Elections 2008

Softening his past opposition to changes to California's term-limits law, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is endorsing a Feb. 5 ballot measure that would allow many sitting lawmakers to run for office again this year rather than be forced to leave the Legislature.

Today is the deadline for Californians to register to vote in the Feb. 5 election. The ballot features local and state measures and the presidential primary candidates. Normally, voters must register at least 15 days before an election, which would have made the deadline Monday. But it was extended to today because of the holiday commemorating the birth of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., said Kate Folmar, press secretary for Secretary of State Debra Bowen.

There's something about these election years that end in 8. They tend to be historic, watershed elections in California or the nation. Or both. Odds are in 2008 we'll elect either the first female or the first African American president. If not, it's likely to be the first Mormon or the oldest. (But not the first POW. That was Andrew Jackson.) Glance back several decades.

Riverside County was in the vanguard of a new electronics era in 2000, when it became the first county in the nation to convert to computerized voting machines. With the new technology, voters were able to cast their ballots up to 10 days early and miles outside their own precincts at shopping malls. An RV outfitted as an electronic polling station was sent to senior centers, Indian reservations and places deep in the desert.

The most confusing measures on Tuesday's state ballot are the four Indian gambling propositions. But, cutting through all the fabrication and jargon, there's one simple way to look at this. The central question is: Should the state grab, by whatever legal means, any money it can find to help balance its books? Or has the expansion of Vegas-style Indian gambling in California gone far enough?

Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, who nearly two years ago announced she would retire from one of the region's most powerful elected positions, endorsed Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks on Thursday in the hotly contested race to succeed her. The veteran politician's endorsement of Parks, whom she called "dedicated and thorough," comes as the former Los Angeles police chief competes with state Sen.

When it came time to make his endorsement in the hot race to succeed Los Angeles County Supervisor Yvonne B. Burke, Sheriff Lee Baca didn't pick just one candidate to fill the 2nd District seat. He picked two. His selection of both state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Los Angeles) and Los Angeles City Councilman Bernard C. Parks -- widely considered the two leading contenders -- was not a matter of hedging his bet in the June 3 race, a Baca spokesman said.

More than 9 million voters took part in the Feb. 5 presidential primary in California, setting a record for participants and marking the highest turnout rate in a primary since the 1980 election. According to a report by Secretary of State Debra Bowen, 55.7% of registered voters either cast ballots by mail or at precincts around the state. The 1980 turnout was 63.3%. Though the turnout percentage was not a record, the number of participants was.

Cruz Baca Sembello feels under siege by City Hall, in danger of losing the modest Baldwin Park home that she and her parents have lived in for decades. The San Gabriel Valley city is threatening to use its powers of eminent domain to force the sale of the home, with plans to raze it and several others to make way for a large shopping center.

Orange County's grand jury recommended Wednesday that the Board of Supervisors put two tough campaign ordinances on the November ballot, just months after the board rejected such a request by campaign activists. The panel wants to tighten the county's 1978 law known as TINCUP, or Time Is Now, Clean Up Politics. The second measure creates a county campaign practices commission to oversee compliance with the law, the grand jury said.