Heard of Phil?

Following up on his revelation that Brentwood has fallen hard for Arnold (contributing almost twice as much to his campaign in hard money), Steve Lopez finds that Angelides is seriously lacking in star power and draw. The lede joke says it all, though: "I'm out here on the stump with Phil Angelides. You've heard of him, right?" Also revealing: the campaign booked him to visit a small college class, you know, less than 3 weeks before the election. Full column in the Los Angeles Times

CA Looses $52B/Year

California now receives less than 80% of taxes paid into the federal treasury back. 1/5th goes to other states. California ranks 44th in the nation in this regard. Full column

Follow the Cruz

A few months ago, Steve Lopez talked Insurance Commissioner hopeful Cruz Bustamante into agreeing to return campaign money from the insurance industry he would be regulating. The LA Times follows up on this, and finds that although some steps have been taken, Cruz's accounts have not been totally purified.