Jerry Brown’s campaign is downright bizarre.  His slogan is “Let’s get California working again.”  But then if you go to his website, there is NO PLAN as to how he’s going to accomplish that.   This is classic Jerry Brown, all sizzle no steak.   The truth of the matter is that he’s is way past his sell-by date and he literally has NO PLAN.  He accomplished nothing as Mayor of Oakland and less than nothing as Attorney General.   He’s the same old egomaniac he’s always been, his bid for the governor’s mansion is nothing more than a grasp at past glory – he’s the political equivalent of Norma Desmond wanting her one last closeup.  We simply can’t imagine voting for him.

Meg Whitman is plain scary.  Her entire goal seems to win, from the $40 million plus she has pledged to her campaign, to her refusal to talk to the media, to her phony “town halls” – where people with opposing viewpoints are escorted out by the police, to her over-the-top negative ads against Steve Poizner, we have no idea what she stands for or who she is.  And no, we’re not impressed by the fact that she ran ebay from 1998 until 2007, come on.  The trick to running eBay from 1998 until 2007 was to stand back and watch the money roll in.  It wasn’t exactly a turnaround story – she was in the right place at the right time. Before ebay she was the CEO for FTD (the florists) and then Hasbro (the children’s toy company).  She has ZERO public service experience and ZERO experience in California politics — which, as we learned from Gov. Schwarzenegger’s tenure is actually important in California.

And that brings us to Poizner — OK we don’t know a lot about him.  But we do know this, he’s got a plan.  Go to his website and see for yourself.  The guy has put some real thought as to how he can right the ship.  It may not be a plan we agree with, but right now – he’s the only one with real ideas.  We are also intrigued by his thoughtful approach to spending cuts.  He also is more than a former CEO, he actually started two wildly successful software companies from scratch and he’s spent the last four years as California’s Insurance Commissioner – a gritty, non-glamorous, out-of-the-spotlight elected office.

The bottom line is this:  Steve Poizner is a nerd.  And right now California does not need a blowhard relic from another era or a showboating corporate executive trying to wow us with her cash flow.  Right now California needs a nerd who will actually do the hard work.  Poizner may just be that nerd.  We’ll see.

Here’s some good economic news.  L.A. gets $120 million in federal grant money to ease freeway congestion.  The bad news is that they’re going to use that money to turn the HOV lanes into toll lanes during peak traffic times.   Oh well.  [LA Now]

Assemblymember Ted Lieu (D-South Bay L.A. Beach Cities) filed paperwork to form an “exploratory committee” that will “explore” a possible run for California Attorney General. Bro, don’t do it.  You’re a good guy – you’re trying to stick up for homeowners-in-trouble and improve mass-transit; but you’ve only been an Assemblyman for 3 years, everyone hates the legislature and your constituents are beach volleyball players, trustafarian surfers, skate park moms and one of the biggest Whole Foods stores we’ve ever seen. Your main competition in the primary is Kamala Harris, an 18-year prosecutor who is now the District Attorney of San Francisco.  She will get serious support from Obamaland – she supported the President-Elect from day one.  She’s gonna stomp you.  Just wait awhile, your time will come.  On the other hand, maybe you’re doing this to get your name out there and you don’t really expect to run or win this time out — nothing wrong with that.  [Politicker CA]

On this day of Republican revolt against Governor Schwarzenegger, we received an email from Steve Poizner’s “2010 Gubernatorial candidate exploratory committee” telling us that more than 70% of Republican legislatures have endorsed him for Governor.  Is this a good thing?    Poizner is clearly going to win the Republican nomination, especially since Meg Whitman seems to be losing steam.  Which means we have to learn about all the boring-but-important things he’s done as Insurance Commissioner and figure out where he stands on the issues.  Ugh. Already? Do we have to? Yes. Yes we do.  [Poizner Press Release]

Oh, the California Supreme Court ruled today that if you have a temporary license tag on your car, the police can’t pull you over just because they think that those temporary tags are usually fake.  They have to believe that the actual tag on your car is actually fake.   Why this took until 2008 to decide is beyond us, this seems like basic  Fourth Amendment stuff.  Imagine if it the police were randomly pulling over people driving Honda Civics because Honda Civics are the most frequently stolen car.  Wouldn’t you expect the court to knock that down right away?  This is no different.  [California Supreme Court - People v. Hernandez]

One more thing …  if you have your temporary tag  on the dashboard under the windshield, and the cops don’t see your temporary tag on the back of your car, they can still pull you over.  [Calfironia Supreme Court - In re: Raymond C]