San Diego

Starting next year, candidates running for office in San Diego will be able to take in contributions of up to $500, a significant increase across the board. The current limits on individual contributions are set at $270 for city council and $320 for both mayor and city attorney races.

Recent voter registration numbers in the 78th State Assembly District show Democrats increasing their lead over Republicans, a welcome trend for the party as it looks to pick up an open seat and move closer to a two-thirds majority in the chamber.

Two articles that I'm confident drew reasonably little statewide attention caught my interest last week. One has a lesson in how difficult it is for all of us to change habits, especially when it comes to the incomprehensible (to me) desire to have green lawns in areas that are virtually deserts. The second raises real questions about how little oversight there is on the potential impact of proposals surrounding the state budget. Both are superficially about water, but really are about the need for changing how we do things.

The heated San Diego mayoral primary rumbled to an end today, with voters in the city heading to the polls to choose between incumbent Jerry Sanders and his Republican challenger Steve Francis.

Polls conducted in the days leading up to the primary show Sanders, a former city police chief, in the low 40 percent range, with Francis, a wealthy businessman, receiving in the mid 30 percent range. Either candidate will need to win 50 percent of the votes to avoid a November runoff between the two.

Tom Shepard, Sanders's campaign manager, expressed confidence that the first term mayor was ahead and that there would not be a runoff.

"The only open question remains if we'll get over the 50 percent threshold," said Shepard. "We think we will."

It’s Election Day in California.

Voters in the state are choosing general election candidates in several hotly contested congressional races. Also on the ballot are the dueling eminent domain measures 98 and 99. Voters in San Francisco and Marin will make their selection in a state Senate race. And Sacramento and San Diego have mayoral contests.

Polls opened across the state at 7:00 AM. They will close at 8:00 PM.

Stay tuned to PolitickerCA.com for results and up-to-the-minute news.

A Wednesday evening debate between millionaire businessman Steve Francis and San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders ended with them actually shaking hands, compared to their previous debate in which the incumbent refused to offer that gesture.

Politically targeted security contractor Blackwater is staying in San Diego despite recently withdrawing controversial plans to build an 824-acre training camp near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Blackwater has become a Democratic Party symbol of the Bush administration’s Iraq quagmire. San Diego peace activists mobilized with local residents in rural Potrero last year to fight Blackwater’s proposed training camp there, culminating in five members of Potrero’s community planning board being recalled. Congressional critics have included San Diego’s Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Filner of Chula Vista.

Blackwater now has a city permit for a border-adjacent, Navy-focused, 61,600-square-foot indoor training facility in a warehouse district in San Diego’s Otay Mesa neighborhood. City officials gave Blackwater the permit in mid-March, the Union-Tribune reported this week.

Politically targeted security contractor Blackwater is staying in San Diego despite recently withdrawing controversial plans to build an 824-acre training camp near the U.S.-Mexico border.

Blackwater has become a Democratic Party symbol of the Bush administration’s Iraq quagmire. San Diego peace activists mobilized with local residents in rural Potrero last year to fight Blackwater’s proposed training camp there, culminating in five members of Potrero’s community planning board being recalled. Congressional critics have included San Diego’s Democratic U.S. Rep. Bob Filner of Chula Vista.

Blackwater now has a city permit for a border-adjacent, Navy-focused, 61,600-square-foot indoor training facility in a warehouse district in San Diego’s Otay Mesa neighborhood. City officials gave Blackwater the permit in mid-March, the Union-Tribune reported this week.