Political Endorsements

On March 24, the Sierra Club, the largest environmental group in the state and a hallowed name among conservationists, issued one of the most coveted endorsements in California politics: its recommendation for governor. State Controller Steve Westly promptly expressed his gratitude, saying in a news release: "I am honored to have earned the support of the Sierra Club."

A national coalition of conservative activists plans to endorse Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in the U.S. Senate race, spurning two more popular candidates in favor of the underdog bidding to take on Democrat Barbara Boxer. The Tea Party Express, whose backing helped propel Scott Brown in his successful effort to claim the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's seat in Massachusetts, will announce the endorsement Saturday at a Nevada rally headlined by conservative stalwarts such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Samuel J. Wurzelbacher, who is better known as Joe the Plumber.

The student newspaper at California State University, Northridge on Tuesday joined at least 10 other CSU school papers in defying a ban on unsigned editorials making political endorsements. A CSU system official said administrators of the 19-school system do not plan to react immediately to the actions of the Daily Sundial and the other papers. Several student editors said the endorsements were made in protest of CSU regulations, which carry the weight of law.

Confirming speculation about her political plans, state Assembly Speaker Karen Bass (D-Los Angeles) said she would seek the seat of retiring Democratic Rep. Diane Watson, who appeared with Bass at a Los Angeles news conference Wednesday to give the speaker her endorsement. "This is a very, very humbling moment," Bass told community leaders and supporters who joined her outside her Mid-Wilshire-area office. "I am so proud to announce I'm going to throw my hat into the ring." If elected, Bass said, she'll have "very big shoes to fill."

State Board of Equalization member Conway Collis and consumer advocate Harvey Rosenfield will announce on Monday formation of a citizen support commission for Proposition 103, the successful Nov. 8 ballot insurance measure sponsored by Rosenfield's Voter Revolt group. The move suggests that Collis has the inside track on getting Voter Revolt's endorsement if he decides to run for state insurance commissioner in 1990.

Bracing for a major showdown this week with the Russian Parliament, President Boris N. Yeltsin has solicited and won support for the principle of strong presidential rule from Alexander I. Solzhenitsyn, considered by Russians to be their country's greatest living writer. "Yes, the Russian Federation with its size and diversity cannot exist without a strong presidential authority, which should be no weaker than that of the United States," Solzhenitsyn wrote from his home in Cavendish, Vt.

Gov. Pete Wilson has endorsed 17 Assembly primary election candidates so far as part of his campaign to obtain a Republican voting majority in the lower house as soon as possible, it was disclosed Thursday. Unlike his predecessor, former Gov. George Deukmejian, who stayed out of GOP primary fights, Wilson also may make more endorsements before Tuesday's election, according to an Administration official.

California Republicans peered into their future Sunday, endorsing a controversial ballot proposal for the 1998 ballot that would virtually end bilingual education and getting their first glimpse at a handful of candidates dreaming of the presidential sweepstakes two years later. The bilingual ballot measure was endorsed by a voice vote of party delegates meeting here.

An influential Republican businessman and longtime supporter of Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona said Tuesday he would endorse one of the sheriff's opponents in what's expected to be a contentious race for the county's top law enforcement job. Mario Rodriguez, the former vice chairman of the state Republican Party who headed President Bush's 2004 Western regional campaign, said he'd grown weary of the scandals surrounding the Sheriff's Department and would support Lt.

President Clinton gave Los Angeles City Councilman Michael Woo a boost in the tight mayoral race Saturday, praising him in an official endorsement as a candidate committed to racial harmony, economic development and public safety. In a statement clearly aimed at the moderate middle-class voters likely to decide the officially nonpartisan race, Clinton said Woo has "put people first, consistently fighting for the middle class, appealing to our hopes, not to our fears."

If political payback against 1992 presidential rival Jerry Brown had anything to do with Bill Clinton's support of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom for governor, the former president fought hard Monday to convince Californians otherwise. Clinton didn't mention Brown's name as he announced his support for Newsom, Brown's rival in the Democratic primary for governor in June 2010. Instead, Clinton spoke for nearly 20 minutes about protecting the environment and followed that up with a nod to Newsom as a man dedicated to the cause.

Seventeen years after Bill Clinton and Jerry Brown clashed in the 1992 race for the White House, the former president made clear Tuesday that bygones will not be bygones: Clinton signed on to support Brown rival Gavin Newsom in the Democratic primary for governor. It is highly unusual -- perhaps unprecedented, according to the San Francisco mayor's campaign -- for a former president to take sides in a California gubernatorial primary. But the bad blood between Clinton and Brown, now state attorney general, runs deep, much as Newsom would like Californians to believe that Clinton's choice is based on merit alone.

Reporting from Martha'S Vineyard, Mass., and Washington -- For Barack Obama, the upstart Illinois senator who thought he could be president, January 2008 was a critical moment. As the fight for the Democratic nomination heated up, Hillary Rodham Clinton was hammering Obama's credentials as a liberal and calling in a lifetime of political IOUs from party leaders. But seemingly in the nick of time, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the surviving lion of an iconic political pride, appeared at a rally in Washington to play the trump card of American liberalism: It was the junior senator from Illinois, Kennedy declared, who was the true heir of his martyred brother, the late President John F. Kennedy.

City attorney candidate Michael Amerian won a valuable endorsement Monday from outgoing City Controller Laura Chick, who called him the most independent candidate in the race. "He is not a City Hall insider," Chick said of Amerian, a 34-year-old deputy city attorney who was assigned last year to the department's gang unit. "Michael has been hard at work in our streets and neighborhoods fighting against gangs, domestic violence and other crimes that threaten the quality of our daily lives.

U.S. Rep. Hilda Solis has not yet been confirmed as Labor secretary, but the race to replace her is in full swing. This week, candidate Judy Chu, chairwoman of the state Board of Equalization, received a coveted distinction in local politics: a nod from the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. "She's got a tremendous labor background," said Ed Rendon, political director for the Teamsters Joint Council in Los Angeles, which is a member of the federation's Committee on Political Education.

Credit NBC with putting together back-to-back lures for political junkies. Sarah Palin's long-rumored appearance on "Saturday Night Live" happens tonight. And you can just keep your set tuned to the network when you go to bed, because the "must-see" TV on Sunday morning will be Colin L. Powell's appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press."

They searched their souls, they wrung their hands, and in the end, the San Francisco County Republican Central Committee voted this week to endorse the party's longtime nemesis, Willie Brown, for reelection. The decision was the latest jaw-dropping development in a mayoral race that has confounded political pros and left the town talking of little else since write-in candidate Tom Ammiano, the ultra-liberal president of the Board of Supervisors, forced Brown into a runoff.

The Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune on Friday endorsed Barack Obama -- the first time either newspaper has supported a Democrat for president. Obama has picked up endorsements from several other big newspapers in the last week, including the Boston Globe and the Washington Post. He has been endorsed by more than 50 newspapers nationwide, and his opponent, Republican John McCain, has been endorsed by 16, according to Editor & Publisher, a journal that covers the newspaper industry.