Primaries and CA Propositions

As most of you know, Hillary and Mitt won their respective Nevada caucuses, and John McCain won South Carolina. There's not a whole lot more analysis I can add to the avalanche of discussion about this, but there's a few things that stand out for me:

1) It's not over -- getting out and voting on February 5 is more important than ever, no matter what the result of the South Carolina Democratic primary next week. A Clinton candidacy is not a foregone conclusion. Get out and vote on Feb. 5! You can find your polling place here (if you are in L.A. County).

2) Hillary's a tough nut. For those of us who currently support someone other than Hillary, we do need to be prepared for a Clinton candidacy - and to support it if that does come to pass. And not just support it -- I mean do everything in our power to get her elected. I would expect no less from Clinton supporters if Obama is the nominee. The one thing I liked about the 'kum-ba-ya" debate last weekend was that all three candidates looked like they thought it was more important for a Democrat to win than anything else. This is the Democrats' year to take back the White House, and we can't afford to stay home.

3) Propositions - I don't like the initiative process, and this year is no exception. I am voting "no" on all of them. Props 91 and 92 are budgeting by constitutional amendment - a horrible idea. It effectively puts the budget process out of the hands and responsibility of the Legislature, and is very difficult to change. Prop 93 is a backroom deal cut to keep Assembly Speaker Nunez and State Senate Pro Tem Don Perata in power a few more years. LAT has an interesting op-ed on this here. I've come around to the idea that term limits are bad - but this doesn't seem the way to fix it. Props 94-97 are all expansions of slot machines by the thousands on Indian reservations to provide the state with some more dollars. Short term gain, but the price paid is even more influence over state policy by an entity other than the state. Plus, it looks like it benefits just a few tribes. Finally, Prop S I'm still not quite sure what it does, so I'm voting no. Clarifications are welcome.

4) Finally - for those of you who have not seen this Bill Moyers piece on MLK and LBJ, it's worth watching - and, on this Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend, reminds us why we are Democrats. (Courtesy TPM).