Off-year Election Results and Water for California
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Governor Schwarzenegger calls it "historic and comprehensive." One critic says it’s "a drop in the bucket." Well hear about the water package passed in the wee hours of this morning. Also, Mayor Villaraigosa says naming a new chief of police was his most important appointment. What’s next? We talk with him about Charlie Beck, city policies and politics. On our rebroadcast of today's To the Point, Republicans took governorships from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. A Democrat took a congressional seat from Republicans in upstate New York. Maine voters said "no" to same-sex marriage. What messages, if any, do "off-year elections" carry for national politics?
Main Topic
Is GOP Victory in Governors' Races a Warning to Democrats? ()
The New York Times and even the Times of London have warned about over-interpreting America's off-year elections. Then they've gone right on to do it themselves. That's according to the Columbia Journalism Review, which says, "it just makes politics more fun…[and makes] elections more meaningful by threading them into a broader narrative."
Guests:
- John Mercurio: Senior Editor, The Hotline
- Jonah Goldberg: Editor-at-Large, National Review Online
- David Sirota: nationally syndicated columnist, @davidsirota
- Charlie Bass: former Congressman (R-NH)
- Nan Hunter: Professor of Law, Georgetown University
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Making News
Hizzoner and His Chief Choice ()
Mayor Antonio Villagraigosa said he struggled long and hard before choosing Charlie Beck to succeed Bill Bratton as Chief of the LAPD. Today's Los Angeles Times, and sources we've talked to at Which Way, L.A.?, say Beck was not the first choice of the Mayor's own Police Commission.
Guests:
- Antonio Villaraigosa: Mayor, City of Los Angeles, @villaraigosa
Links:
Main Topic
A Historic Water Plan for California? ()
For once, Governor Schwarzenegger has high praise for the state legislature, which finally passed a package of water bills as dawn was breaking today in Sacramento.
Guests:
- Barry Nelson: Senior Policy Analyst, NRDC
- Dan Walters: Syndicated Columnist, Sacramento Bee, @WaltersBee
- Anthony York: Capitol Weekly, @AnthonyYorkLAT
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Underwriters
Which Way L.A.? is made possible in part by the Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, the Nathan Cummings Foundation, and the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation, which supports study and research into policy issues of the Los Angeles region.
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