by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Robert in Monterey [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

On June 3, I talked to Assembly womanNicole Parra in San Francisco. Nothing too important really, just a friendly, hi, I'm Brian, the evil blogger kind of thing. She was in town to support Asm. Mark Leno for Senate. It was all very cordial, despite the fact that she's made noises about thinking the Republican candidate for her seat, she's termed out, was better than the Democratic candidate, Fran Florez. By the way, I can't seem to find a website for Fran Florez...strange.

You see, the Florez family and the Parra family have something of a grudge match going on in the Central Valley. State Sen. Dean Florez campaigned against Parra's father for a county supervisor seat way back when, and Nicole is still smartin' from that.

Well, today we hear that Parra is having a presser with a "Republican party official." I honestly have no clue what this is about. Will she officially endorse Danny Gilmore, the Republican candidate? Will she switch parties? Vow to not vote for the budget?

Who knows? We'll let you know when we hear something.

by Be_Devine [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Mark Leno finished the night with an incredibly strong showing.  With 100% of the precincts now reporting, Mark Leno won the election with 43 percent of the vote.  Joe Nation had 29 percent and the incumbent, Carole Migden, had 27 percent.

Congratulations, Mark, on a campaign that was both well fought and very well received.

At his victory party last night, Mark Leno spoke directly to the divide that this primary contest has created in the progressive community and in the LGBT community.  He called on all of us to put this primary behind us and come together in unity to begin to fight the heinous anti-marriage initiative that is on the ballot in November.  And he is right.  If we (meaning both Mark's supporters and Carole's supporters) can keep the momentum and harness the passion that has been poured into this race from both sides and apply that to fighting this discriminatory initiative, we will certainly prevail in November.  

I hope Senator Migden joins Mark's call for uniting together as a community for this important goal.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

First with the big news. If for some reason you haven't heard yet, Barack Obama gained enough delegates yesterday to credibly claim the Democratic nomination for president of the United States,and if recent polls are any indicator, Californians are ready toembrace his candidacy and take the fight to John McCain. HillaryClinton stopped short of conceding, but her remarks gave everyindication that she was preparing for a new chapter of her politicallife.

Back here in California, Proposition 98, the deceptive anti-tenant,anti-environment, anti-local control ballot measure opposed byFeinstein, Schwarzenegger, the Sierra Club and the Chamber ofCommerce—not a group you're likely to see together all that much—went down in flames, with 61 percent voting no, the Los Angeles Times reports. A benign alternative that addresses real eminent domain issues, Proposition 99, was ahead.

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

The AP hasn't called it yet, but this looks very good for Mark Leno.

Leno, Mark Dem 38,991 44%

Nation, Joe Dem 25,491 28%

Migden, Carole (i) Dem 25,141 28%