Call it the “reset” address. President Barack Obama devoted most of his State of the Union to appealing to the middle – independent voters who delivered his landslide in 2008 and have since shown signs of buyer’s remorse. He was personal, describing some of the 10 letters from citizens he’s [...]
My colleague Jeremy Hay reported today that two Rohnert Park City Council members walked out of a budget meeting in protest on Tuesday. “The departure of (Amie) Breeze and (Joe) Callinan … delineated a clear rift on the council that was strikingly personal in tone,” the story said. For those [...]
I’ve just recovered from a bad virus at home. Not H1N1 but a nasty malware bug known as the “Personal Security Center” infection. My home laptop has had it before, but this one was particularly insidious. It’s a “security system” that pops up on your computer and claims to have [...]
The ground just shook in Washington. Associated Press has just projected Scott Brown as the winner of the special election for Ted Kennedy's Senate seat. CNN says Brown just received the concession call from Democrat Martha Coakley. This is a stunning upset. The count isn't even going to be that close. Two big questions: [...]
If the numbers in Massachusetts hold steady, this would be a major upset in the works. With 65 percent of the vote in, Brown is leading with 53 percent of the vote. Coakley has 46 percent. No Republican has held this Senate seat since John F. Kennedy beat Henry Cabot Lodge, [...]
Were the major news organizations caught napping on the Senate special election in Massachusetts today? We're wondering. Polls closed back East at 5 p.m. Pacific time, and we turned on our TV to find that none of the major networks or other news organizations were doing any exit polling. As Wolf Blitzer on CNN [...]
Paul Kelley, 46, the most conservative of the five supervisors, faced a tough re-election battle this year against Windsor City Councilwoman Debora Fudge and Healdsburg City Councilman Mike McGuire. Kelley beat Fudge by fewer than 300 votes in the 2006 election. But it’s also not a given that Kelley would have lost [...]
“This is what I wanted to talk to you about,” Supervisor Paul Kelley said as he slid a manila folder across the table toward me and tapped it with his hand. "In here, you'll find my announcement that I will not be seeking re-election for a fifth term in office.” Although [...]
Is political spin making the drought look worse? Today, two readers questioned the annual Santa Rosa rainfall average published by The Press Democrat. A comment attached to our drought editorial said: “We will always be in drought because the annual average rainfall went from like 25 inches to over 30 [...]
Santa Rosa City Schools opted out of the state’s Race to the Top program, citing concerns about potential strings attached to the federal dollars and the prospect that districts with weaker schools would be targeted for the money. But more than half the school districts in the state have applied, [...]
Paul Gullixson
Jim Sweeney
This blog is written by Press Democrat editorial writers Paul Gullixson and Jim Sweeney.