• Since we included a Daily Kos poll showing Democratic congressional candidate Charlie Brown leading GOP Sen. Tom McClintock on Wednesday, here's what McClintock's internals are showing:
McClintock: 47 percent
Brown: 39 percent
The poll, with a margin of error of five percentage points, was conducted between Sept. 22 and Sept. 24.
• Termed-out Sen. Sheila Kuehl, the chair of the Senate Health Committee, is not too happy with Schwarzenegger's vetoes of health legislation.
To say the least.
"To add insult to injury, he put out a press release-- breathtaking in its hyperbole and misdirection-- titled ( try not to laugh) "Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Urgently Needed Legislation to Protect Consumers from Unfair Health Care Practices". This title takes even his chutzpah to a higher level. He protected no one, except the insurance industry."
She breaks down all the vetoes on the California Progress Report.
• The California Nurses Association is not the shyest of unions.
And neither is the labor group's new anti-John McCain TV ad, which non-too-subtly plays up fears that McCain could die in office.
With an EKG and a black-and-white image of a grimacing McCain on the screen, a woman sings "one heartbeat away," before the ad pivots to blast vice presidential nominee, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post reports, "The ad went up in six battleground states -- Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, and Missouri -- (Wednesday) morning, and will run for two days with a low six-figure buy behind it, according to sources familiar with the spot."
As Cillizza writes, "The goal of these ads is not to persuade but rather to provoke reaction and conversation from both sides of the political aisle. In that regard, mission accomplished."
Watch the ad below:
• This got missed amid the busy day on Wednesday, but California Correctional Peace Officers Association spokesman Lance Corcoran found himself on the wrong side of the law earlier this week.
The Bee Andy Furillo reports Corcoran "was taken into custody Monday at 7:20 p.m. after a California Highway Patrol officer found him slumped over the wheel of his car on Eight Mile Road with the motor running, according to CHP assistant chief Mike Champion.
Corcoran, 44, was booked into the San Joaquin County jail and released the next day, Champion said. The CHP plans to submit the case today to the San Joaquin County district attorney.
CCPOA spokesman Ryan Sherman said the union, which is seeking to recall Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, would have no comment on the arrest."
• Speaking of spokesmen, the Fresno Bee reports Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein' s press secretary, Scott Gerber, is leaving the senior senator's office in Washington D.C.
Gerber's not leaving California politics though. He has signed on to work in Attorney General Jerry Brown's Oakland office.
• Finally, a former Orange County congressional candidate was indicted on Wednesday.
The Los Angeles Times reports:
Tan Nguyen, whose staff sent letters to 14,000 voters in central Orange County with Spanish surnames in October 2006, allegedly misled investigators who were looking into whether the letter violated federal election laws, federal officials said.
Nguyen, a Vietnamese immigrant, was running to unseat Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-Garden Grove) in the November 2006 election. Three weeks before the election, his campaign sent a letter in Spanish that said, "You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or if you are an immigrant, a vote in a federal election is a crime that can result in jail imprisonment or you will be deported for voting without the right to do so."
The letter also falsely said that the state had developed a tracking system that would allow new Latino voters' names to be handed over to anti-immigrant groups.
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