California "Not So Happy" Dreamin'

I grew up listening to the Mamas & the Papas, the folk-rock vocal group that took America by storm in the mid to late 1960s. The group’s members included John Phillips, Michelle Phillips, Cass Elliot, and Denny Doherty.

Among their greatest hits were Monday, Monday; Go Where You Wanna Go; Dancing in the Street; Dedicated to the One I Love; and Dream a Little Dream of Me. However, perhaps no song is more closely associated with the group than California Dreamin’, which hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966 and was certified triple platinum.

Speaking of California – and dreaming – the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited in 2026, is heating up something fierce. On the Republican side, conservative political commentator Steve Hilton is positioning himself to finish in the top two in California’s tiered primary system, which would pit him against the top Democratic vote getter as long as he finishes ahead of the second-place Democratic candidate.

Once former vice president Kamala Harris decided not to run, pundits named former Democratic congresswoman Katie Porter as the early frontrunner. Porter served three terms in the House before losing a bid to replace Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2024. However, since assuming the lead in the early polls, Porter has made a series of unforced errors similar to her major miscalculation in the Senate race in which she came in a distant third to Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey, trailing both candidates by between 800,000 and 1.2 million votes and not winning a single county.

Ouch! I wonder who advised her to throw her hat into the ring that time… or was it simply her over-sized ego? Either way, Porter gave up her House seat and her position as co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus only to get publicly rejected by California’s voters.

Undaunted, Porter blamed the results on a “rigged” election because Schiff and his campaign spent $11 million boosting Garvey’s chances, thereby relegating Porter to second runner-up status. Schiff, known for his underhanded tactics, went on to trounce Garvey in the general election as expected. Regardless, Porter’s comments sounded like sour grapes to voters and were eerily reminiscent of President Trump’s claims following the 2020 election which she had roundly criticized.

That’s strike one, Katie!

Strike two came earlier this month when a video surfaced of Porter cursing out a staffer when she was taping a conversation with then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm in July 2021. When the staffer leaned in to correct a misstatement Porter had made about electric vehicles, Porter hollered, “Get out of my f-ing shot!” During the same taping, Porter complained to Granholm that she hadn’t been invited to the White House despite raising a “sh-t ton” of money for President Joe Biden.

Not exactly the kind of gal you want to bring home to meet your mother.

And then, just a few days later, the thoroughly unlikeable Porter threatened to walk out of an interview with CBS News Sacramento Correspondent Julie Watts when she was asked how she intended to appeal to Californians who had voted for Donald Trump. Porter’s cynical reply was that there were so many Democrats in California that she didn’t need any Republican votes to win.

Wow… how disgustingly arrogant is that? S-t-r-i-k-e three!

Time will tell whether Californians are ready to elect a smug and foul-mouthed woman who habitually abuses her staffers to be their next governor. But then again, they elected Governor Hair Gel twice, so I guess anything can happen in the Golden State.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, another female Democratic candidate is watching her once commanding lead slip away in New Jersey’s gubernatorial race. Mikie Sherrill, who was up by 21 points in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll as recently as June 16th, is now locked in an ever-tightening race with Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Two recent polls, including one this week by Quinnipiac University, show her lead down to just six points while a third poll has the race dead-even.

In the second of their two debates, Sherrill appeared aware that her campaign was leaking oil as she came out swinging like a desperate boxer behind on points in the final round. Her claim that Ciattarelli was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of New Jerseyans due to opioid overdoses was one of the most outlandish accusations in a historically nasty campaign.

When the moderator asked the candidates how they planned to bring jobs back to the Garden State, Sherrill attacked Ciattarelli’s former medical publishing business. “I think you’re trying to divert from the fact that you killed tens of thousands of people by printing your misinformation, your propaganda,” Sherrill said to him.

Not only did Ciattarelli deny Sherrill’s unproven allegations, but he threatened to sue her for defamation. “Another desperate tactic by a desperate campaign on behalf of a desperate candidate,” Ciattarelli said. “It’s a lie.”

With just three weeks left until Election Day, it remains to be seen whether Sherrill can hang on in the heavily Democratic state or whether Ciatterelli’s lead among independents can narrow the gap enough for the “enthusiasm factor” to put him over the top.

The same goes for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where Democrat Abigail Spanberger’s once seemingly insurmountable lead over Republican Winsome Earle-Sears has shrunk to single digits in recent weeks. Spanberger, a former three-term congresswoman, was up by 17 points in May and 15 points in July, but recent polls show her lead over the current lieutenant governor slipping dramatically. A poll sponsored by the Democratic Governor’s Association has her leading by 9, but the Trafalgar Group puts the race within the margin of error.

Things are getting interesting, folks. Better grab some popcorn… just don’t stand in Katie Porter’s shot!