It’s 6:30 a.m., 53° and going to 63° You know the drill. Details are here.
Well, starting yesterday, Ed Lee is in the race for mayor, and the gloves are off. There was booing at last night’s debate between the mayoral candidates at the Castro Theater.
There has also been more scrutiny of Lee’s past. Did he grant minority-owned contractor status to Krystal Trucking and get a $4,000 pay bump from Willie Brown shortly thereafter? Was part of the point of the “Run, Ed, Run” campaign to skirt the city’s strict campaign finance laws? As the Chron puts it, “thousands of dollars in unregulated money were spent on behalf of someone who technically wasn’t a candidate yet.”
Also yesterday: Jerry Brown signed a bill making California the ninth state to sign on in support of stepping away from the Electoral College in presidential elections and toward the popular vote.
Even if the measure gets the 270 electoral votes it would need to change the way presidential elections are handled, it probably won’t take effect in time for the next one.
But if the change is enacted, word is that it will reduce the importance of the handful of swing states that usually get all of the attention from candidates — while large states, such as New York, California and Texas, are virtually ignored in presidential races except when candidates need to raise money.
The article mentions that the measure, authored by Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, has twice been passed in similar form by lawmakers but was vetoed in 2006 and 2008 by then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.