Who’s better on Prop 1A? Steve Poizner gained a step on Meg Whitman this week in the Republican primary race to the right, with his aggressive moves aimed at grabbing the mantle of Leading Scourge of 1A. Poizner put together a nice cross-platform bit of political marketing that combined his ”Not Another 
Dime” website (join the Facebook group!), an Orange County campaign event and suck-up drop-by appearance on the John & Ken show that sent a clear message aligning him with anti-1A conservatives. Ms. Meg meanwhile seemed content to rest on the, um, laurels of her dozzzzzzy old op-ed on the subject in the Sac Bee; hasn’t anyone told her newspapers are dead? Key question remains: which of the zillionaires will be the first to throw down big bucks of their own for the air war against 1A? . . .
Visual scoop of the week: Shane Goldmacher, who runs the Bee’s terrific Capitol Alert online feature, seems like the hardest working man in show business. His best coup this week was scoring that color photo of GOP senator Tony Strickland suited up to join the L.A. Lightning of the International Basketball League for their season opener. At 6’5” Strickland was a serious baller at Whittier College, Big Dick Nixon’s alma mater where he played small forward (Strickland, not Nixon) and broke the school’s single game scoring record. But this posed photo looks like a ’50s dork in the high school yearbook, who’s in critical need of a sun lamp. As for those jiggly arms, where’s Michelle Obama when you need her? . . .
This just in: California’s best hope for economic recovery now appears to lie in the Democratic primary race for attorney general, where campaign consultants are lining up around the block to cash in on a field of no less than seven wannabes maneuvering to be the state’s top cop. With S.F. DA Kamala Harris, L.A. city attorney Rocky Delgadillo and most of the male population of the state Assembly already signed up to run, Santa Monica councilman Bobby Shriver, Maria’s brother and the owner of a full set of authentic Kennedy pearly whites, is the latest to sniff around the starting line. . . .
Elder statesman: Now that Ms. Shriver-Schwarzenegger has batted down the silly rumor that she might run for governor, those looking around for a long-odds, undeclared dark horse are keeping an eye on Treasurer Bill Lockyer, about the only Sacramento pol who’s acted like a grown-up in recent months, managing not to get too much budget muck splashed on him. . . .
Short-lived revolution: Largely overlooked in all the fuss about the governor’s free falling ballot measures was the news unearthed by PPIC poll-taker Mark Baldassare that support for repeal of the two-thirds vote budget vote requirement has also plummeted. Just two months ago, Baldassare reported that for the first time a majority of voters (53%) favored such a change, stirring hope among the liberal netroots and other progressive types that repeal might be possible. Now that erstwhile support has quickly crumbled, as only 43% favor tossing out the two-thirds rule, while 49% say it’s a damn fine idea whose time has not yet passed. . . .
