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Britain's Daily Telegraph tells the real story with a slideshow from the front lawn of the White House.

Don't worry, Sarah Palin's not involved.

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The Sac Bee's Capitol Alert profiles the legislative newbies and says many in the capitol are eager to meet Danny Gilmore.

Gilmore, a Hanford Republican, beat Democrat Fran Florez of Shafter to represent the 30th Assembly District.

The Bee says Gilmore benefited from t he Dean Florez-Nicole Parra feud and that it will be interesting to see if and how Gilmore solidifies his base.

This past election was a wonderful opportunity to share my experience and agenda with the voters of the 30th Assembly District. 

I look forward to another opportunity to serve in the near future.  Just as my opponent Danny Gilmore didn't let his narrow loss deter him from seeking office again, neither will I as the 2010 elections come near. 

I thank all the voters of the 30th Assembly district for their consideration.  And I wish Danny Gilmore the best on turning around California's finances and ask him to work with my supporters, who made up nearly half of the voters of this great district and who strongly believed in my agenda for change and renewal. 

I will continue as the Vice Chair of California's High Speed Rail Commission as we now embark with the funds necessary to move this job-creating, clean air producing project to completion.  I am very grateful to all the Californians who had the political will to pass this historic and futuristic transportation bond a few weeks ago.  I stand ready to implement their vision. 

Fran Florez, High Speed Rail Commissioner
 

It's job interviewing and pondering time for outgoing Assemblywoman Nicole Parra.

Parra, D-Hanford, said Monday she's been interviewing for government relations-type positions for when she leaves office next week.

Her dream job, she said, would be a vice president of government relations, doing such things as hiring lobbyists or overseeing a lobbying team.

She said she was asked to submit materials to the incoming Obama administration, specifically the Department of Agriculture. Parra was a longtime, top aide in Washington, D.C., to former Rep. Cal Dooley, D-Hanford, so she knows her way around there.

Dooley is from a farming family and was a big supporter of agribusiness.

But Parra didn't rule out another run for higher office. She said she'll think over Christmas whether to close out her 2010 state Senate committee.

Parra at one time was looking to run for the post now held by state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who is termed out in two years.

Parra's now thinking about running for Congress in 2012, depending on how the lines look after the Congressional redistricting that follows the 2010 census.

Parra said she would not, however, challenge Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, who replaced Dooley.

In the meantime, she's helping Republican Danny Gilmore transition into her Assembly seat and, of course, working on ongoing state budget issues. (The legislature was supposed to reconvene on the budget Tuesday).

So what happened to Parra's plans to retire from public life, get married and have a family life as she announced in February?

At the time, Parra said, she was in a serious relationship. But not now.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell.

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For anyone who thought failed vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin would go away and leave us alone, it appears the media's infatuation with her is only just beginning.

Oprah, Leno, and Letterman have all come calling. Book deals, a movie on her life, even a talk-show hosting gig are all being mentioned.

America loves a loser.

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For their trip to Washington to plead for taxpayer money to save an industry they themselves may have been partly responsible for crippling, you would think the chief executives of the Big Three automakers would be munching on humble pie in coach class of a United Airlines flight.

"Instead, the chief executives of the Big Three automakers opted to fly their company jets to the capital for their hearings this week before the Senate and House -- an ill-timed display of corporate excess for a trio of executives begging for an additional $25 billion from the public trough this week."

The Washington Post's Dana Millbank has the juicy details.

You gotta watch this video, courtesy of the Sacramento Bee, of Assembly Speaker Karen Bass reacting to news that Nicole Parra wants a job in the Obama administration.

The video you want is the third one down on the left of the page.

Bass is the one who kicked Parra, our 30th District assemblywoman out of her capitol office for failing to vote for a budget.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell

County supervisors said Tuesday now's not the time to give hefty raises to Sheriff Donny Youngblood (22 percent) and District Attorney Ed Jagels (11 percent).

Sure, the county pay structure has some equity problems for the two men but that structure needs some study and the county's really hurting these days, the board said.

You can read more here.

So what do you think — did the supervisors do the right thing?

Apparantly we get to do Prop. 8 all over again — in two years!

Below is the story from the AP. What say you — Hooray or ugh?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Gay rights groups in California plan to ask voters to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage they approved last week if legal challenges to Proposition 8 are unsuccessful.

In an e-mail to supporters, Equality California executive director Geoffrey Kors said Wednesday that he and other gay marriage advocates are aiming for a ballot initiative to reverse the ban in two years.

Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that overruled the California Supreme Court that legalized same-sex marriage, passed 52 percent to 48 percent.

