LAist used to work with people who would make us think "am I the crazy one here?" While in Pasadena yesterday stumping for Phil Angelides, John Kerry dissed George Bush by saying that if he was smart he wouldn't have ended up in a quagmire in Iraq. And you've gotta hand it to the Republican Spin Machine, they're doing their best to pretend like Kerry was talking about the Troops. As if. Later Kerry......

While LAist hasn't really made up our mind yet who we're voting for in the Governor's race, it looks like Jay Leno has. In an bizarre move, the Tonight Show invited Governor Schwarzenegger on the air yesterday as a guest on the show -- in the middle of a close race. But for some reason they didn't invite the Democratic candidate Phil Angelides, which has prompted Angelides' team to begin an online protest, demanding......

Election season is in the air, and now the real fun -- trash talking, negative campaigning, more walking backwards in TV spots, etc. -- begins in earnest. But LAist stumbled upon this funny and semi-educational site, courtesy of Phil Angelides' campaign. (He's the Democrat running against the gubernator next month, in case you didn't know the name.) The Bush Buddies site (www.bsbuddies.com) allows users to design their very own "Bush Buddy Arnold" -- selecting......

If you missed the gubernatorial debate between Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Democratic state Treasurer Phil Angelides while watching the Dodgers getting killed, you missed this banter from our current governor: "I can tell by the joy I see in your eyes that you love to raise taxes. Why don't you just say right now, 'I love increasing your taxes.'" After RIDE-Arc last night, Metroblogging LA's Will Campbell climbed 75 stories to the top of......

The Stompinator - What is it about us Democrats that we nominate the pencil-neckiest, geekiest guy of them all to go up against Arnold Schwarzenegger? This strategy that we can paint a popular action star as a puppet of Washington is preposterous. Sigh. How about we save the millions of campaign dollars and just give the gubernatorial election to Arnold right now? Oh, in case you missed it, Phil Angelides has won the democratic......

Tuesday, 6/6/06 is Election Day again in California. You can download a voter guide and find your polling place here. You wouldn't know it from the recent run of attack ads, but the two frontrunning Democratic candidates Phil Angelides and Steve Westly have in the past seemed like fairly rational, decent guys. (Disclosure: this LAist contributor volunteered a bit on Angelides's campaign.) They're both state-level finance guys, which seems useful given that California's current......

During the American Idol finale a few weeks ago, nearly 63 million votes were cast. Now while LAist knows that there were probably 63 voters who called Taylor Hicks' or Katherine McPhee’s numbers a million times each, it still makes us mull over ways to get people just as excited about doing their civic duty and vote for the lawmakers, who are supposedly looking out for our best interests locally as well as in......

streets of the city - West Magazine in the LA Times turns its attention to the overlooked hippie film Cisco Pike. Buried at the time of its release, never released on video, the movie is now out on DVD; the paper says it's worth a look. It follows Gene Hackman, Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black and Harry Dean Stanton through the streets of 1970 Los Angeles. deadly crash - A 22-year old woman racing through......

a debate falls in the forest Steve Westly and Phil Angelides tusseled in their final debate yesterday in San Francisco; they'll face off in the June 6 Democratic Primary. They're both pro-environment, pro-choice and anti-Arnold. In case you missed it, you can listen: the whole thing is archived at KPCC. when $60K not enough A new report from the Public Policy Institute of California says our state's cost of living has soared; we've gone......

so you wanna be a rock-n-roll star Sherman Oaks' own Katharine McPhee sailed through the latest "American Idol" round. The 22-year old wowed viewers with her rendition of the abysmal "Against All Odds" by Phil Collins. want to be the governor Despite not getting an endorsement from the Democratic party, State Controller (and Democrat) Steve Westly is still running hard for California Governor. At a debate with Phil Angelides yesterday, the two tusseled over......

hello guvner Over the weekend, the California Democratic Party made Phil Angelides their choice to run for Governor against Arnie. Angelides, who is State Treasurer, appears to be a solid liberal democrat. We just wish he didn't look so much like Ben Stein. whose LAUSD? Superintendent Roy Romer is expected to depart LAUSD this fall. Does this mean Mayor Villaraigosa has the perfect opportunity to set his takeover plans in motion? Well, one watcher......

Apparently California voters like that Destiny's Child greatest hits CD and voted No, No No at the polls yesterday. While locally we can look to new City Council members and further funding for LAUSD building needs as victories of voter will, where does our Governor go from here? He's been humbled by the experience and, it seems, crippled as well. He's made enemies of not only the state legislature but of organized labor who......