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What has changed since Golden State voters ousted Gov. Gray Davis and cast their lot with Arnold Schwarzenegger's star power? Not much -- except for $41 billion in new spending, says Investor's Business Daily (IBD). At a point when most state lawmakers and chief executives have put their budgets to bed, neatly balanced, and taken off for some R&R, the Legislature and governor of California are still wrangling over a budget that is roughly $15 billion out of balance. This is nothing new. We've been hearing about these budget gaps, delays and political standoffs since before the current governor took...

California: What has changed since Golden State voters ousted Gray Davis and cast their lot with Arnold Schwarzenegger's star power? Not much — except for $41 billion in new spending.What's big, blue and red all over? The great, Democrat-dominated and profligate state government of California. At a point when most state lawmakers and chief executives have put their budgets to bed, neatly balanced, and taken off for some R&R, the Legislature and governor of California are still wrangling over a budget that is roughly $15 billion out of balance. This is nothing new. We've been hearing about these budget gaps,...

An appeals court says an inmate can't sue former Gov. Gray Davis even though he wrongly denied the prisoner parole for three years. The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals says governors are shielded from private lawsuits because they are essentially acting as judges and that erroneous decisions can be corrected on appeal. But the court did agreed that Davis had no authority to reverse the decision by the California Board of Prison Terms to parole Donald Miller, who was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. Governors can only review parole decisions on murder convictions.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sidestepped the superdelegate controversy as she opened the California Democratic Party convention tonight in San Jose, instead taking aim at likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain. Pelosi noted that McCain campaigned alongside Governor Schwarzenegger during the polarizing special election the governor called in 2005. Schwarzenegger tried to pass ballot measures aimed at weakening the power of public employee unions, changing teacher tenure rules and clamping down on state spending. Californians rejected those reforms and she predicted they'd reject McCain as well. The gathering at the San Jose Convention Center continues through...

Arnold Schwarzenegger stormed into office during California's last budget crisis, promising to "end the crazy deficit spending" so the state would never go over the financial cliff again. But four years later, California is back in the same spot. The cooling economy has opened up a projected $14.5 billion deficit over the next 18 months, and the governor proposed this week to cut school spending, release 22,000 prisoners early and shut dozens of state parks. The irony is rich: He is facing a repeat of the financial crisis that undid Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, the man Schwarzenegger ousted in a...

The State Capitol is hemorrhaging red ink. The non-partisan legislative analyst's office (LAO) has released a report showing that the revenue shortfall from the budget just passed in August could exceed $10 billion. Fortunately, the governor and the Legislature established a modest $4 billion reserve or the deficit would be much higher. How did we get into this mess? If this seems like déjà vu all over again, you're right. It's been just seven years since then Governor Gray Davis, who inherited a budget surplus, began to run up massive state deficits which were largely responsible for his being recalled....

Ousted unceremoniously by Arnold Schwarzenegger on the triumphant governor's first day in office, the former head of the Department of Motor Vehicles has waged a four-year campaign against his former employer. His mission: to collect unemployment benefits. It's not that Steven Gourley needs the $5,000 he believes he has coming for six weeks when he was out of work. He's now a lawyer in private practice who figures he's spent more than $5,000 just on filing fees in his unemployment case. Rather, Gourley is trying to make a point. The point involves rather arcane arguments about procedural matters at the...

In hindsight, it's only fitting that Arnold Schwarzenegger swept into office by recalling Gray Davis. Because the way things are going these days, we find ourselves recalling Davis all the time. Davis, you might, er, recall, was given the boot for allowing California to run up a massive budget deficit. Under his watch, Sacramento locked itself into outrageous spending patterns based on the assumption that the dot-com boom would last forever. It didn't, Gray got dumped, and along came Arnold, who has proved to be little more than a Davis sequel. Although Schwarzenegger proposed strong spending restraints in 2005, they...

SACRAMENTO – State spending under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has been growing faster than it did under former Gov. Gray Davis, who was ousted in a historic recall election driven mainly by a huge budget gap. The new state budget proposed by Schwarzenegger would spend $103.8 billion in the general fund, which pays for most programs – an increase of more than 30 percent since he took office, about the same as the boost under Davis. But it took Davis five years to raise spending by about one-third. Schwarzenegger, who was elected in the fall 2003 recall, has done the same...

