Just How Dumb Do They Think We Are?

We are into the final days of the primary in California and what we now see is almost a repeat of an old joke. When I first got involved in politics there was a joke that a politician who was running against a female opponent who had done acting in high school once charged "My opponent is a known thespian." The problem is in today's world someone must have taken this as a guidebook. The intensity of attacks at the end of an election cycle are significant and troubling. In the last couple of days the intensity of the mean-spiritedness has multiplied. Then some politician asks "Why is turnout so low?" It does not take even a dim bulb to figure that one out.

The last field poll shows Angelides and Westly in a dead heat in the democrat Governor's primary. It shows Brown handily beating Delgadillo in the democrat AG race. Spier winning against Garamendi in the Lieutenant Governor's race. And Ortiz beating Bowen in the democrat Secretary of State race. Spier is the better choice but the others are ones, were I a democrat, that I would not choose.

In the GOP races - Strickland seems to have it over Maldanado in the controller race and Richman and Parrish are in a dead heat.

In most of the races there is a high component of undecideds - that is except in the Reiner plan to increase income taxes on the wealthiest to pay for mandatory pre-school - that is losing by 5% with only 13% undecided. And the trendline has continued to deteriorate. The voters seem to have gotten that one. One wonders how to fix the problem of the consultant's perception that going negative works.