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There is no mathematical possibility of tomorrow's Mega-Tuesday Democratic balloting for 1,681 delegates in 22 states -- labeled the first "national" primary -- giving either Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama close to the 2,025 delegates necessary for nomination. That unexpected reality is produced by Obama's appeal, Clinton fatigue and the extreme proportional representation used by the Democratic Party. The nation's two major political parties have reverted to form after appearing to have exchanged identities. A year ago, Democrats seemed to be emulating Republican practice in settling for an early anointed candidate, Clinton, while the divided GOP field resembled historical Democratic...

History, as Marx famously said (by way of paraphrasing Hegel), repeats itself -- "the first time as tragedy, the second as farce." A catchy concept, to say the least. And while there's definitely something to it, it's also true that sometimes history does not repeat itself. Take American wars in Japan, the Koreas, Vietnam and Iraq. President Bush, addressing the Veterans of Foreign Wars, recently made a case -- a flawed case -- for a kind of core continuity linking these disparate conflicts. It's not that he didn't admit there are many differences among them ("There are many differences" among...

That gets the support of the Legislature's most fiscally conservative member, veteran Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks). Let the majority party rule and be accountable for the consequences, McClintock says. Give 'em the rope to hang themselves. And with a two-thirds vote still required for tax hikes, he notes, "spending can't run away."

When state Sen. Bob Margett walks among the manufacturers and dairy farmers of his conservative district, he says, "it's all attaboys" for his part in the seven-week budget stalemate that has paralyzed much of state government. " 'Bob, . . . thank God for the Senate,' " the Arcadia lawmaker recalled hearing time and again. "I'm getting all these attaboys to hang in there, and that's my constituency. I don't have a single vote in San Francisco." .... Nor is he beholden to voters in other largely Democratic urban areas. Margett and 13 GOP colleagues in the Senate represent a...

When Mike Genest's appointment as state finance director came before the Senate last year, I voted against his confirmation. Although I had supported both of his predecessors, Genest had already demonstrated a willingness to cook the state's books in a manner that we hadn't seen since the Davis years. In the time since his confirmation, he has produced the biggest single-year general fund deficit in California's history and employed accounting gimmickry that would make an Enron accountant blush. These qualities are on full display in his recent attack (Aug. 10, Page B-7) on Sen. Jeff Denham's courageous stand for a...

It will take at least $2.9 billion of reductions to truly balance the budget and provide a prudent reserve. If that sounds like a lot, it would still leave the state spending $8.5 billion more than the year before last, and nearly $22 billion more than at the outset of this administration. Most Senate Republicans are asking for much less than that: just the $700 million of spending reductions that would balance the budget, if only on paper. So far, the governor's pledge to use his line-item veto to make those reductions doesn't ring true. For example, about $160 million...

Arnold Schwarzenegger became the first governor in memory -- at least going back to Pat Brown -- to parachute into the district of a legislator of his own party and exhort citizens to browbeat their representative into voting his way.... Senate Republicans assert that's not enough. "They're phony reductions," says Sen. Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks). He cites one example: Schwarzenegger would "save" $160 million by delaying a Medi-Cal payment for one month, shoving it into the next fiscal year. He adds: "What the governor says and what the governor does are two distinctively different things."

The chances of another maverick joining Maldonado appear to be fading. Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Atwater, has been specifically targeted because of his being somewhat less conservative than other senators, but he's reacted to the pressure -- including a Democratic Party threat of a recall campaign -- by becoming more adamant. If, as the Field Poll indicates, public pressure is unlikely to crack the GOP solidarity in the Senate, the question now is whether Democrats will feel enough pressure from their constituent groups that are dependent on state financing to give ground on the Jerry Brown demand. This week's rhetorical maneuvers...

In a move that would diminish the clout of his fellow Republicans in the Legislature, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suggested Monday that he could support eliminating the two-thirds voting requirement for passing future state budgets. "Everyone now has come to the conclusion -- all the leaders -- that we must work, as soon as the budget is over, work on a system that allows us to have a budget on time," the governor said. "If that means we should go and shoot for, as some suggested, a simple majority to pass the budget rather than a two-thirds vote, maybe that's the...

As the stalemate over the budget continues into its seventh week, taxpayers are troubled over mischaracterizations in the mainstream media about who is responsible. The negative attention is focused on Senate Republicans who are being portrayed as the obstructionists. But viewed fairly, their position is both reasonable and mainstream. They want to see a balanced budget -- rather than saddle future generations with a massive debt load – and they want to ensure that the $42 billion dollars of bond financing for infrastructure just passed by voters last November is actually spent on infrastructure. Moreover, the position which these Senators...

