Reply #129: Placer new Orange County

[Riverman]

Actually most of the elected officials that have represented the City of Sacramento and Davis (UC-Davis) have been democrats. The surrounding areas are mostly republican. Placer County located along I-80 between Sacramento and the Sierra foothills (mostly - part does connect over to Lake Tahoe), is the new Orange County, CA - now the most republican county in the state. Far more high growth cities then big- welfare farmers. More so dominated by numerous, fundamentalist churches - it like a chunk of Texas right here in liberal/progressive Northern California. Though lately moderate republicans have won some local elections and democrat registration is picking up ever so slightly. Local debate is all about environmental protection and rapid growth, massive traffic congestion and high levels of air pollution, especially ozone (Sacramento sits in a very wide valley with winds blowing all the smog from the Bay Area to the west, mixing it in the hot sun of the Valley, then being pushed up against the Sierra foothills in the evenings in the summer. Winter its foggy bottom!

I sure hope Darrell Steinberg, a progressive liberal democrat runs for Matsui's seat. He is a bright (I believe Harvard) guy who has a good heart and courageous politics. He managed to get laws passed to try to keep guns out of the hands of mentally ill people and fights to try to incentivise cities to build their share of affordable housing. He is now out of office and presumably available. I believe he was actually planning to run for U.S. Senate when Feinberg retires (soon I hope).