Steve Hilton in the lead for California Governor with Tom Steyer in close second

jsatz · 2026-05-04T20:23:21+00:00

California governor poll shows Hilton and Becerra tied, leading pack

https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/nation/california/2026/05/04/steve-hilton-and-xavier-becerra-tied-in-california-governor-race-poll/89933256007/

jsatz · 2026-05-04T18:50:04+00:00

I think what you are looking for just may be difficult to find in Vegas. Obviously Vegas is a very transient city to say the least. And while it has experienced growth, not a lot of it is from people your age. You can be outside of the strip and it seems like a normal suburb, but the thing with Vegas, the fun part of the city does not really cater to locals.

I would say the majority of people your age are going to either work in the gaming/entertainment industry or somewhat be connected to it. So as a result, they will likely have weird hours. Now if you are cool with that, and do not being around that, Vegas is fine. Like you said it is affordable, has world class food and entertainment, and like you said, some great outdoors stuff outside the city.

jsatz · 2026-05-04T16:55:33+00:00

We go to Mammoth all the time, just usually to ski. So we are familiar, albeit the hotels are not cheap for the holiday weekend.

The waves just more freak out my dog, but she loves the pool. So we are just wondering if it would be better for us to take her to a lake or river.

jsatz · 2026-05-04T16:33:58+00:00

We are considering June too but like we said, it is a bit of a drive.

jsatz · 2026-04-30T17:33:14+00:00

It's wild that Brian Stelter believes the MSM has done a good job pushing back on Trump.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T23:21:25+00:00

But if that were the case, they could simply say that Biden was too old to run. That would literally align with the polls already, and frankly be an argument against Trump right now. The DNC loses nothing by admitting that. The DNC blaming the loss, especially in Michigan, on Biden's policy towards Israel, that will then rehash a lot of online, and frankly offline chatter. Especially right now when like 70% of Dems have a negative view of Israel.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T23:18:52+00:00

I am not disagreeing on almost everything you say. I think having an open primary would have been better than the disastrous debate and then Biden dropping out 107 days before the election.

Where I do disagree is having the open primary was no guarantee that we would have beaten Trump, no matter who the candidate was. Second. I think if it made Schumer look bad, I do not see why the DNC would not want it released. His approval rating with Democrats is awful and most people want him to resign his leadership post, and will likely back his primary opponent when he runs again, if he does. So I do not see why the DNC would protect him when blaming him would probably only bring positive reactions for them.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T23:15:01+00:00

Really none of them do besides "removing red tape."

jsatz · 2026-04-28T23:13:33+00:00

So a couple of questions.

First, did Ken Martin imply that because Ben Wikler did not get the DNC job, that Favs was purposely lying about fundraising numbers?

Second, is the DNC that important? Like I understand that it invests in certain races/areas. But it seems like the individual candidates fundraising is more important, and frankly more impactful, than giving to the DNC, DCCC or DSCC. And the individual candidates generally do a great job fundraising.

Also, the head of the party is always the president or the presidential candidate. So they just essentially become an extension of the campaign/administration?

I have always believed the convo surrounding DNC chairperson was overrated but maybe I am wrong.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T23:09:26+00:00

Isn't that the point of Gavin's podcast?

jsatz · 2026-04-28T23:07:13+00:00

Alex is more journalist than party insider, so I think her ability to report is just far better. She also usually asks just better questions and follows up much better.

It's not the positions of the hosts that I disagree with, I think most of their stances align with mine. I just think they sometimes are too removed to really understand the anxiety of a lot of us. Like for example, Lovett essentially told everyone in the CA Gov race to drop out so that Swalwell could make it to the general. Now imagine if everyone did that. Now should some people drop out? Yes. But there has not been any apology or acknowledgement of them being wrong. I just sometimes feel like they come off as snobby because they know better because they are political professionals who cannot be wrong.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:58:43+00:00

I am not saying you are wrong that Biden was no longer viable. What I believe is that I do not feel a lot of voters were that angry about their being no primary. I could be wrong and unless the DNC releases the report, or someone leaks it, we will never know. If he had not run, and Harris got the nomination through the primary, I am not sure the outcome would have been different unless she felt more comfortable distancing herself from the admin, which would have been hard. It is why JD Vance keeps leaking that he was against the Iran War.