He accused GOP lawmakers of continuing to withhold their votes, even after all their demands related to the budget had been met, in hopes of extracting other policy concessions. "All of a sudden, now we've got to work on this, we've got to work on that," Schwarzenegger said. "So they are adding things. We say today, don't keep adding things. You are hurting people. People in California are suffering. Lay off. Pass the budget." Though Schwarzenegger didn't mention Cogdill by name, he did single out Cogdill's fellow GOP holdout, Sen. Jeff Denham, a Republican whose district includes nearby Merced. Denham,...

The fate of the overdue state budget hangs on one vote, but Jeff Denham says this time it won't be his. The Atwater Republican senator, who used to be one of the Democrats' go-to guys for votes, vows he will not cave on the budget this year. He says he's determined despite enduring several political punches, the latest of which involves a recall effort in his competitive Central Valley district. "I'm not going to be bullied or intimidated or pressured into voting for anything," said the almond farmer and business owner. "I think it's the right thing to do." Denham's...

Senate Republicans don't seem to know how to declare victory and walk away from the table. If they continue to hold up the budget -- especially for non-budget issues -- after getting what they asked for in vetoes, the process implodes, negotiations will start from scratch, and we will likely lose the billions of dollars in reductions contained in the bill passed by the Assembly. Schwarzenegger has worked very well with Republicans on such issues as reforming workers' compensation, cutting the car tax, building prisons, increasing the water supply and protecting the "three strikes" law. He has worked equally well...

Ackerman, meanwhile, has maintained remarkable unity, despite the defection of one senator -- the proof being the growing frustration among Democrats and in the Governor's Office. Although Ackerman had been under fire for being too cozy with Schwarzenegger and Democrats and retained his leadership position by a single vote, his mild-mannered stubbornness has made him a force. Núñez and Perata may say they won't negotiate further, but they have almost no capacity to force Republicans to budge, given their safe districts and their lack of personal stakes in the budget's details. Perata's declaration that he won't take up other legislation...

Prospects for quickly ending the stalemate over the state's budget dimmed Wednesday as the Senate failed to pass the $145 billion spending plan, now 6 1/2 weeks overdue. The budget bill failed 26-14, one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed for it to pass. Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, placed the responsibility on the chamber's minority Republicans, who have a long list of conditions they say need to be met. "This is a Republican problem," he said after the failed vote. "It is going to have to be solved by Republicans." Wednesday's vote came as the Senate...

The budget impasse in Sacramento is unwelcome news for the soon-to-be-termed-out legislators who hope to persuade voters next year to let them keep their jobs a little longer. It also is a problem for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who wants to enact major health care reform this year. His situation is particularly delicate, since the budget is languishing because he cannot persuade the members of his own party to vote for it. Perhaps more than anything except a badly handled disaster, late budgets have the potential to drag down approval ratings. They make leaders look ineffective at the main task they...

DRESDEN, Germany - Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and challenger Angela Merkel battled over a last remaining seat in parliament Friday, hoping to get an edge in a weekend vote and end Germany's political stalemate. Merkel suggested that Sunday's balloting in the eastern city of Dresden might prompt Schroeder to back off his bid to stay in the chancellery. But Schroeder showed no sign of yielding, reminding voters of his popular opposition to the war in Iraq and calling his rivals "not fit" to govern because they couldn't stand up to "big partners" — such as the United States. The rest of...

Six-Party Talks Grind On Six-party talks aimed at resolving the North Korean nuclear dispute ground into their third day in Beijing on Thursday with few signs of any progress as North Korea reportedly continued to insist it should be given civilian-use light-water reactors. An official connected to the talks said things were unclear and there was little hope of a breakthrough. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs Christopher Hill leaves his hotel in Beijing on Thursday to attend a conference of top negotiators of the six-party talks, which aim to resolve the North Korean...

I have been wracking my brain for a while now for a good reason for Republicans in the Senate not to get rid of the filibuster in the case of judicial nominees. You know, something about the higher need for comity, respect for the traditions of the "world's greatest deliberative body," the need for majorities to act with restraint so that minorities do not feel oppressed, etc. I give up. There are no principles at stake here. The prerequisite for a Senate rule that requires 60 votes for cloture is sufficient institutional comity to ensure that the filibuster is not...

Iran is planning to mount a staunch defense of its nuclear energy program at an international conference beginning today and will insist on rights to the same technology afforded to all members of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a senior Iranian official said in an interview yesterday. The high-level counteroffensive, to be led by Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi, comes in anticipation of a tough speech the Bush administration is preparing to give today calling for international measures against Tehran unless it gives up sensitive aspects of its nuclear program. (See rest of article.)