Random Thoughts, Notes, & Incidents

The D. Feinstein Report: A Tale of Two Feinsteins

California's ever-terrifying Senator, Dianne Feinstein, is trying to scare us all with an apocalyptic vision of the Golden State, post-recall.

DiFi, with her best wig all powdered and glued into place, stares at the TV cameras and says (something like), "Did you know that with 135 candidates, somebody could win with as little as 15% of the vote! Who will that person be? And where will they stand on the issues? We just don't know!"

She goes on to explain that such uncertainty would cause financial markets to collapse, investments to fail, tidal waves to wipe out all ocean-front properties, and the San Andreas fault to open up and swallow us whole. (There's also a second anti-recall ad on now with the same message, but lacking DiFi's talking head - a slight improvement).

It's nice to be reminded of how little our ranking Senator thinks of us. It's very true that the winner will likely have a small percentage of the vote (probably in 25-30% range) and will lack any real mandate to govern. (I've written about this, and the need for Instant Run-off Voting, elsewhere). But I'm going to assume that when Californians go to the polls, they'll know where their candidate stands (at the very least).

If the Democratic establishment has to stoop to scare tactics to get us to vote against the recall, what does that say about Davis' reign? Couldn't DiFi have come on and said something to defend her buddy, Gray? Couldn't she have even softened the scare tactics and spoken from her own experience of facing a recall while mayor of San Francisco?

But, what about these hanging of questions of "Who will that person be? And where will they stand on the issues?" If DiFi wants to be helpful, should she be suggesting that we actually research the candidates? The information is out there, all you have to do is look. And this is where the other D. Feinstein comes in...

I know where recall candidate Dan Feinstein (a distant cousin of DiFi) stands on the issues - and I know that his positions are very closely aligned with mine. He also keeps an excellent blog chronicling the campaign with great insight and biting humor.

I've also exchanged a couple of emails with Hana Pederson, Dan's Campaign Manager and sister. They've been frustrated with the mainstream presses insistence on portraying the "lesser candidates" only as clowns, and the lack of outlets that will objectively evaluate each of the candidate's proposals.

Yes, they have proposals. And some damn good ones.

I haven't yet made a final decision on who to vote for on October 7, but I'm leaning toward Peter Miguel Camejo, the better-known of the Green party candidates. I'm a registered Green, I've voted for Peter before, I have little reason to abandon him now.

But here are a few of the Democratic "clowns" who have impressed me. If you haven't decided who to vote for yet, research these:

• Dan Feinstein
• Garrett Gruener
• Georgy Russell

And that's just a few that I would consider voting for.

So far, I've collected links to 87 of the candidates on my site. They've ALL got something to say. I don't agree with them all, obviously, but within the 87, I'm sure you'll find somebody who gets your interest.

As to DiFi; If you're not sure where the candidates stand, do some reading. If you're concerned about the validity of the election results, introduce IRV legislation in the Senate.