Brown and Republican Tom McClintock to fill the seat John Doolittle now holds in the 4th Congressional District, Dietrich said.

The district, which covers Placer County and much of rural northeastern California – including Modoc County – is rated a “Race to Watch” by Congressional Quarterly.

The district still is solidly Republican, but from April to early September, Democrats added 2,649 voters in the 4th District, compared to 1,582 more Republicans.

Bill George, Placer County Republican Party communications director, dismissed the recent numbers as “statistically insignificant.”

“Those are very incremental types of moves and not indicative of any type of trend or change in the makeup of the county,” he said. “There’s no trend, no change that we see in the numbers that show that we’re becoming less of a Republican Party in this county.”

George added that the party has seen strong voter registration activity since the beginning of September – about 950 new voters registered as Republicans this month, compared to 700 Democrats.

There are, however, physical signs of change in Placer County: For the first time in roughly a decade, it has a Democratic Party headquarters. Located in Auburn, the office is paid for by the Placer County Democratic Central Committee and serves as headquarters for the Barack Obama and Charlie Brown campaigns. It’s staffed full time by volunteers, said Newcastle resident Arry Murphey-Frank, the Democrats’ district manager.

What does this say for our city…

He told delegates at the California Republican Party’s fall convention that they should take the threat from the state prison guards union seriously, even if it isn’t likely to succeed.

“I hope that I don’t have to tell you what an ill-considered idea that is. We did it once; we did not do it lightly,” he said, referring to the 2003 recall of former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, an election that sent Schwarzenegger to Sacramento. “It is something that should not be taken lightly. It is an extreme measure.”

A conservative wing of the state GOP had planned to vote later Saturday on whether to endorse the recall campaign but instead decided to further investigate the effort first.

In his lunchtime speech to about 250 delegates, Wilson did not directly address the rift between the politically moderate Schwarzenegger and others in his party. Schwarzenegger also avoided the topic during brief remarks to about 300 party members and supporters Friday night.

The governor’s unpopularity with the most conservative Republicans grew this summer after he proposed a temporary increase in the state’s sales tax to help close what was then a $15.2 billion deficit. Wilson was critical of the tax plan, as were Republicans in the Legislature who successfully fought the effort.

That proposal particularly rankled rank-and-file Republicans, California Republican Assembly president Mike Spence said earlier this week.

“We’re talking about a core, central policy that has united the party _ taxes _ and the governor went back on his word,” Spence said.

Frustration with Schwarzenegger within the party’s base was widespread, he said. That’s partly because he has failed to implement many of the government reforms he promised when taking office, Spence said, pointing to the budget deficits that continue to plague the state.

In a slap to the governor, the state party’s board of directors made its frustration with him official Saturday by adopting a resolution praising legislative Republicans for “refusing to raise taxes and standing against the growth of government.”

“We encourage Governor Schwarzenegger to stand with our Republican legislators in the future,” the motion said.

The California Correctional Peace Officers Association filed formal notice this month of its effort to recall Schwarzenegger. The union criticized Schwarzenegger for what it called “catastrophic leadership failings and inept management” since he took office.

One of the motivations for recalling Davis was his deal giving prison guards a 37 percent pay raise after he had accepted $2.6 million in campaign donations from the union.

Schwarzenegger has not taken money from the prison guards and has called its recall drive a political ploy designed to pressure him to give into the union’s demands during contract negotiations. The guards union has been without a contract for two years.

After his address, Wilson told reporters that there will always be disagreements with a governor, but that a recall should be reserved for “serious dereliction of duty.”

“It’s something that you do on a really extreme provocation,” he said.

Futures spike as much as $25 on the bailout plan, the falling dollar and as the October front-month contract expires.

As many as 8,500 University of California employees may hit the picket lines beginning Monday to protest a deadlock over wage increases.

The strike involves workers represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, who perform housekeeping, cafeteria and security services on UC campuses. The strike is planned to run though Friday at UC’s 10 campuses and five medical centers, including UC Davis facilities in Sacramento and Davis. source Sacbee.com

Because governments are facing huge budget deficits and tax increases would further stall a faltering economy, money for wage increases would have to come from other programs. The private sector is similarly limited. Slow business, severe competition and cheaper off shore labor and manufacturing costs prevent businesses from raising prices to cover increased costs and offer wage and salary increases.

Expect difficult times ahead.

From the AP:

TEHRAN, Iran — Authorities have shut down a Tehran newspaper ,the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday, after the paper published a story critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s stance on Israel.

The Press Supervisory Board, which is controlled by hard-liners, banned Tehran Today on Saturday after the paper’s editor was summoned to court for publishing material deemed as insulting Ahmadinejad, IRNA said.

The news agency did not provide more details. But the announcement comes after the paper published a story Saturday that said Ahmadinejad’s comments on Israel “seems to have led to a different result — more pressure on Iran and more support to Israel.”

In 2005, Ahmadinejad said Israel should be wiped off the map. He also has called the Holocaust “a myth.”

Media closures are not unusual in Iran. In March, nine cinema and lifestyle magazines were banned for publishing material about foreign celebrities.

Tom McClintock has been a champion of good government living within it’s means since anyone can remember, and your attempt to paint him as unpatriotic was a slimy display of cheap low class politics.

Thankfully the good conservatives in the 4th district are smarter than you are.

You got what you deserved, bupkis.

AP: CLINTON SAYS SHE’S OPEN TO BEING OBAMA’S VP CANDIDATE

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton has told New York lawmakers she’s open to being Barack Obama’s vice presidential candidate

FOXnews

Breaking News: Clinton to Acknowledge Obama Has Delegates to Claim Nomination, Campaign Officials Tell AP

“The money is going to help Americans offset the high prices we’re seeing at the gas pumps and the grocery store and will also give our economy a boost to help us pull out of this economic slowdown,” he said during brief remarks at the White House.

Bush said that beginning Monday “more than 7 million Americans will receive their rebates electronically.” On May 9, millions more would receive their payments by paper check, he said. Roughly 130 million households are expected to get the rebates.

The economic stimulus package, which offers up to $600 to individual taxpayers and $1,200 to couples, also provides an additional $300 in rebates for each child and for non-taxpaying families. It was suggested by the White House and Congress approved the measure in January.

The president also reminded citizens, including those who normally do not file a tax return, to complete and return a 1040A tax form to claim the payment.

John Adams, based on David McCullough’s acclaimed biography, is as sumptuous and satisfying as TV gets: gorgeously produced, marvelously acted and written with a sense of high drama amid generous displays of wit.

Befitting such an enduring love story, Paul Giamatti and Laura Linney are splendid as America’s second First Couple. At home, when John sheds his wig and attitude, they’re equals: “You do not need to quote great men to show you are one,” Abigail chides him, all the while acknowledging her husband’s indisputable greatness.

As his ardent champion and best and most loving critic, she truly does complete him. They ache for each other’s company and counsel during his long absences as he tends to history and she minds the family and farm.

Linney’s wry warmth meshes with Giamatti’s restless bluster, rendering Adams admirable even when unlikable. He’s combative and impatient, whether debating independence in Congress or awkwardly practicing diplomacy in Europe. He bristles with envy when upstaged by his more admired peers, each sharply played: Tom Wilkinson as the witty Franklin, Stephen Dillane as the urbane Jefferson and David Morse as a Washington of quiet dignity.

“You are not meant to sit in the shade of life,” a colleague assures him. Indeed, John Adams emerges from the pages of history as a dynamic hero of ideas in this dazzling TV event.

I wish we could just re-construct the Government in the design of the Framers.