Local Updates:
– Pamela Comstock, a first-time candidate for Santa Cruz City Council, has raised more money than any other candidate in the race, with a grand total of $31,800 as of Oct. 8. Comstock has chosen not to abide by the city’s voluntary spending limit of $26,641, but has not surpassed it yet, with over $10,000 left to spend. With a strong focus on advertising, Comstock spent $1,525 to put ads on local pedicabs. In second place is Don Lane, who has chosen not to accept donations over $250 and has raised $22,800.
– Bruce McPherson, a candidate for the Fifth District Santa Cruz County Supervisor seat, has raised $173,000 as of Oct. 5. This amount is by far the highest ever raised for a Santa Cruz County Supervisor candidacy. His opponent, Eric Hammer, has raised $72,000.
State Updates:
– At a Democratic rally at UC Davis on Oct. 10, former president Bill Clinton endorsed Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax-hike measure. Additionally, Clinton encouraged California residents to vote against Proposition 32, which would reduce the political power of unions.
– A sharp increase in gas prices in California has become a campaign issue for state elections. Higher gas prices could affect voting on tax measures on the November ballot. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), requesting an investigation into the skyrocketing cost of gas and accusing the FTC of “failing to take action to protect California consumers from malicious trading schemes in the California gasoline market.”
– Charles Munger, Jr. and Molly Munger, two multimillionaire siblings, have spearheaded a statewide ad campaign against Gov. Brown’s Proposition 30 tax hike measure. The ads claim that the money raised from the tax increase would not be guaranteed to support education and could be used for other political purposes. A recent Los Angeles Times poll showed Proposition 30 polling at 54 percent, whereas Proposition 38, the tax increase initiative that Molly Munger has supported, polled at only 34 percent.
National Updates:
– Mitt Romney, in an Oct. 10 interview with the Des Moines Register, stated that he would not use taxpayer dollars to hire more teachers, stating that “Hiring school teachers is not going to raise the growth of the U.S. economy over the next three to four years.” In the Denver presidential debate on Oct. 3, Romney said “ … I reject the idea that I don’t believe in great teachers or more teachers.”
– A new TV ad for Obama’s presidential campaign features Big Bird, the Sesame Street character, in a response to Mitt Romney’s claim that he would stop subsidies to PBS despite his love for Big Bird. The ad names several well-known, white-collar criminals in juxtaposition with a silhouette of Big Bird, intoning that “Mitt Romney knows it’s not Wall Street you have to worry about, it’s Sesame Street.” The Republican National Committee criticized the ad for being flippant and inappropriately humorous.
– Voter registration was closed Tuesday in Colorado, Florida, and Ohio, three crucial swing states. A registration drive led by President Obama’s campaign produced a democratic advantage in most swing states save for Colorado and New Hampshire. However, democrats have substantially less of a lead in voter registration than in 2008. In Iowa in 2008, democrats had over 103,000 more voters registered than republicans. This number dropped to only 12,828 more registered democrat voters in 2012.
