California Politics .

Mr. Kashkari would be my first
choice to replace Jerry.

California Politics was on my mind this week . Watching the debate between Governor Jerry Brown (D-CA) and challenger Neel Kashkari (R) debated various issues, including immigration, education, and infrastructure, in their first and only debate before the November 2014 gubernatorial election. KQED-TV, the Los Angeles Times, the California Channel, and Telemundo California sponsored this debate, which was held in the Sacramento studio of the California Channel. The Debate alone was hardly noticed , more than a whimper . I have to say that  Mr. Kashkari needed another reminder of the challenge he faces, a Field Poll released Thursday morning showed Mr. Brown leading him by 16 points, 50 to 34. Perhaps even more troublesome for Mr. Kashkari, the poll found that nearly 60 percent of respondents did not know enough about him to offer a favorable or unfavorable opinion. With Mr. Brown in mind I can't help thinking that when I was an elementary school student in the 3rd ,or 4th grade it was Mr. Jerry Brown was governor , he was also governor while I was a freshman in high school. Gov. Jerry Brown, already the longest-serving governor in California history, and he's now  running  for an unprecedented fourth term. The BIG DEAL with this is as a political commentator myself  is that in politics the "gene" pool of potential politicians is at an ultra low , this ALSO speaks for the rest of the NATION as NOVEMBER rolls through. It's a problem when incumbents are reelected over and over again. A political novice, the 41-year-old Mr Kashkari is unlikely to oust the 76-year-old Mr Brown, who has far more money, far more experience and a 20-point lead in the polls. But he has longer-term aspirations: he is trying to rebrand the Republican Party in a state where it holds no statewide offices, is outnumbered two-to-one in the legislature and is shedding supporters fast as elderly whites die or move to Las Vegas. California’s gubernatorial election is just two months away. Currently leading by 21 points among likely voters, Democratic incumbent Jerry Brown holds the edge over Republican challenger Neel Kashkari. The odds, due to everything from finance to experience, are stacked at staggering heights against Kashkari, but the public shouldn’t be too quick to dismiss him as nothing but an underdog. Though he might lose this election, Kashkari’s win will be in reviving an ailing Republican brand.

California Propositions .

While the Governor's race is the main concern . California is going to get the sucker punch in November , and it all depends on the voters. Worrisome should be these : California wants to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. In order to do that, the state passed a law, known as AB 32, that is the first of its kind in the U.S. Beginning in 2015, the law's penalty on carbon emissions will also apply to transportation fuels, including oil and gas. That means if your car runs on gas or diesel, you’ll pay more.Exactly how much more? Nobody knows. Apparently state legislators felt compelled to approve the law first and do the math later. They don’t believe they need to share the pesky details with the folks who elected them. Based on input from various industry organizations and consumer groups, it’s estimated that the cap and trade "tax" on carbon emissions has the potential to increase California’s retail gasoline prices from 16 cents to 76 cents per gallon. Most expect at least a 15-cent increase beginning in 2015. ANOTHER which could undo Obamacare is Prop 45 , Prop. 45 would change that, giving the commissioner the power to intervene if an increase in rates was judged to be excessive. In July, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones sought to promote passage of Prop. 45 by highlighting the jump in insurance rates (22% to 88%) in Obamacare's first year. As the insurance industry pointed out in response, those increases were an intentional part of the design of Obamacare. They are the mechanism to balance out the cost of covering those who are older and less healthy. Rate increases in California averaged a relatively modest 4.2% this year. That is partly the result of the risk corridor program built into Obamacare's first 3 years and, perhaps, concern by insurers that larger increases might lead to passage of Prop. 45. Insurers havereportedly put $25 million behind an effort to defeat the measure.