Couples who missed the chance to wed and others have filed petitions asking the court to throw out the measure on the grounds that voters did not have authority to enact such a sweeping constitutional change

It doesn't look like any of Kern County's state lawmakers were among the 44 California legislators who signed a friend of the court brief arguing Proposition 8 can't and shouldn't ban same-sex marriage here.

We got a copy of the brief and it lists the lawmakers signing on. We're posting it here.

It argues the ballot measure that passed Nov.4 "eviscerates" the courts' ability to uphold equal-protection rights and precludes the legislature from exercising its constitutional responsibilities.

The brief also says an initiative can't approve such a "radical revision" to the state constitution.

Proposition 8 backers say the measure should stand as it represented the will of the people.

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This site has some great map work on the presidential election.

There's the standard county-level map that shows how much land mass John McCain won. It's easy to spot a few places that jump out, such as the dots in the red mass of Texas that represent Harris, Dallas, Travis and Bexar counties — the cities of Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

Then he has a cartogram, which squishes and bloats counties to make their size dependent on their population, not their land mass. Suddenly New York City's five counties stand out, as does Orange County, a red area surrounded by blue.

And then he has a map and cartogram showing the counties not as red or blue, but as shades on a scale of purple. This provides some really interesting spots, especially the really blue or really red areas (like the two blue dots in southern South Dakota, which are reservations, and the archipelago of very red dots from the Texas panhandle up into western Nebraska). Even more interesting is the blue curve from southeastern Virginia all over to Mississippi, which cuts south of Atlanta.

— James Geluso, cartophile

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Here are 50 facts you might not know about President-elect Barack Obama.

From Britain's Daily Telegraph.

Interesting: He applied to appear in a black pin-up calendar while at Harvard but was rejected by the all-female committee.

List here.

The governor is proposing some $4-plus billion tax increases and about that much in program cuts to grapple with the state's massive deficit.

Here's a partial list from the L.A. Times: 1 1/2 percent sales tax increase, extending the sales tax to appliance and furniture repair, vehicle repair, golf fees, veterinarian services, amusement parks and sporting events. He proposed a 9.9% tax on the extraction of oil from California ground, the expansion of sales tax to some services, and a 5-cent-per-drink tax on alcohol. His plan also includes a $12 increase in annual vehicle registration fees.

The governor also wants cuts of $2.5 billion from schools and community colleges to require state workers to take a mandatory day off without pay each month and eliminate two of their state holidays.

City and county officials are bracing for pain and warning against tax hikes because of the troubled economy. State Sen. Roy Ashburn's saying the same.

What do you think of the proposal and what do you suppose the state should do?

Proposition 8 passed, banning same-sex marriage, AP has declared.

What does that mean for existing married same-sex couples in Kern and the issuing of marriage licenses to unmarried gay partners?

County Counsel Bernie Barmann said his office anticipates many questions “surrounding the 17,000 marriages that took place between June 17 and Nov. 4.”

He doesn’t know what will happen to marriage licenses same-sex couples received.

State initiatives and constitutional amendments take effect the day after the election, said Steve Sanders, deputy county counsel.

A message left for Ann Barnett, the county’s Auditor-Controller-Clerk, hasn’t yet been returned.

No on 8 supporter Whitney Weddell said she felt on edge but hopeful Wednesday morning.

“Technically, we’re not conceding yet,” she said. “Three million ballots out there is a lot. We’re hopeful out of those 3 million that there will be 400,000 going our way.”

There are 20,000 ballots each in Tulare and Fresno Counties — of which 2,000 are probably in the 30th District — and another 40,500 in Kern, of which 5,700 are probably in the 30th District. Kings County, entirely in the district, is done counting except for 1,000 provisional ballots.

Projecting results out, it looks like Republican Danny Gilmore will win by about 1,200 votes, a 51-49 margin.

I just spoke to Gilmore's campaign manager, Julie Griffiths, who said the same. The trends just are not as strong as Florez needs them to be. "“They’d have to win about 75 percent of this vote and it’s not going to happen," Griffiths said.

— James Geluso

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It's almost midnight and Prop 8 (which eliminates the right of same-sex couples to marry) is winning statewide by 53.3 percent to 46.7 percent. 44.3 percent of precincts have reported at this time.

More than any other issue, other than perhaps the presidency, Prop 8 has divided locals. A high profile fistfight at a street corner demonstration a couple of weeks ago illustrated the divisive nature of the issue.

It looks like the Yes on 8 folks will be celebrating when all the results are in, but it would be too premature to call it yet.