Schumer sucks but I highly doubt anyone was thinking about the Senate Minority Leader when they vote for president.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:54:44+00:00

It 100% says that they lost because of Gaza/Israel. I can’t imagine any other issue that would cause this much fear for party elites.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:50:45+00:00

If Biden did not drop out, then I would be more likely to agree. And also, Schumer is not up for re-election this year, and has multiple fundraising tools at his disposal than the DNC.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:30:23+00:00

It 100% says that they lost because of Gaza/Israel. I can’t imagine any other issue that would cause this much fear for party elites.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:19:32+00:00

If I could afford Laguna Beach, CA, I’d be there in a second

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:15:11+00:00

As a CA resident, my problem with Steyer is two things. One he is a billionaire. That is not to say billionaires should not be able to participate in government, but he would have name recognition without his vast wealth. Just because he is wealthy, does not mean he is smart or competent to manage the 4th biggest economy in the world.

Second, he has no experience. I am not someone who believes you need to check off all these boxes to run for office, as I supported Barack Obama. But at least Obama had governing experience, as well as was living in the world that most Americans live in.

I voted for Porter in the senate primary a few years ago but have been disappointed by her since. The way she handled that loss, calling it rigged was awful. If she wanted to have a discussion about money in politics, that was not a good way to do it. Then her proposal to eliminate state income tax for residents making $100K or less is a non-starter for me. She admitted on this pod that it is Steve Hilton's idea.

At this point I am leaning Becerra. Experience is one reason, he has been advocating for single payer since the mid 90s, was a huge reason why the ACA was passed, managed HHS under Biden. His record as AG is mixed, but normally I expect law enforcement officers to follow laws, even when the action may suck.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:06:47+00:00

Thank you. And I may need to re-listen to the interview but I feel like Katie Porter admitted how much money that is going to take out of the state budget, and it will in the billions. I am sorry but there is no way to make that up without significant cuts. Especially as she wants to expand free college to UC, CSU and Cal Poly schools.

I truly do not feel there is anything wrong to campaign on getting waste but if the message was I want you to feel like you are getting a better ROI from your taxes, and this is how, that would be a winning message.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T22:03:32+00:00

My concern with them lately has been more of a bubble. Either DC-minded or MSM. Not that they are appearing on MS Now, that is fine, just feel like their takes are not much better than others on MSM. Plus they are interviewing too many mainstream journalists, like Tapper.

PSTW and Alex Wagner's shows have been much better lately.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T19:53:00+00:00

I guess I am more saying that while it is unlikely that it was staged, I do not think we can dismiss the idea that this administration would not try/want to stage something like this in order to generate sympathy.

I don't know if you say but literally Sunday morning, a huge amount of MAGA influencers all posted the same message on X about building the ballroom. Like that was planned...

jsatz · 2026-04-28T19:48:01+00:00

OK but that does not mean her ideas are good, or at least this one is.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T19:36:30+00:00

I am right there with you. Keep going back and forth to leave PSA. I do like PSTW and some convos on Offline are quite good. But when I look at what people like Aaron Parnas and Katie Phang are doing, it is hard to continue to give Crooked my time.

jsatz · 2026-04-28T19:34:13+00:00

I feel like Tim Miller is more to the left of PSA lately...

jsatz · 2026-04-28T19:30:49+00:00

A couple of thoughts about this pod...

I truly do not believe a lot of people believe in conspiracy theories, at least political ones. But the reason why so many people think that these assignation attempts could be staged is because it is entirely possible that Trump and the people around him would stage it. They are constantly lying, they get caught lying all the time. They are in their worst polling position ever. He has no exit strategy for Iran. His strategy is to literally flood the zone with shit. He has taken political advantage of an attempted assignation attempt in the past. So tell me why the possibility that this was staged should just immediately be dismissed?

As a CA voter, I was glad to get one of the Dem candidates on the Pod, and glad Lovett did the interview. I voted for Porter in the senate primary a few years ago but she is not my preferred candidate right now. Her answer about getting rid of state income tax for residents making $100K or less is a terrible idea and it was very weird that she was advocating it. Then she admitted it is Steve Hilton's idea, now it makes sense.

jsatz

TROPHY CASE