Consider it the first big news in the 2010 race for governor of California, and it came 221 days before the June primary: the nomination of the state's dominant political party appears to be safely in the hands of a guy who hasn't even officially said he wants it.

If you love politics, it's a great story.
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Few new tax proposals have dominated the recent political debate in Sacramento like calls for a new levy on each barrel of oil produced in California. Both sides say it's a no-brainer; not surprisingly, it's a little more complicated than that.
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Few proposals have had as many twists and turns in 2009 as a plan to allow new oil drilling in waters less than three miles off the California coast. But even after serious setbacks, few expect the proposal to fade away anytime soon.

The proposal is known as Tranquillon Ridge, and it's the focus of my lengthy story that aired this morning on The California Report. You can listen by clicking below.

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By now, most of us who lived through the saga that resulted in a package of proposals to resolve the state's budget deficit have recovered.

But in the same way you'd clean up the beer bottles, empty the trash, and try to piece together what you remember after a raucous bash, it's worth sifting through the deal making, the politics involved, and maybe a few of the lasting impressions that culminated with the events of the 20-plus hours between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.
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Talk about a poll that only prompts more speculation.

Today's Field Poll on the potential matchups of Democrats and Republicans for next year's race for governor is proof positive that this race is wide open. An awful lot of presumed and possible candidates, but anyone's guess as to how it will all shake out.
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You mean there was other news today besides the governor's executive order on state employee pay?

* DON'T BORROW IT HERE: Chalk up another group that's ratcheting up the anger over possible plans to balance the budget by tapping into pots of money for other government programs. The League of California Cities launched a new website today to pressure legislators to leave local goverment funding alone. The site includes a way for users to see how much was borrowed from their own cities in recent years.

* GARAMENDI ANNOUNCES: The state's #2 elected official threw his hat into the ring today for the top job. Lt. Governor John Garamendi made it official that he's in the race for the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial nomination. But the timing of his news conference... just minutes before Governor Schwarzenegger was convening reporters to announce his state worker executive order, had more than a few Capitol folks wondering whether it was clever counter-programming... or the wrong day/time to try and compete head-to-head with the dominant political story of the day?

* CAMPAIGN CASH: And speaking of campaigning... today was the deadline for candidates and campaigns in the November election to report fundraising totals through the end of June. A few worth noting: money raised in 2008 for ($3.7 million) and against ($2.5 million) the gay marriage ban Proposition 8... the Schwarzenegger-led committee in favor of the redistricting initiative, Proposition 11 ($4.8 million this year)... and the governor's own political activity campaign, the California Dream Team, reported $5.2 million in contributions since January 1.

With all of the talk this week, and this budget season, about a new constitutionally mandated cap on state spending, we decided to take a wider view of the issue.

On this morning's edition of The California Report, I reported not just on the spending cap proposals being talked about by both legislative Republicans and Governor Schwarzenegger, but also a look back at why some say the state's exisiting spending cap (yes, there's already one on the books) was modified in 1990.

The story is about 2:40 into this morning's program, which you can hear below.