Terrorists Spoke of Attack More Devastating Than September 11 A series of intercepted telephone conversations between suspected members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network prompted George Bush's decision to order a general terror alert for the United States on Monday, reports said yesterday. The calls indicated an attack against America that would be even more devastating than the 11 September assaults. The CIA and the FBI presented the information to President Bush and his national security team on Monday morning. While the intelligence from the telephone calls was chilling, officials wrangled for hours over whether the public should hear about ...

The last time California passed a major health reform law, Gray Davis was governor. And in just more than a year, both he and the law were gone. Now, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who won office when voters ousted Davis in 2003 and played a role in overturning his health care law, is trying another health expansion. The question is whether his reform will meet the same fate. Just like the law Davis signed, Schwarzenegger's plan has support from Democrats but not Republicans and upsets some business interests. But the Davis law had the backing of unions, doctors, hospitals and some...

SACRAMENTO An arbitrator has ruled that state officials miscalculated wages and benefits for corrections employees, a mistake that will cost California taxpayers an estimated $440 million over two years and force cuts to other state departments. The ruling, made public Friday, means the state will pay $200 million for back pay and health benefits to about 30,000 prison guards, probation officers and other correctional employees, retroactive to July 1, 2005. In addition, the employees are due a 3.1 percent pay increase retroactive to the start of the year under a provision that ties their wages to those of other law...

SACRAMENTO — He was booted out of the Capitol three years ago, but when former Gov. Gray Davis returns today to watch the man who replaced him sworn in for a second term, he'll find an eerie resemblance to what he left behind. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has entrusted onetime Davis aides with his administration's success, appointing them to top jobs. He has embraced policies that Davis favored and settled into a similar governing style. The Republican incumbent is even beginning to sound a bit like his Democratic predecessor. --snip-- "If you look at where I come down on issues and...

OAKLAND — Political and social activists, historians and educators from the United States and around the world are gathering in the Bay Area this weekend to discuss reparations for slavery of African people and colonialism in Africa. "The wealth of the West is built on slavery of African people," said Penny Hess, chairwoman of the African People Solidarity Committee. "White people need to recognize it and support (reparations)." Hess is one of nine speakers during the two-day event set for Saturday in Oakland and Sunday in San Francisco. The event celebrates African People Solidarity Day and calls for the white...

Remember the old adage about not wishing for something too much, because you might get it and regret it later? California politics are full of reminders about decisions that ignore long-term consequences. As the energy crisis was unfolding in 2000 and 2001, the state's politicians overspent a one-time windfall of income tax revenue, creating a chronic budget deficit whose multibillion-dollar effects also will be felt for years. Democrat Gray Davis undermined his governorship by botching the energy and budget crises, driving his popularity so low that in 2003 conservative activists launched a recall campaign that ousted Davis and elected Republican...

Locked up in a state prison cell in Tracy, Alan Mann was so excited he had to put down his newspaper when he got word that Gov. Gray Davis had been tossed from office in the historic 2003 recall election. As a convicted felon serving a life sentence for killing his best buddy in a San Jose field in 1980, Mann couldn't vote. But he had more than a passing interest in seeing Arnold Schwarzenegger replace Davis -- ... snip ... For Mann and the 29,000 state inmates serving life sentences for murder and other serious crimes, there was virtually...

Fanning the Flames Melanie Morgan's swing from liberal to right-wing radio shouter may not have happened overnight, but it's permanent -- and profitable Morgan at the mike from which she led the charge to recall Gov. Davis and rails against Spare the Air Day in the KSFO studios. Chronicle photo by Carlos Avila Gonzalez lighter side of Morgan: playing with Rufus, a golden retriever/chow mix from the SFSPCA as Tracy Pore tells listeners that he's up for adoption. Chronicle photo by Carlos Avila Gonzalez Joe Garofoli Sunday, October 8, 2006 In the predawn darkness shortly after 5 a.m., Melanie...

As Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger looks toward a second term, he has vowed to make access to health care a top priority. Schwarzenegger intends to unveil a major health-care plan in January, if re-elected. In preparation, Schwarzenegger has hired a top-level staff to actually write the proposal that includes ranking health-care experts from former Gov. Gray Davis' administration. Richard Figueroa, a veteran health-care consultant and go-to person for health issues on Davis' executive staff, is joining Schwarzenegger's team next week, according to Capitol and private sources with direct knowledge of Figueroa's new position. They confirmed that Schwarzenegger intends to release...

As Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, looks toward a second term, his administration has vowed to make access to health care a top priority. The govenror hopes to unveil a major health-care plan that he hopes to unveil in January if he is re-elected. In preparation, Schwarzenegger has hired a top-level staff to actually write the proposal that includes ranking health-care experts from former Gov. Gray Davis' administration. Richard Figueroa, a veteran health care consultant and go-to person for health issues on Davis' executive staff, will join Schwarzenegger's team next week in the Department of Managed Health Care, according to Capitol...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger got off to a fast start in his annual September Veto Parade yesterday by saying he would reject state Sen. Sheila Kuehl's nonsensical, poorly drafted bill mandating that California adopt socialized medicine. It is a sad commentary on the Legislature that Kuehl's bill made it this far. Perhaps the governor next can tackle measures that are, respectively, anti-consumer, anti-common sense and pro-corruption. AB 2592, by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would allow car-rental companies to omit the cost of airport fees when advertising rental rates. How does Leno – who sees himself as a classic liberal do-gooder...

SACRAMENTO Despite a midsummer heat wave that has pushed energy use to an all-time high this week, experts say Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger probably does not have to fear the blackouts that ended former Gov. Gray Davis' political career. And he has Davis to thank for that. The long-term contracts Davis signed, at great political cost, guarantee plentiful energy for the next few years at what now look like good rates. "In an interesting twist of fate, he's benefiting from the decisions that his predecessor suffered for," said Frank Wolak, a Stanford economist who specializes in energy. "The terrible contracts" Davis...

In a rare show of bipartisanship, former Govs. Pete Wilson and Gray Davis asked state legislators and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to stand behind curriculum standards and testing they credit with improving performance in the state's public schools. "Standards provide a measure of excellence regardless of one's skin color, family income or ZIP code. We believe that if we set expectations high, students will respond," Republican Wilson and Democrat Davis wrote in an open letter Friday. The governors' letter came a week after Democratic lawmakers stripped funding for the Board of Education from the state budget. Lawmakers had warned the board...

The purveyors of revisionist political history are back at work this week, inspired by the death of Enron Corp. founder -- and convicted felon -- Kenneth Lay to revive the myth that were it not for Enron and Lay, California wouldn't have experienced its 2001 energy crisis. ... --snip-- Attorney General Bill Lockyer had the good manners to remain silent about Lay's death from heart disease three months before he was to be sentenced for lying to mask the failing company's condition. It was Lockyer who in 2001 told an interviewer that "I would love to personally escort Lay to...

SACRAMENTO – In a new television ad, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger says his Democratic rival, Phil Angelides, will take the state backward "to a time we never want to see again," which the ad says was "when soaring taxes forced jobs and businesses to flee our state." The problem is, there is no such time. Campaign officials acknowledged Friday that the ad refers to the administration of former Gov. Gray Davis, who presided over the stock market bust and the recession and state budget crisis that followed. But Davis did not raise taxes, except for suspending a few small credits, such...

Let us today hoist a glass — preferably of cool, clean Colorado River water — to Keith Brackpool, a walking illustration of how the generous bestowal of campaign donations and other largess can keep a man cozy with California politicians, even in the face of evidence that what he's selling may not be worth buying. Brackpool is the chairman and chief executive of Cadiz Inc. For years, Cadiz tried to entice the Metropolitan Water District into a $150-million scheme to store surplus water from the Colorado in the Mojave Desert. The skeptical MWD, which serves most of Southern California, finally...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger can't say his public works bond proposals aren't getting thorough consideration by the Legislature. Whether he'll like the final product is another question. Legislative committees held nine hearings last week on various aspects of Schwarzenegger's plan, which includes selling $68 billion in bonds to help pay for transportation improvements, water and flood control projects, new schools, courthouses and certain other facilities. There are another 11 hearings scheduled this week, including the first meeting of a two-house conference committee that will try to put together a bond package for voters to consider, possibly in the...