The Fran Florez (30th Assembly District candidate) party is the Barack Obama party, and it's packed.

When John McCain spoke, the crowd shushed others. When McCain referred to the special nature of this to African-Americans, there were several derisive awwws.

When the McCain crowd started chanting, the crowd in the hotel started chanting O-ba-ma, as if to drown them out.

The biggest cheer for Obama here came when he mentioned Michelle, his wife.

— Staff writer James Geluso

Update:

Also overheard at the Democratic Party's party: Two Obama supporters, young women, were discussing Propostition 8.

"It's against the Bible," said Lisa Jenkins-Johnson. "To me it's against the word of God.
"I don't want that to be taught to my children."

She acknowledged that the Democratic position and Obama were against Prop 8, but  she was still for it.

Statement from Kevin McCarthy:

"I thank the voters of the 22nd District of California for the honor of continuing to serve them in the United States Congress.  There is a lot of work to do to, but together, we are Americans and Americans remain resilient.

"While we face challenging times, that challenge is an opportunity for ingenuity and action, rather than more Washington complacency. We should encourage that innovation by taking bold steps toward encouraging entrepreneurship, and not taking more away from American innovators and small businesses.

"When we wake up on Wednesday, we will wake up to a new morning.  We will awaken a new opportunity to work together for bold American solutions.  We must work together in a way that Americans expect of their representatives: with civility in debate, but with the unwavering principles that trust the American people and our innovative job-creators, and not government.  

"Republicans and Democrats in Congress should put forward solutions to create jobs and build up our economy, fix a broken Washington, achieve energy independence, and strengthen our national defense and military to create a safer America.  As we look to the future, I will continue to reach out and listen to our communities so our local voices and values are heard and can shape the debates in Washington."
 

Early returns seem to favor Danny Gilmore.

Danny Gilmore had 56.4 percent and Fran Florez 43.6 percent districtwide in early returns, mainly from Kings County.

Fran Florez was winning 59 percent to 41 percent in Kern County with 61.4 percent reporting.

In 2006, Nicole Parra needed a 2-1 margin in Kern County to overcome her losses in every other county, especially Kings, which has the most votes in the 30th District and is Gilmore's home.

Bakersfield attorney Charles "Chip" Brehmer leads Deputy District Attorney Holly Mitchell in a race for a judgeship in Kern County Superior Court, according to final unofficial results from the Kern County Elections Department.

All 588 precincts have reported, but the results are not official because there are still absentee and provisional ballots still to be counted.

The elections department Web site has Brehmer with 50.85 percent of the vote, compared to Mitchell's 48.69.

Starbucks, which originally was giving away free tall coffees to voters only, is extending the promotion to anyone who asks for one -- thereby avoiding breaking any pesky election laws.

But not all store employees are aware of this, apparently. At at least one Starbucks this morning, employees were still asking people if they voted.

Fine by us. You should vote anyway. So do the right thing, fair citizens.

So is Election Day living up to the hype? Are polling place lines long? Are people excited and sharing that? Is everything going smoothly or are you encountering problems?

Please share your experience at the polls — and we will too!

— Christine Bedell, government team leader

This promises to be one of the most historic, high-turnout elections of our lifetimes and so tomorrow, we want to know about your experience at the polls.

Were the lines long — how long? Were voters noticeably excited —  what were they sharing? Did elections workers do a good job or were there problems?

We hope you'll share your experience on this blog tomorrow. Your posts may also end up in a story we plan to write Tuesday for Wednesday's newspaper on the turnout.

Thanks ahead of time for participating. Californian staffers will, too.

— Government team leader Christine Bedell

When we worked on today's story about voter registration, we spent a lot fo time with the county's database.

We all knew voters were registering in droves in 2008. But then we checked the numbers in 2004 and discovered a voter surge about twice as large. This year, about 30,000 voters registered in Kern County for the first time. Four years ago, it was about 60,000 voters.

At first, we figured it was due to the housing boom, bringing people from other counties who then had to re-register here. But the Census Bureau tells us migration has been flat; population growth was 2.5 to 3 percent a year before, during and after the boom.

So here's our new hypothesis: 2004 just happened to be the first presidential election that was after:

• The 2000 election, which undermined the notions that one vote doesn't matter and that there's no difference between the candidates,

• Sept. 11, 2001, and

• The war in Iraq.

And so a large group of people who didn't care whether they voted in 2000 did care in 2004.

But it's not a hypothesis we really have the capability to test.

What do you think?

— James Geluso

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This was forwarded to us today. Apparently it's from a Prop 8 rally on Friday night.

Harvey Hall, you have been warned!