San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's publicly-stated reason for dropping out of the Democratic race for governor was the absolute truth: "With a young family and responsibilities at City Hall, I have found it impossible to commit the time required to complete this effort the way it needs to -- and...

Co-written by Jerry Roberts

In recent years, some pollsters, pundits and consultants have pointed to declines in partisan voter registration, along with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's two elections, to question California's reputation as a left-leaning "blue state" and to argue that it is in fact a post-partisan "purple state."

Exhibit A,...

The day before the California Legislature passed the third patchwork version of California's budget in 10 months, Gov. Schwarzenegger took to "Flashreport," the state's leading conservative Web site, to claim "a huge win."

"(T)he biggest winner to emerge from our negotiations is California," the governor bragged, "our state's legacy, its...

The latest J Moore Methods survey finds Jerry Brown leading Gavin Newsom in a two-way race for the 2010 Democratic nomination for governor 46-to-26 percent. It's the first serious poll we know about that considers a Brown-Newsom match-up.

Because at least half of us at Calbuzz have been in the...

One year from today, Democratic and Republican primary election voters will choose their candidates for governor of California.

Seldom in California's history has there been an election with stakes as high for the people of the state. A global recession, felt more acutely here than elsewhere in the nation, has...

By Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts
Calbuzz.com

The skunking of all five special election budget measures backed by Governor Arnold and the Can't Shoot Straight Legislature was a clear signal that voters are way beyond fed up with half-measures, marginal fixes and smoke and mirrors in Sacramento.

Like a...

Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts, Calbuzz.com

About 150 protest veterans, who led the fight 40 years ago to dislodge Stanford University from the War in Vietnam, on Sunday called on Stanford to sever relations with former Provost Condoleezza Rice, arguing that she committed war crimes while on leave as...

By Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts
Calbuzz

Exhibit A for why the California Republican Party is doomed to minority status, at least for now: state GOP chairman Ron Nehring's cut-off-your-nose declaration rejoicing in Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's decision to become a Democrat.

Nehring's statement, issued Tuesday, shows that while...

By Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts
Calbuzz.com

Bottom line on the California Democratic Party convention: San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom made the biggest splash and showed off a slick campaign operation but Attorney General Jerry Brown proved anew that, even without a campaign apparatus, his political presence...

By Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts
www.calbuzz.com

At 2:20 pm today, the California Democratic Party released a list of speakers at this weekend's convention in Sacramento with one big name glaringly absent: Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Exactly one hour and 32 minutes later, Villaraigosa's press office sent...

The cultural war over gay marriage has suddenly re-emerged nationally, setting the stage for volatile political developments in California when the Prop. 8 decision comes down between now and June.

Last Friday's decision by the Iowa Supreme Court that found unconstitutional a state ban on same-sex marriage was followed within...

By Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts
www.calbuzz.com

Consider the problems facing conservative California Republicans. We're not talking about the low-tax, small government, laissez-faire fiscal folks. We're talking about the unflinching, pro-life, pro-gun, anti-gay-marriage conservatives who have, for decades, served as keepers of the GOP flame.

These are the...

By Phil Trounstine and Jerry Roberts

In 1987, then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein set off a civic soap opera in San Francisco, performing a public Hamlet act in weighing whether to seek the congressional seat made vacant by the death of U.S. Rep. Sala Burton, widow of legendary Congressman Phil Burton. Feinstein...

Although he is anything but a dispassionate, neutral newsman, I enjoy watching Keith Olbermann because he's my personal antidote for Bill O'Reilly, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter.

But sometimes he has no sense of proportion, no concept of real politics. Olbermann is, like many on the left, what Lenin might...

Leon Panetta is not only an experienced, level-headed Washington hand and a decent human being, but he's eminently qualified to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Sorry, Sen. Feinstein, that the news leaked out before you could be briefed or suggest your own candidate for the job. But having...

In following the implementation of extended voting throughout the country, most attention has been paid to the long lines that people were forced to endure because systems were not yet adequate to handle the influx of voters seeking to ensure that their ballots were counted.

But that is...

When will the Obama campaign cut the crap and get to the point?

It's not that hard to write the script for a hard-hitting, honest 30-second ad that Barack Obama should be running against John McCain. Here's one version:

Record gas prices.
Recession and a battered stock market.
...

Just watched the GOP's 911 video in which, in case you didn't notice, the film goes directly from a shot of Osama Bin Laden shooting an AK47 and a voice-over that says "And kill us they did" to a shot of the World Trade Center aflame.

How disgusting and...

John McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a running mate is a searing insult to women.

Clearly, Palin was chosen in hopes of attracting women voters. There is virtually no other explanation for picking a right-wing leader of a state with a population of fewer than 680,000 people.

To: Friends in the TV news media
From: Phil Trounstine
Re: Getting snookered by phantom ads

John McCain has released TV ads accusing Barack Obama of:
-- Failing to visit wounded troops in Germany because he couldn't bring the media with him.
-- Being personally...