The order came late in the morning on Jan. 17, 2001. Faced with shrinking electricity reserves, California officials at 11:40 a.m. ordered the first statewide rolling blackouts of the energy crisis. Blocks of homes and businesses throughout Northern California suddenly lost power. Lights died, elevators stopped in their tracks, computer screens went black. The crisis had been building for months. But on this day five years ago, the full scope of the disaster finally became clear. By the day's end, Gov. Gray Davis had declared a state of emergency and ordered the state Department of Water Resources to start buying...

BACK IN 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger vilified Gov. Gray Davis as an incompetent tax-and-spend chief executive who needed to be booted from office. Everything that was wrong with California was laid at Davis' feet. The Republican Schwarzenegger won the recall election, and Democrat Davis suffered the ignominy of being the first California governor to be recalled from office. Davis didn't exactly slink away from Sacramento into oblivion, but he was viewed by many as a sort of Charlie Brown character who never got things right. Two short years later, Gov. Schwarzenegger stood next to Davis in the state Capitol and extolled...

...The conservative betrayal Posted: December 9, 2005 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com The past few weeks have been a wakeup call to those Republicans, and especially those conservatives, who got stars in their eyes and supported movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger for governor during the historic Gray Davis recall campaign. On the heels of a decisive defeat in the recent special election for his reform ballot initiatives, the Terminator is acting like he wants to terminate his alliance with the Republican Party. Since he has failed to even slow the nonstop spending of the California Legislature, Arnold's false reading of...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - A couple of former political foes, Gray Davis and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, joined forces Wednesday to unveil Davis' official gubernatorial portrait - a bright painting showing a smiling Davis standing in a field of golden poppies with Carmel Bay in the background. "I love it," California's 37th governor said after the portrait was hung on the third floor of the Capitol's historic west wing. "I hope that portrait reminds people how beautiful California is and of our obligation to preserve it for future generations." It hangs next to paintings of his four predecessors - Ronald Reagan, Jerry...

Arnold Schwarzenegger's selection of archliberal Susan Kennedy, a former Cabinet secretary to Gray Davis, as his new chief of staff "is the last straw for a lot of grassroots California Republicans," says California Republican Assembly president Mike Spence to TAS. Spence describes the appointment as the equivalent of "George Bush appointing Howard Dean to be his chief of staff." Even the jaw of George Skelton (the Los Angeles Times columnist who has spent much of his career telling the California GOP to move left) dropped after the appointment of Kennedy, who is one of the state's leading abortion proponents, a...

A prominent Democratic political consultant in Sacramento has testified that he molested two boys more than 30 years ago while working at a Los Angeles-area YMCA. The admission from John Robert Stevens — a former high-ranking advisor to Gov. Gray Davis and Assembly speakers Antonio Villaraigosa, Herb Wesson and Fabian Nuñez — came in a lawsuit accusing the YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles of failing to protect two brothers from Stevens' abuse. --snip-- Stevens "is ashamed and would like to find a way to make it right," said Boucher, whose law firm represented Stevens in his deposition. Stevens is not...

LOS ANGELES A consultant to top state Democratic leaders has admitted that he molested two brothers while working at a Y-M-C-A more than 30 years ago. John Robert Stevens was an adviser to former Governor Gray Davis and Assembly speakers Antonio Villaraigosa (vee-yah-ry-GOH'-sah), Herb Wesson and Fabian Nunez. In April, he testified in a deposition for a lawsuit accusing the Y-M-C-A of Metropolitan Los Angeles of failing to protect the boys from Stevens' abuse. He admitted he fondled and masturbated the brothers, who were then 13 and 10, when he was youth director of the Rio Vista Y-M-C-A in South...

Los Angeles -- Former Gov. Gray Davis is adding teacher to his resume as he joins the University of California, Los Angeles as a distinguished policy fellow. Davis, who is also an attorney, will serve as a guest lecturer in classes, participate in panels, and generally serve as a resource for faculty and students on issues involving California state politics at UCLA's School of Public Affairs, department spokesman Stan Paul said Thursday. Former state senate minority leader Jim Brulte also was appointed as a policy fellow. Together they provide a complementary perspective. Davis is a Democrat, and Brulte is a...

