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If Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger calls a special election this fall to pass his package of budget initiatives, he could find the ballot jammed with measures he'd rather ignore. A record 63 proposed initiatives poured into the secretary of state's office in January, as conservatives, liberals and interest groups of all stripes scrambled to get their plans in front of California voters. "This is going to be the apocalypse of direct democracy,'' said Lewis Uhler of the National Tax Limitation Committee, a veteran of the state's initiative battles. "The election will be unique in the annals of California.'' Contentious initiatives banning...

As President Bush prepares for his second term, Democrats in Washington and around the country are organizing for a year of confrontation and resistance, saying they are determined to block Bush's major initiatives and thereby deny him the mandate he has claimed from his reelection victory last November. The Democrats' mood and posture represent a contrast to that of four years ago, after Bush's disputed victory over Al Gore. Then, despite anger and bitterness over how the 2000 election ended, Democrats were tentative and initially open to Bush's calls for bipartisan cooperation. Today, despite Bush's clear win over Sen. John...

Governor considers calling special election By Ann E. Marimow TIMES SACRAMENTO BUREAU SACRAMENTO - After his string of ballot measure successes, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger might call a special election next year to force radical change on the Democratic-controlled state Legislature. The governor and his advisers are considering a long list of proposals to change the shape of legislative and congressional districts, require rapid disclosure of campaign donations, impose new limits on state spending and subject the Legislature to more public scrutiny. If successful, Schwarzenegger could intimidate his competition for 2006, should he decide to run for re-election. If he...

Throughout the 1990s, Turkish foreign policy analysts had an easy job. After all, Turkish foreign policy was predictable. Ankara cooperated enthusiastically with Washington, whether in the Middle East or in the Balkans. Turkey aligned itself with Israel and kept at arms length from Middle Eastern neighbors such as Syria and Iran. In Europe, Ankara traded heavily with the European Union (EU) but did not allow the EU to dictate foreign policy. The European Union's frequent allegations and criticism of human rights abuses in Turkey, especially with regard to Turkey's fight against Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK, Partiya Karkaren Kurdistan) terrorists, soured...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon remains a battleground state. With the election a little more than a month away, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry are in virtual tie in the state, according to a survey conducted for The Oregonian and KATU-TV. The statewide poll of 624 voters found 47 percent favor Kerry and 45 percent support Bush, with 7 percent undecided and 1 percent opting for another candidate. The survey was conducted Friday through Monday by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall of Portland and has a margin of error of 4 percentage points, plus or minus. The poll also found that...

With just a few weeks to go, does anyone have an idea of what is on the ballot in California this November and who is supporting what, etc? Here's a chance to help put the info out there in a centralized apporach. I am going to kick it this thread with a bunch of stuff from all over the place. No particular order in posting need be followed. The Bakersfield Californian is running a number of pieces this morning that I am posting to start the thread

by Craig E. Richardson Catholic Outreach 09/04/04 While most of the prime-time speakers at the Republican National Convention focused on key issues like protecting America from terrorism, an important subplot this week was the Republicans' efforts to solidify support of faithful Catholics whose primordial concerns in this election are the protection of life and marriage. The “Catholic” vote is arguably the most important voting bloc to both presidential campaigns, and it’s a constituency that the Republican National Committee (RNC) actively courted in New York. The pinnacle of Catholic-oriented events at the Convention was the RNC’s Catholic Outreach Rally held Thursday...

California initiatives in circulation as of April 15, 2004 Bumper crop of 39 initiatives in circulation at this time. A good number of them won't make the ballot. There will be some that don't deserve to be on the ballot that will qualify. There will be some that deserve to be on the ballot that won't qualify. Let's figure out what's worthy and what we need to watch out for. Initiatives in circulation as of April 15, 2004 1009. (SA03RF0038). Parental Notification Prior to Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy. Initiative Constitutional Amendment and Statute.Summary Date: 11/12/03 Circulation Deadline: 04/12/04 (past due)...

Heading for the Finish LineRon Prince, sponsor of the Save Our State (SOS) Initiative, and an author of the original Proposition 187, has been hitting the talk radio circuit the past few days to garner support and solicit signatures to qualify an Initiative Consititutional Amendment for the November 2004 ballot. Andy Ramirez, SOS Media Director, and a prior Democrat nominee for the State Assembly, has also been working the airwaves helping to get the message out. With an April 15 deadline for gathering signatures rapidly approaching, they are soliciting immediate support from Californians. Prince told KFI last night: "We need...

