Elections 2010

An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, state election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will probably be a much-watched campaign that once again puts California on the forefront of the nation's debate over whether to soften drug laws. The number of valid signatures reported by Los Angeles County, submitted minutes before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline, put the measure well beyond the 433,971 it needed to be certified.

Wisconsinites may not have much use for advice from an out-of-state news organization, but coming from a place that has undergone its own share of political troubles as a result of recall elections, we humbly submit this counsel to Badger State Democrats who are launching a recall drive against Gov. Scott Walker: Don't do it. Walker's election in 2010 was among the most polarizing of the political shifts of that tumultuous year, when anger over...

Californians on Tuesday night were narrowly favoring new rules to make it easier to pass state budgets while rejecting a proposal to legalize marijuana. A push by Texas oil companies to suspend the state's landmark global-warming law was defeated. Voters approved a measure to give an independent panel new powers to draw congressional districts, but voted down a proposal for new car fees to fund state parks. Tens of millions of dollars were spent on a blizzard of television ads, mailers and automated "robocalls" to voters in recent weeks as campaigns scrambled to persuade the public.

John A. Boehner has been the "Hell, no!" face of the Republican Party in Congress for years, but he appeared a more gracious presumed speaker of the House on Wednesday, even as he stood firm on the promises of smaller government that the GOP rode to a majority. Boehner is well aware that his is a story of second chances: The Ohio congressman has been in and out of leadership positions, as has his Republican Party ? which angry voters routed from the majority just four years ago. As Boehner is about to ascend to the job he covets, his ability to lead raucous House Republicans emboldened by "tea party" activists will test even this most old-school of Washington hands.

The long campaign is over. And so a new one begins: the race to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor of California. A crop of would-be candidates is already preparing -- some openly, others behind the scenes -- with two years until the state's next big election. One, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, is a rancher; at least one, former EBay chief Meg Whitman, is a billionaire; a third, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, is known across the nation as a champion of same-sex marriage.

A day after launching her campaign for governor, former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman on Tuesday unveiled a sharply conservative approach to California's fiscal crisis and offered a fusillade of positions on other issues that are likely to complicate her run for office in 2010.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's decision Monday to skip the 2010 race for California governor left a two-person contest for the Democratic nomination in which former Gov. Jerry Brown starts with a strong advantage in scooping up much of the mayor's support, political analysts said. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, the other contender, appeared likely to tap into Villaraigosa's strong appeal among young voters.

Oregon officials know all about anti-tax fervor. Over the years, voters here have capped property taxes (saddling the state with two-thirds the cost of running the schools) and passed a constitutional amendment requiring rebates whenever tax receipts come in 2% over budget. Nine times they have been asked to OK a sales tax -- and said no. Proposals to increase the state income tax? Down in flames twice. But now the Legislature is taking a tack that analysts think could finally pull the rug out from under the tax revolt: soaking the rich.

Despite insisting just a few months ago that they wanted to go back to the ballot in 2010 to try to amend the state Constitution to allow same-sex marriage, many of the state's gay-rights groups now say that is too soon. They worry about raising the millions of dollars needed to run a campaign and suggest that the job of changing enough voters' minds on same-sex marriage might take longer than 12 months. "Going back to the ballot . . .

A small majority of California voters supports the right of same-sex couples to marry, but by a much larger margin, voters oppose efforts to place the issue back on the ballot next year, a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll has found. Views on same-sex marriage were sharply polarized, with 66% of Democrats backing it, and 71% of Republicans in opposition. Nonpartisan voters were less enthusiastic than Democrats but still backed it, 59% to 34%. Overall, 51% of California voters favored marriage rights for gay couples, and 43% were opposed.

Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley took a narrow lead Tuesday in the race for attorney general, with the career prosecutor providing the GOP with its best hope at a statewide office as Democrats led in the other partisan races. Early voting tallies showed Cooley with an edge over his opponent, San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, who sought to make history by becoming the first woman, first Asian and first African American to serve as the state's top law enforcement official.

Californians on Tuesday night were narrowly favoring new rules to make it easier to pass state budgets while rejecting a proposal to legalize marijuana. A push by Texas oil companies to suspend the state's landmark global-warming law was defeated. Voters approved a measure to give an independent panel new powers to draw congressional districts, but voted down a proposal for new car fees to fund state parks. Tens of millions of dollars were spent on a blizzard of television ads, mailers and automated "robocalls" to voters in recent weeks as campaigns scrambled to persuade the public.

Nancy Garland calls herself Ohio's "listening legislator" and as she knocked on doors in suburban Columbus she got an earful: about water bills, a new bike trail, the cost of police cruisers, construction on busy Hamilton Road. She listened, nodded, touted her work on a bill to ban texting while driving and made a brief reelection pitch, saying that after one term in the statehouse she was just getting started. "Keep in touch," the Democrat told a woman last week, after discussing schools for her autistic child.

This week's elections settled dozens of offices and issues but left unresolved -- technically, at least -- the winners of two races for vacant legislative seats in Southern California. It will take June 8 runoffs to fill a Glendale-Los Angeles area Assembly job and a Riverside County state Senate post.

After Orange County's sheriff was indicted on corruption charges on 2007, supervisors made a point of looking beyond the county limits to find a replacement who was free of the cronyism and scandal that had tainted the office. A retired Los Angeles Sheriff's Department division chief, Sandra Hutchens was lauded by one county supervisor for being "removed from the political machinations in the county" and was seen as a welcome breath of fresh air in a department that had been led for decades by politically connected lawmen.

An initiative to legalize marijuana and allow it to be sold and taxed will appear on the November ballot, state election officials announced Wednesday, triggering what will probably be a much-watched campaign that once again puts California on the forefront of the nation's debate over whether to soften drug laws. The number of valid signatures reported by Los Angeles County, submitted minutes before Wednesday's 5 p.m. deadline, put the measure well beyond the 433,971 it needed to be certified.

In choosing Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby for a vacant state Assembly seat, voters got a homegrown leader whose views on limiting government play well in the Republican stronghold. As expected, the former teacher, who grew up in Fullerton and served on its City Council before his 2002 upset election to the county Board of Supervisors, coasted to an easy victory in Tuesday's special runoff election, capturing 63% of the vote. Democrat John MacMurray won 31% and Jane Rands of the Green Party garnered 6%. "I have deep roots in the district," Norby said.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Sunday deflected questions about a possible run for governor, stressing that he is focused on guiding the city through troubled economic times. "I love Los Angeles. And I'm focused on this job," Villaraigosa said on CNN's "State of the Union with John King." "I want to get people back to work. I want to continue to build on the foundation that we've done in the past." After he won reelection, Villaraigosa said he was not ruling out a bid for governor and promised to be clear about his intentions.

Some of the major Republicans vying to become California's next governor or U.S. senator have more money than others. Some are better known. Some are more in sync with their party's traditional views. But what all five have in common as they look toward the June 8 primary is a determination to tap what they see as public fury over the failures of government. "Our government is out of control and out of touch, and so we will take it back and we will make it work," U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina told hundreds of delegates at a weekend convention of Republicans in the Silicon Valley.

Saying a June ballot measure that would change how California's primary elections are held won't deliver on its reform promises, opponents are trying to change it -- and they appear to have allies in lawmakers who helped put it on the ballot. The legislators, who voted for the proposal grudgingly as part of a budget deal last year, have directed their attorneys not to fight a legal challenge that would significantly change the way the measure appears before voters, according to a legislative spokesman.