...Mr. Schwarzenegger's goals as governor include shaking up Sacramento, where an intransigent legislature beholden to special interests had turned the state into an economic basket case. Arnold does have something to show for his efforts to date, insofar as the fiscal bleeding seems to have stopped. California's credit rating is out of the gutter, and the economy has created a quarter-million new jobs in the past year. Still, important reforms remain unaddressed, and the passage of Proposition 75, also known as "paycheck protection," would go a long way toward ending California politics-as-usual. By forcing public-sector unions to get written permission...

SACRAMENTO — California First Lady Maria Shriver named as her top aide Tuesday a former senior official to ex-Gov. Gray Davis, the Democrat her husband tarred in the 2003 recall campaign as the symbol of ineffectual government. Daniel Zingale, who served under Davis as the link between the governor's office and the vast state bureaucracy, will be the new chief of staff to Shriver, a Democrat. He will return to the governor's suite of offices on the first floor of the Capitol, this time surrounded by many Republicans who labored to oust Davis. Zingale has also been an unpaid political...

Former California Governor Gray Davis was recalled more than a year and a half ago, but his legacy as the “pay to play” governor continues to haunt the state’s taxpayers and business community. Davis was well-known as a prodigious fundraiser, regularly accepting campaign contributions from groups directly affected by pending legislation – and then conveniently coming down on the side of the contributing interest at the time when his influence was most needed. Many of Davis’ most egregious “pay to play” deals involved the state’s powerful labor unions, such as the time a $260,000 contribution was made to Davis’s campaign...

's not nice to kick a guy when he's down, but I'm thinking he can handle it. Arnold Schwarzenegger is falling apart like a Terminator made from Tinkertoys. About a year ago, flibbertigibbets and voluptuaries in Washington and California were convinced that Arnold could somehow intimidate the entire political process into revoking that pesky amendment that bars the foreign born from running for president (though I suppose it doesn't bar them from running, just serving). Now Schwarzenegger is doing worse in the polls than that vaguely remembered political skid mark of the Schwarzenegger juggernaut, Gray Davis, was when he was...

Would you recall former California Governor Gray Davis today?CLICK HERE to VOTE I think it's clear this is left-wing Democrat revisionism again, trying to say the crooked, corrupt, big-government Gray Davis was better than the Republican the recall brought into power. So, I'd vote YES - I DO support the recall still today!

Former Gov. Gray Davis now admits he was unprepared for the 2000-01 energy crisis that sent electricity bills soaring, brought rolling blackouts and ultimately helped bring an early end to his political career. Davis, recalled by voters in an unprecedented move, was replaced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2003, a year after Davis had won a second term. The former Democratic governor said he erred by buying power at inflated rates during the height of the crisis, but said he acted because he "wasn't willing to risk" sustained blackouts. "Did it turn out to be a mistake? Yes," Davis...

SAN FRANCISCO - Former Gov. Gray Davis now admits he was unprepared for the 2000-2001 energy crisis that sent electricity bills soaring, brought rolling blackouts, and ultimately helped bring an early end to his political career. Davis was recalled by voters in an unprecedented move, and replaced by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2003, a year after Davis had won a second term.The former Democratic governor said he erred by buying power at inflated rates during the height of the crisis, but said he acted because he "wasn't willing to risk" sustained blackouts."Did it turn out to be a mistake?...

SAN FRANCISCO — Policy experts pondering California's future governance Friday heard two voices from the past — former Gov. Gray Davis and former Secretary of State Bill Jones — offering cautionary advice. Davis spoke on "Public Sentiment, Ethics and the Law" at the Commonwealth Club of California's reform conference, titled "If It's Broke Fix It! Making California Government Work For Californians." "All reform comes from the people of this state," Davis said, and "not all reforms work out." As an example, he cited electricity deregulation, which he called "probably the single most colossal mistake" in recent California history. "And no...