Governor, Assembly speaker clash over initiatives Schwarzenegger threatens to take issues straight to voters SACRAMENTO -- The new governor "loves it," but the new Assembly leader calls it a "disaster" he’s tackling because it threatens to make the state ungovernable within a decade. Like it or not, the governor and myriad other political players, from the Bay Area to the south state, are pushing a whopping, weighty and wild mix of 51 initiatives toward voters, setting the stage for a record ballot and reigniting debate about democracy, California-style. Though only some measures will qualify for the November ballot, analysts already...

As a result of this thread, we agreed we need to pay better attention and raise awareness of potential initiatives we'd like to see on the California ballot (or start countering initiatives that we don't like that make the ballot). So periodically I'll post all initiatives in circulation and we can each decide which cause merits awareness. Initiatives in circulation as of February 3, 2004 1000. (SA03RF0030, Amdt. #1-NS). Limits on Class Size. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Summary Date: 10/01/03 Circulation Deadline: 03/01/04 Signatures Required: 598,105 Proponent: Peter Mathews, (562) 433-9242 Directs Legislature, by beginning of 2012 school year, to ensure...

DENVER - The Denver City council is holding a public hearing Monday on a ballot measure that could prevent the circus from coming to the city. If approved by voters, the measure would ban the display of exotic animals including lions, tigers and bears. A 15-year-old girl who started a group called Youth Opposed to Animal Acts collected enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot this year. Ringling Brothers Circus plans to fight back. They'll be sending a clown to speak on its behalf at the public hearing. The hearing is a chance for people to express their...

Repeal call for health law FOES SAY INSURANCE ACT WILL BE ON MARCH BALLOT By Julie Sevrens Lyons Mercury News Opponents of the largest expansion of health insurance in the nation -- passed just two months ago by the California Legislature -- said Monday they have enough signatures to ask voters to repeal the measure in March. Business groups oppose the new law, which would bring health care coverage to hundreds of thousands of the state's uninsured workers by requiring all but the smallest businesses to provide insurance. Critics of the law, which is to take effect Jan. 1, argue...

Marking the first milestone in what's sure to be a rough-and-tumble election season, three campaigns on Monday turned in far more than the required voter signatures to qualify measures for the November ballot. Measures to raise the local minimum wage to $8.50, ban aggressive panhandling, and separate out homeless seniors, disabled people and families from the general shelter population all met the 5 p.m. deadline. Each measure needs about 9,000 valid voter signatures to make the ballot, and the elections department has 30 business days to match up the submissions with voter rolls. The minimum wage campaign, led by Board...

<p>J.C. Watts, a former U.S. House member who was Congress' only black Republican, pushed the Bush administration's faith-based initiative Friday at a gathering of black church and political leaders in Jackson, urging them to also support Haley Barbour for governor.</p>

BORREGO SPRINGS -- From here in the southern desert to the Oregon border, California is feeling faint tremors of a possible political earthquake. A state tradition from the early 20th-century, plebiscitary democracy, is being fueled by the synergism of two late 20th-century developments, talk radio and the Internet. The result may be the recall of Gov. Gray Davis, who last November won re-election with just 47% of the vote.California is stewing in its own juices. Hiram Johnson, governor from 1911 to 1917, helped institutionalize such populist devices as the initiative, referendum and recall. Eight decades later Silicon Valley helped democratize...

For Immediate Release January 28, 2003 Fact Sheet: Key Initiatives in the President's State of the Union Message President Bush announced a $1.2 billion Freedom Fuel initiative to reverse America’s growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology needed for commercially viable hydrogen-powered fuel cells – a way to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses that produces no pollution and no greenhouse gases. The Freedom Fuel initiative will include $720 million in new funding over the next five years to develop the technologies and infrastructure needed to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen fuel for use in fuel cell...

While I was at work, engineering a way to make a small portion of the world a colder place (as my position in industrial refrigeration demands), I received a call from none other than President George Walker Bush. Instead of attempting to conference the call to my work line, my wife (whom I love dearly) HUNG UP ON THE MAN! Oh, the humanity! There were so many things I wanted to discuss! My positions on the Kyoto Treaty, Faith-Based Initiatives, Compassionate Conservatism and the War On Terror would have been of much interest to him, I am sure. Perhaps the...

Ballotwatch.org looks like a useful trailhead for researching initiatives around the country. Am posting this as an FYI for all of FR's political junkies.