Occupy Movement in California; Cain

30 November 2011 |permalink | email article

A New Field Poll finds that Californians are almost evenly split, largely along ideological lines, over whether they identify with the Occupy movement. The poll found 46% of the state’s voting public identifies a lot or some with the movement, while 49% declare not much identification with it. Conservatives are very unlikely to identify with the movement, liberals are very likely to do so and independents are about evenly split Within California, support was strongest in Northern California other than the Bay Area, at 55%; Los Angeles County, at 53 %, and the Bay Area, at 48%. Field Poll Director Mark DiCamillo, for content’s sake, checked a similar poll asking about the Tea Party movement in January 2010; at that time, 28 percent of Californians identified strongly or somewhat with that movement. But DiCamillo added that by comparison, Occupy is “a much bigger, broader phenomenon than the Tea Party, which was mainly within the bounds of the Republican Party.”

Is Cain Out?

Both the National Review and Des Moines Register reported that Herman Cain is “reassessing” whether to stay in the race in the wake of his 13-year extramarital affair which ended just before he entered the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Cain’s poll standing began to plunge last month over accusation of sexual harassment of women who worked for him which he has denied. Confirmation of the extramarital affair suggests that his short run against overwhelming odds is over. Newt Gingrich, no stranger to scandal, is the major beneficiary.   

L.A. Politic

On the Occupy L.A. encampment at City Hall some critics suggest Mayor Villaraigosa’s administration looks weak and that the standoff has hurt the city’s credibility. The president of the Valley Industry and Commerce Association cited the failure to enforce a 12:01 a.m. Monday closure of City Hall Park. L.A. Police Chief Charlie Beck, in contrast, as demonstrated a cool “command presence.”   

Read ‘em and Weep

[He] appealed to students who will be at least 21 before Election Day to vote for him. As for those younger than 21, he merely asked them to work hard on his behalf.—Rick Perry, in yet another major campaign gaffe, forgot in addressing a crowd at Saint Anselm college in New Hampshire that the country’s legal voting edge is 18.

“I was angry this weekend, listening to the spin coming out of the administration, about the failure of the supercommittee, and that the president knew it was doomed to failure, so he didn’t get involved. Well then what the hell are we paying you for?”—New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie, flippantly running his mouth and displaying astonishing ignorance about lobbyist Grover Norquist’s no new taxes pledge over cowed GOP members. 

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