MCDem's blog

Need any last minute information about today's special election?

• This special election is only for State Senate District 15.
• If you normally vote at the poll: Find your polling location on the back of your sample ballot.
• If you can't find your sample ballot, call the Monterey County Elections Department at 796-1499.
• Polls are open from 7 am to 8 pm.
• If you normally vote absentee: Do not mail your ballot. Postmarks do not count!
• On Election Day, you can drop it off at any polling place in the SD 15 portion of Monterey County or at the Monterey County Elections Department.
• Please note that only polling locations in the 15th Senate District have an election today. Not all polling locations are open. If you have questions about your polling location or your ballot, call the Monterey County Elections Department at 796-1499.
• If you need a ride to a polling place or need any other help to allow you to vote today, call our headquarters at 333-0101.

This election is far too important to miss!

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WASHINGTON, D.C. – “The president’s speech showed that we have both a realist and a visionary in the White House. He’s grounded in the present and can recognize the problems we must confront, but he also has the creativity and wisdom to figure out how to solve them.

“The economic recovery package the president signed last week is arguably the largest, quickest victory by any president. The stimulus provides us with the tools we need to put America back to work, and tonight’s speech lays out the roadmap to get us there.

“Congress has been asked to do some heavy lifting to help put this country on the right track. I know we’re up for it -- my hope is that we can put aside our partisan differences to meet the needs of the president and the people who elected him.”

Jason Burnett writes in the Monterey Herald: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency took the first formal step Friday to rectify one of the Bush administration's worst environmental legacies. It began the process that will almost certainly allow California to go ahead with setting its own greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks.

The Bush administration not only failed to take meaningful federal action to reduce the risk of catastrophic climate change but it also blocked California's right to do so. But President Barack Obama again backed up his rhetoric of change with real action by directing the EPA to revisit the decision, and the EPA began the process by soliciting public comment.

Most observers agree the result will be that the EPA will allow California to again lead the nation.

California had requested a waiver from federal preemption so the state could require cars and trucks to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, including carbon dioxide. Since there is no known way to capture carbon dioxide coming out of a tailpipe, manufacturers would have complied by building cars and trucks that use less gasoline and diesel.