I thought I'd share that for the first time in my life, I put up a political sign in my yard. I haven't done them in the past basically because I felt I might alienate neighbors.
Example: the old guy across the street is a huge Bush supporter and had some right-wing whacko placard in the last election. I know my neighbors to the right are liberal democrats (hispanic teachers).
The elderly poll workers in my Republican district couldn't even say "democrat." I was referred to as "D" and that was said with clenched teeth.
So why get political now?
Well, we have a heated mayoral race in San Jose. There are 8 or 9 candidates, although only five are major contenders. We've had some scandals with garbage contracts, which lost the tax payer $11M. We also built a huge new city council. It's beautiful, but I don't think it shoud have been a priority expenditure. And that buildilng had a no-bid scandal with Cisco systems, who incidentally muffed up the installation.
Long story short: I'm tired of wastoid politicians and the only way things will get better is if we elect really good people to office. I believe David Pandori is the best candidate for Mayor. I voted for him when he first ran for city council back in the late 80s. He is now the deputy DA and announced his candidacy late in the game, but he just earned a surprise endorsement from the Mercury News.
I've also finally decided to vote for Steve Westley for Governor. My major reason is that Angelides is getting big money from developers, he's a real estate guy himself, and I think rucous development has seriously hurt CA. My state isn't the beautiful and strong state it was when I was a kid. While I don't think Westley is the greatest candidate, when compared to Angelides and Schwarzenneger, he is clearly the better candidate.