The Tide Is Turning

According to the Field Poll - the most respected statewide California poll - the electorate here in the Golden State, which just a few years ago strongly endorsed a statewide ballot initiative against same-sex marriage, is coming around on the issue.

Fifty-one percent of those polls said they oppose a likely November referendum amending the state constitution to outlaw gay marriage. News accounts of the poll are here and here, and you can read the actual Field Poll report here.

The results are encouraging, but close. The battle over this referendum will be long, tough, and costly. You can learn more about the coalition forming to fight the assault on LGBT rights, and donate to the campaign for our rights, by going to the website for Equality for All.

Yacht Party

I recall an episode of the West Wing, where Sam Seaborn, Rob Lowe's character, chastised congressional Democrats for suggesting he pepper a presidential speech with what he considered cheap, caricatured attacks on Republicans as favoring tax breaks for yachts and swimming pools for the wealthy.

Well, not so fast, Mr. Seaborn. Apparently, here in California, the increasingly hard-line, ideological and flaky Republican caucus in Sacramento is refusing to address the yawning state budget deficit by closing a tax loophole for yacht purchasers.

The Courage Campaign, a network of progressive activists, wants to call the GOP out on this and is trying to rebrand the state GOP as the "Yacht Party." The organization is raising funds to help the following ad to get the message out:

Madame Speaker

Today California made history. Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, took the oath of office as Speaker of the Assembly -- the first African-American woman to lead a state legislative chamber in U.S. History.

Karen Bass rocks -- in every way. She is progressive, smart, eloquent, passionate, creative, hard-working, focused, and a lot more. The fact that Karen can serve only one more term is a proof of the stupidity of term limits. Given a choice, voters would surely elect Karen again and again and again.

Karen, 54, is no lifetime pol. She was elected to the Assembly in 2004 after years as a community organizer in South Los Angeles. A physician's assistant raised in the Venice-Fairfax area, left the medical field in the early 1990s to try to find solutions for drug addiction, gun violence and other social ills she witnessed in treating emergency room patients. The nonprofit group she founded, the Community Coalition, helped limit the number of liquor stores that reopened in South Los Angeles after the 1992 riots.

Karen is also a state co-chair for the Barack Obama campaign.

More coverage at the LATimes and LAist. The text of her acceptance speech is here.