Partial returns in California still suggest the Golden State might, in an odd way be one the better Red success stories tonight.

Schwarzenegger was immediately projected as re-elected the moment the polls closed. Now the question is just how miserable a finish Democrat Phil Angelides will have. So far, it seems, he risks not getting much more than 40% of the vote and perhaps a lot less.

The downward pressure from the top of the ticket is putting several statewide Democrats at risk. And at this moment, with about 10% of the vote tallied and the caveat that the night here is still young, most of those Dems are trailing.

Except for former Governor and former Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown who is way, way out in front in his run for attorney general. Brown emerges tonight as the most popular Democrat in the state and is likely to greatly elevate the profile of the office he will now hold.

Brown has always been at least neutral on Schwarzenegger and they may now become California's new political odd couple.

There are a couple of contested congressional seats in the state, those held by Republicans Doolittle and Pombo. To soon to call, but it looks like the former may survive while the latter could sink into his own pool of corruption.

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At this hour of just after 8 pm Pacific, the first significant results are coming in here in the west. And as expected, the first congressional seat to flip Democratic is Arizona's 8th district. As predicted, Democrat Gabby Gifford walloped pro-minuteman GOP rival Randy Graf.

And as I write, CNN has just projected a Democratic majority for the House.

A couple of more victories in the west, like the defeat of Arizona incumbent J.D. Hayworth, and New Mexico congresswoman Heather Wilson would broaden the new majority.

We'll update those races as more info comes in.

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It's do or die time for California Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides -- but he's mostly dying. With just a handful of weeks to go in the re-election race of Governor Schwarzenegger, new polls show Angelides trailing by as much as 17%.

Next week is the only televised debate of the campaign and most observers believe that if Angelides doesn't land some sort of knock-out punch he will be doomed for defeat in November. The new polls show that while Arnold has sewn up Republican support, Angelides is attracting only about 3 out of 5 California Democrats. Independents, meanwhile, are tilting toward the incumbent.

Some California unions, including the prison guards, teachers, and service employees have just rolled out a multi-million TV ad campaign slamming the Governator as too conservative to govern one of the bluest states in the union. And Angelides has come up with a new campaign tack of calling for the withdrawal of California National Guard troops from the conflict in Iraq.

But nothing seems to be slowing Arnold's momentum. He has made recent deals with the Democratic legislature on raising the minimum wage, lowering prescription drug prices and has just signed the most advanced anti-Global Warming legislation in the country.

Angelides' slumping campaign is now beginning to worry other California Democrats. Could his stall-out depress Democratic turn-out and in November and erode the chances of other down-ballot candidates? Worried Democrats want to know.

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At a time when the shift toward the Internet and the corporate quest for increased profit are threatening the future of journalism, it's inspiring to see the editor of a major daily newspaper paper push back.

Dean Baquet, the editor of the L.A. Times, is staging a high-profile mutiny against the suits at the Tribune Company, publicly refusing to make an estimated $10 million in cuts they are demanding. Baquet has said enough is enough and that a great newspaper cannot be corseted and expected to flourish.

Baquet has garnered support from his publisher Jeff Johnson; from his staff which is circulating a petition; and from an ad hoc committee of L.A. luminaries (including civic-minded billionaires and labor leaders) whose open letter to the Tribune Co. was published, yes, on the editorial page of the Times.

Some have called Baquet's move a last-ditch "Alamo strategy."

We'll see on Thursday when the Tribune board meets in Chicago. Putting down Baquet's rebellion will be at the top of the agenda.

Read the whole story on my blog.

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For some time now we've known about the Bush administration's outsourcing of torture to foreign dictatorships. But for the first time we can see the whole process vividly detailed by a Western governmental source.

A Candadian judicial panel has made public its findings in the case of hapless computer programmer Maher Arar, a Muslim Canadian citizen. Wrongly suspected of terrorist connections by Canadian intelligence, Arar was placed on a U.S. watchlist.

In September 2002, while changing planes in New York City, Arar was plain kidnapped by U.S. agents and essentially "disappeared." After being held in American custody for 12 days, he was flown by the U.S. to Jordan then driven to, yes, Syria. There he was beaten and held in a coffin-sized cell for ten horrific months.

The Syrians. The Syrians we hate. The Syrians we refuse to talk to. The Syrians we will have nothing to do with. Unless, that is, we need them to torture an innocent for us.

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Conservatives who whine and bray that the media is presenting a distorted picture of the war may be inadvertently correct. Indeed, things are probably worse than even the darkest and most pessimistic reports.

Respected New York Times war correspondent Dexter Filkins says that Iraq has become so anarchic and dangerous that as much as "98%" of it is now off-limits to reporters.

Even worse, Filkins says, the U.S. military might be similarly isolated and out of touch. His description of the literal small army that the New York Times must deploy just to get minimal reporting done is both mind-boggling and depressing. Imagine a news organization that needs a fleet of armored cars and four-dozen machine-gunners to protect its reporters. Read the details here.

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A new report from a California think tank confirms what many have long suspected: if Latinos, the poor, and the uneducated voted in proportionate numbers the state's political landscape would be vastly different.

Even as the Golden State's population continues to diversify, the actual electorate remains skewed toward older, wealthier and better-educated Whites. "If the trends in voting continue," says Mark Baldassare of the Public Policy Institute, "we face the prospect of an electorate making policy choices that neglect the realities and problems facing large segments of California society."

California is the only state in which no ethnic or racial group constitutes the majority, with whites representing 46 percent of the population and Latinos 32 percent. Yet, whites make up 70 percent of the electorate, and Latinos only 16 percent.

In California's November balloting, for example, only 8 million people are expected to vote out of 22.6 million adults who are eligible to vote and 27.7 million adults overall. And only 4 million, or 15 percent of the population, will represent the majority that decides all the issues.

At some point in history, somebody is going to have to take seriously the notion of a new voter registration drive. Until then, expect more of the status quo.

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The long-time finacier and reinging poo-bah of The New Republic, Marty Peretz, has formally entered the blogosphere with a dramtic ... thud.

Dubbing his site The Spine, Peretz offers himself up as the stiff, upright antidote to what he sees as the limp world of contemporary journalism. His main indictment of the MSM? That it gives air-time to Al Sharpton.

Oh well. The New Republic has been in slow decline for the last half decade, having tied itself to the political fortunes of first Al Gore and, more recently, Joe Lieberman and now, it seems, none other than Scooter Libby!

It seems doubtful that Peretz' new online foray will do much to revive the mag's slumping appeal. His long time nemesis, Slate's rapier-togued Jack Shafer just can't hold himself back. Muses Shafer:

The Peretz Index: Number of words: 1,500. Number of self-references: 28. Number of $10 words: two ("tocsin" and "phantasmagorical"). Number of stupid comparisons: one (the Republicans are like Sen. Joe McCarthy because they have the "habit" of referring to the Democratic Party as the "Democrat Party," just as Joe did). Number of foreign words or phrases: one ("par excellence"). Number of grammatical errors flagged by Microsoft Word: one (he writes "It's" when he means "Its"). Number of sentences that begin with "And": nine. Number of British spellings: one (he writes "judgement" twice).

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