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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Alighieri who wrote (173594)	8/12/2003 6:14:15 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1573691

<font color=green>This is amazing......can you imagine how long the ballot will be................<font color=black> ******************************************** Nearly 250 File in California SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Aug. 12) - A total of 247 people have filed candidacy papers for the Oct. 7 recall election, the secretary of state said Tuesday, as county officials warned of major problems in staging the vote. Of those candidates, 115 have been completed for certification and the rest were being reviewed, according to the secretary of state's Web site. Ninety-five Democrats filed papers, with 45 cleared so far. The most prominent among them was Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante, who is being promoted by party leaders as the most desirable Democrat if Gov. Gray Davis is recalled. Seventy-seven Republicans filed papers, with 33 cleared so far. Applications also came from 58 independents, six Green Party members, four Libertarians, three American Independents, two Natural Law Party members and two Peace and Freedom candidates. Former presidential candidate Ralph Nader said he would endorse fellow Green Party member Peter Camejo for governor on Tuesday afternoon. Camejo captured 5.3 percent of the vote for a third-place finish in last fall's race for governor. Staging the election is posing major challenges for county elections officials, who fear problems with processing such a large ballot, including doing more work by hand. Secretary of State Kevin Shelley urged precision over speed when polls close on Oct. 7 and conceded it could take several days to finalize results. ''I urge them to do it accurately,'' he said. The expanded ballot also means higher costs for the special election, now estimated at up to $66 million. Contra Costa County elections officials said the long candidate list could raise ballot costs by $750,000 over the county's earlier estimate of $1.6 million. Shelley said the state's costs have ballooned from $7 million to $11 million.The rest of the money will come from counties that likely will have to dip into funds set aside for the presidential primary in March. ''It's like we're spending next month's rent or grocery bill,'' Michael Petrucello, assistant registrar-recorder clerk for Los Angeles County, told the Los Angeles Times. Election costs in the state's most populous county are expected to reach $13.2 million. Shelley promised Monday to ask the Legislature for financial help. Among the added costs will be first-class postage needed to make sure hefty ballot pamphlets arrive in 11 million homes on time. Normally, the pamphlets are mailed at a lower postage rate that takes more time. With each candidate allowed to make a 250-word statement, the size of the pamphlet could reach 50 pages. The California State Association of Counties, noting the state has typically paid for special elections, also intends to seek legislative relief. On Monday, state election officials randomly drew letters to determine the order of the Oct. 7 recall ballot. Jeff Rainforth, chairman of the Reform Party of California, thought he'd won top billing after R was the first letter pulled out of the Keno-style tumbler. ''We were pretty ecstatic,'' said the 35-year-old Rainforth, whose name ranks first - alphabetically, at least - among 15 would-be governors whose surnames begin with the lucky letter. But under the lottery-style system, the reordered 26-letter alphabet - beginning R, W, Q, O, J, M, V, A and eventually ending with L - is applied throughout candidates' names. That means that David Laughing Horse Robinson, chairman of the Kawaiisu Indian tribe, goes first, not Rainforth, because O comes before A in the state's newfangled alphabet. To avoid giving any one candidate a lasting edge, their names will be rotated one position for each Assembly district, of which there are 80. Robinson's name will be first on the ballot only in California 1st district, which stretches from the northernmost border to Sonoma County. The precise order and its potential ramifications won't be known until late Wednesday, however, when Shelley certifies how many candidates actually qualified for the ballot. The state has used this system since 1975 to help erase the estimated 5 percent advantage a candidate gets from being at the top of the ballot. AP-NY-08-12-03 1701EDT Copyright 2003 The Associated Press.

To: Alighieri who wrote (173594)	8/12/2003 7:21:06 PM
From: tejek	Respond to of 1573691

The Texans are at it again! ********************************************************* caller.com Demo walkout has no end in sight 11 senators remain away in opposition to redistricting effort By Monica Wolfson Scripps Howard Austin Bureau August 12, 2003 AUSTIN - Some Texas Republican lawmakers thought the Senate Democratic walkout over congressional redistricting would play out much like it did in the Texas House. Senators would leave the state for a few days, get lots of national press and then return to Texas. But it hasn't worked out that way. As Senate Democrats remain in New Mexico, the rhetoric from both political parties becomes increasingly bitter and there appears no end in sight to the political impasse. About five days before 11 Senate Democrats left the state for New Mexico, both Republican and Democratic senators spoke about the likelihood of a walkout, but lawmakers vowed the political maneuver wouldn't harm bipartisanship in the Senate. "The assumption was, they told us they were likely to leave and the assumption was they'd leave for a couple of days, get a little national press, get their pictures in the paper and come back," said Sen. Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay. "The assumption was they would come back after a short period of time." The walkout has now stretched to 14 days, as Senate Democrats remain in Albuquerque. By comparison, Texas House Democrats, who went to Oklahoma in May to kill a congressional redistricting bill, were gone four days. "We knew they were serious in their concerns, but also the problem with the position they are taking is there is no endgame," Fraser said. "There is not a plan for them to get a victory out of this." What started out as "making a statement" has turned into a cause, said David Beckwith, spokesman for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst. "After they got (to New Mexico) thinking they were going to stay a few days and then declare victory or whatever they thought they were going to do, they got captured by the Democratic National Committee blowing smoke up their rears and telling them what great Americans they were " Beckwith said. "So now they've gone from making a statement to 'doing the right thing.' They think they are Rosa Parks II." Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa, D-McAllen, said the Republican leadership is suffering from a case of wishful thinking. Hinojosa said he hasn't had any contact with the Democratic National Committee, although exiled lawmakers have talked with Texas Democratic congressmen. "Fraser is living in a dream world," Hinojosa said. "We told everyone we'd be gone 30 days, no more or less until the two-thirds rule was put back in place." While Senate Democrats were able to successfully kill a Republican congressional redistricting plan in the first special session by cobbling together a coalition of blocker votes, the Senate leadership took away the rule in the second special session. Senate rules dictate that two-thirds or 21 senators have to agree to debate a bill before it can reach the Senate floor for discussion. Dewhurst got rid of the rule when a second 30-day special session was called July 28, the same day 11 Senate Democrats boarded private jets bound for New Mexico. "There is an exit strategy," Hinojosa said. "Reinstate the two-thirds rule that the Republicans have used in the past. Of the 11 senators, we have seven Hispanics and two African-Americans. We have to protect minority rights." The Legislature is revisiting congressional redistricting because Republicans want to send more Republican lawmakers to Congress. While voters elected Republicans to every statewide office, Democrats have a 17-15 advantage of the 32 congressional seats. Republicans say they want the congressional delegation to reflect state voting patterns. Democrats oppose congressional redistricting on its face. But they also argue that the maps drawn to elect 21 Republican congressmen to Washington dilute minority votes. Contact Monica Wolfson at (512) 334-6642 or by e-mail at wolfsonm@scripps.com.