Dianne Feinstein’s Replacement Is Here. Who Is She?: California governor Gavin Newsom selected EMILY’s List president, Laphonza Butler

Featured at Slate.com

California Democrats were already jockeying to run for Dianne Feinstein’s Senate seat next year and Governor Gavin Newsom sidestepped the contenders by announcing he would appoint Laphonza Butler to the seat.

While Newsom made good on his vow to appoint a Black woman to the Senate, does Butler’s job offer come with a poison pill?

Guest: Alex Sammon, Slate politics writer.

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Oct032023 TAGS: , , , ,

Dianne Feinstein’s Last Stand: Can the Democrats afford to let the California senator finish her term?

Featured at Slate.com

The 89-year-old Dianne Feinstein has stated she plans to retire at the end of her term, but her health-related absences have stymied the Democrats’ ability to confirm judges—one of the few things the party can actually do in a divided government.

Guest: Joe Garofoli, senior political writer at the San Francisco Chronicle, covering national and state politics.

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Apr192023 TAGS: , , , ,

Clinton, Feinstein and standing up to bullies

Featured at The Washington Post

If you said Hillary Rodham Clinton owes the start of her independent political career to Rick Lazio, even Lazio might agree. The tipping point for the 2000 race for the U.S. Senate from New York between a former first lady and a U.S. Congressman? When Lazio, the Republican nominee, crossed over to Clinton’s side of the stage in a pre-election debate and demanded she sign a piece of paper. Few remember what was on that page, a pledge against using soft money in the campaign. They do remember the moment. Women – and to be fair, a lot of men – cringed, recalling similar encounters they might have had with a guy who stepped over the line. The rest is history, and it belongs to Clinton.

I thought of that image watching the back-and-forth between Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the gun legislation debate last week. Cruz’s question on the constitutionality of a ban on assault weapons, using the example of limits on the First Amendment, had merit. But it was the tone of condescension in Cruz’s voice and the smirk on his face that stuck.

While his Senate seat looks to be safe in Texas, his national ambitions definitely took a hit. Who wants a president who reminds them of that dude who treated you like an idiot?

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Mar202013 TAGS: , , , , ,