When The New York Times, “Nightline,” and CNN nominate a young blonde for sainthood ahead of the Pope, it’s time for a reality check. Especially when that blonde, Marla Ruzicka’s sole purpose is to legitimize our enemies, cause problems for U.S. troops already in harms way, and morally equivocate dead terrorists with victims of 9/11. Jane Fonda lite—but unfortunately without having been spat upon by right-thinking veterans. The recent death of Ruzicka, an American “activist” in Iraq, elicited an orgy of gush—everywhere from Time Magazine to The Guardian of London to Al-Jazeera. A 28-year-old San Franciscan, Ruzicka was in Iraq...

Powerex, a wholly owned subsidiary of B.C. Hydro in Canada, expressed outrage last week over California Attorney General Lockyer's latest lawsuit seeking US$850 million in refunds from Powerex for power deliveries that kept California's lights on during the 2000/2001 power crisis. “It is frankly the height of bad faith for California to seek to welch on its contracts and demand money back, when it still owes Powerex more than $280 million for the power that was delivered during 2000/2001,” said Doug Little, vice president, Powerex. “We responded to the entreaties of the California government in their time of need, and...

Power struggle Democratic spokesman threatens legal action against reporter over tell-all book Bill Forman Steve Maviglio had his hands full this month, disseminating the California Democratic point of view on Secretary of State Kevin Shelley’s resignation. But Maviglio, who serves as deputy chief of staff for Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, also was dealing with a controversy of his own--albeit more privately. Off the Record, a political tell-all tome by former Dow Jones reporter Jason Leopold, opens with a less-than-flattering portrayal of Maviglio during his time as press secretary for Gray Davis. On January 27, Maviglio’s lawyer sent a letter to...

(Talon News) -- Homosexual advocates in California are hailing a new law that went into effect on January 1 that established "gay marriage" in the state. Assembly Bill 205 grants "all rights, protections, and benefits" of married couples to registered domestic partners. The new law was authored by lesbian Assembly member Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) and passed in 2003. It was supported by 66 out of 73 Democratic legislators, opposed by every Republican legislator, and signed by former Gov. Gray Davis shortly before he was recalled. A Sacramento Superior Court judge, Loren McMaster, ruled that the law should take effect...

The worst spending is often enacted under liberal Republicans. Why is this? One reason is that liberal Republicans are cut more slack than Democrats on the wobbly assumption that they are more sensible. At moments when Democrats would face stiff resistance, liberal Republicans don't. Take Arnold Schwarzenegger's successful spearheading of Proposition 71, a measure to clone embryos for science that will cost California taxpayers $3 billion dollars. Schwarzenegger had weakened the immune system of California Republicans to the point where they could accept, without too much squawking, this taxpayer-financed boondoggle for macabre scientists. What if Gray Davis had pushed Proposition...

LOS ANGELES -- Gray Davis is going back to work. The former California governor has been hired by the law firm Loeb and Loeb for his first job since being voted out of office in the October 2003 recall election and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Davis will be involved with clients across the Los Angeles-based firm's practice areas, firm co-chairman John Frankenheimer told The Associated Press Wednesday. "He'll be working with lots of lawyers in the firm on corporate matters, strategy regarding litigation and regulatory matters," he said. Frankenheimer said he expects Davis to use his existing relationships with companies...

No group has been more aggressive in promoting good corporate governance than Calpers, the giant California state pension fund. And for the past decade Calpers has more or less practiced what it preaches. Lately, however, that practice has been slipping. Calpers' recent record -- and a lack of transparency to cover its tracks -- is especially notable because of the political nature of its board of trustees. Its 13 members are almost exclusively representatives of organized labor and the Democratic Party. Six are elected by members of Calpers, four are appointed by the Governor (remember Gray Davis?) and three are...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) The Rev. Jesse Jackson celebrated his election-themed 63rd birthday party at a swank hotel, surrounded by California Democratic leaders and celebrity activists. ``It is, at once, my 63rd birthday and it is also mobilizing friends for a 19-day countdown to the Nov. 2 election,'' he said at a news conference before Thursday's party at the Beverly Hilton hotel. Jackson, who is president of the Chicago-based Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, urged people to get out and work ``to stop the schemes of voter suppression,'' referring to allegations by federal civil rights monitors that the ballots of black Florida voters...