CALIFORNIA: KERRY AND BUSH'S UNWANTED STEPCHILD POLITICIANS, PARTIES CARE ABOUT STATE'S MONEY, NOT ITS INTERESTS.Byline: Earl O. Hutchinson Local View CALIFORNIA is the biggest, richest and most populous state. Yet, this election, Bush and Kerry treated California like an unwanted stepchild step·child n. 1. A child of one's spouse by a previous union. 2. Something that does not receive appropriate care, respect, or attention: "Demography has a reputation for being the stepchild of . . . . The political wisdom behind their strategy goes like this: Why waste time, money and energy trolling (1) Surfing, or browsing, the Web. (2) Posting derogatory messages about sensitive subjects on newsgroups and chat rooms to bait users into responding. (3) Hanging around in a chat room without saying anything, like a "peeping tom." for votes here on a lost (Bush) or an already-won (Kerry) cause? The election will turn on who can win the battleground states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. California is good for one thing and one thing only, and that's collecting bushels of cash for Bush and Kerry to wage their fight in the battleground states. In the briefest of campaign stops in California, the two raked in over $40 million between them, far more than in any other state. Kerry's and Bush's lack of interest in California virtually guarantees that no matter which one raises his hand to take the oath of office An oath of office is an oath or affirmation a person takes before undertaking the duties of an office, usually a position in government or within a religious body, although such oaths are sometimes required of officers of other organizations. in January, California will still be treated like an unwanted stepchild until the next presidential go-round, when the candidates pass through here again to bag more cash and celebrity photo-ops. That glaring political myopia myopia: see nearsightedness. hurts the state, the nation and, ultimately, the parties. The laundry list laundry list A popular term for a long list of Sx, diseases, or etiologies that share something in common–eg, differential diagnosis of acute abdomen of California's problems affects legislation, public policy and spending at the federal level and in other states. Start with illegal immigration "Illegal alien" and "Illegal aliens" redirect here. For other uses, see Illegal aliens (disambiguation). Illegal immigration refers to immigration across national borders in a way that violates the immigration laws of the destination country. . More illegal immigrants flood California than any other state, and from here many migrate to other states. This strains health care, education, public services Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly (through the public sector) or by financing private provision of services. and law enforcement. Yet the federal government has failed to come up with a comprehensive immigration reform Immigration reform is the common term used in political discussions regarding changes to immigration policy. In a certain sense, reform can be general enough to include promoted, expanded, or open immigration, but in reality discussions of reform often deal with the aspect of program. It has also failed miserably to develop special programs to deal with California's air pollution, car glut, earthquake and fire hazards, as well as providing security for California's ports, which are the major point of entry for the massive imports from China and other Asian countries. That failure has cost the nation's taxpayers billions. During the campaign, Bush and Kerry have spent so little time in the state that they have gotten no handle on how California's problems affect federal and state policy. That will make it even more difficult for whichever one of them winds up in the Oval Office to craft meaningful legislation, devise programs and promote policy initiatives that deal specifically with California's problems. Bush's and Kerry's shunt To divert, switch or bypass. of California to the far back burner Noun 1. back burner - reduced priority; "dozens of cases were put on the back burner" precedence, precedency, priority - status established in order of importance or urgency; "... of national politics could also come back to haunt the Democrats and Republicans politically. It squanders Republicans' chances to put California back into play, and it lulls the Democrats into believing that California will always be safely tucked in their camp. That's a bad misread mis·read tr.v. mis·read , mis·read·ing, mis·reads 1. To read inaccurately. 2. To misinterpret or misunderstand: misread our friendly concern as prying. of California's recent political history. The state has more times than not been a fierce battleground between Republicans and Democrats. In 1988, Bush Sr. trounced Democratic presidential challenger Michael Dukakis Michael Stanley Dukakis (born November 3, 1933) is an American Democratic politician, former Governor of Massachusetts, and the Democratic presidential nominee in 1988. He was born to Greek and Vlach immigrant [1] . Though Bill Clinton beat Bush Sr. in California in 1992, the number of votes Clinton got was only marginally higher than the number Dukakis got in his losing effort four years earlier. Independent reform candidate Ross Perot siphoned thousands of votes that almost certainly would have otherwise gone to Bush. This, and not a Democratic vote surge, cost Bush Sr. the state. In 2000, Democratic presidential contender Al Gore topped Bush by more than 1 million votes in California. But shifting tides in the state's population demographics - and recent voting trends - are strong hints that Republicans could again turn California into a tossup state. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock got more than 60 percent of the votes in last year's recall election. Cruz Bustamante, the only Democrat on the ballot, got barely 30 percent. In terms of growth, San Bernardino, Riverside, Kern and Ventura counties are the fastest-growing counties in the state. They have big, solid Republican majorities. Meanwhile, the staunch Democratic San Francisco Bay Area “Bay Area” redirects here. For other uses, see Bay Area (disambiguation). The San Francisco Bay Area, colloquially known as the Bay Area or The Bay has had significant drops in population. Then there's the Latino vote. Though Latinos in California are overwhelmingly Democrats, their vote is very much up for grabs. In polls, more than one-quarter of Latino voters say they're Republicans. There's also a politically active and influential Latino Republican Legislative Caucus in the California Legislature. Nearly one-third of Latino voters backed Schwarzenegger in last year's recall election against Gov. Gray Davis. They are strongly pro-business, family values and military. Some polls also show that a significant percentage of Latino voters oppose illegal immigration. These hot-button policy issues are potentially strong selling points for Republicans. If Republicans drastically beefed up their outreach efforts among Latinos, and emphasized these issues, they could cut an even bigger gash in the Democrats' Latino support. Kerry and Bush tossed the state to the political winds this election. But the state's shifting politics, and the vital role it plays in shaping national issues and policy, make it foolhardy fool·har·dy adj. fool·har·di·er, fool·har·di·est Unwisely bold or venturesome; rash. See Synonyms at reckless. [Middle English folhardi, from Old French fol hardi : for them to continue to do that. CAPTION(S): drawing Drawing: (color) Politicians, parties care about state's money, not its interests Patrick O'Connor/Staff Artist |
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