San Francisco Chronicle

Even though California is being modeled as the birthplace of post partisanship, ideological divisions still run deep in the political process. Two state senators who just crossed the aisle to forward a creative solution to a pressing state problem are getting more grief than glory.

Sens. Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, and Robert Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, held a press conference two weeks ago to introduce their bill to create a California KIDS Account for every newborn. The goal is to encourage parents… more

If California's independent voters want a voice in next year's presidential primary, they better start paying attention to Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic candidates. While the nearly 20 percent of California voters who register as decline to state will be welcome in the Democratic presidential primary, they will be barred from casting a ballot for any of the Republican presidential hopefuls. "Since 1999, the state party rules have said that… more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Every child born in California would get a $500 savings account to start building a nest egg for college or a down payment for a home, under a state Senate bill introduced Wednesday.California would be the first state with such a program, said David Lesher, a program director for the nonprofit New America Foundation, based in Washington. A national savings program has languished in Congress since 2005; a similar program has increased savings in Britain… more

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was playing to a growing crowd of voters, in California and across the nation, when he used his inaugural address last month to urge people to "move past partisanship'' to a new home in the political center...It's a sentiment that appeals to the burgeoning number of voters who don't want to be identified with the Republican or Democratic parties and to the many people unwilling to be tied to their party's candidates or policies... more

Several reports released this week put a spotlight on rapidly rising health care costs, suggesting they will keep climbing in the foreseeable future. That could be a signal that employers and consumers will see increases in health insurance rates, economists warn. The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that consumer prices rose 0.2 percent in January, driven in part by the biggest jump in medical costs since August 1991. Meanwhile, federal forecasters concluded in a separate… more

Nine-tenths of a cent. What's that about? It won't buy you a piece of penny candy, but it will buy you a gallon of gasoline, along with 200 or 300 more pennies. It's called the hidden penny. Not that it's a penny, since it comes up short, and not that it's hidden, since something so puzzling is unlikely to escape notice. Yet it is equally unlikely that we give it much thought. That suits the oil companies just… more

Washington -- The bloodshed in Iraq already has cost the Republicans control of Congress, devastated the Bush presidency and made Democrats the favorites heading into the 2008 presidential campaign. With no end in sight to the nearly 4-year-old war, there is widening concern among Republicans that losing what was described widely in 2003 as "the biggest gamble of the modern presidency'' could hurt their party's electoral prospects for a generation to come... "In times of war,… more

Californians and their state government are drifting further apart.

A recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California found only 20 percent of November voters believe our state will be a better place to live in 2025; 51 percent say it will be worse. Another poll by the New America Foundation found widespread dissatisfaction with the two major political parties, even Democratic and Republican voters indicating their weariness of voting for the "lesser of two evils."

For the first… more

As the Bush administration struggles with bipartisan opposition to increasing troop levels in Iraq, the new Pentagon chief is also weighing requests to send more troops to Afghanistan, where military commanders anticipate another surge in violence in the spring.While many analysts support a troop boost to Afghanistan, they also warn that the increase alone would not be enough to fight the resurgent Islamic militia, which has been staging increasingly bold attacks against U.S., NATO and Afghan forces and… more

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is getting high marks nationwide for setting a bold second-term agenda that would overhaul the state's health care system, promote clean energy, fix a troubled prison system and provide billions more dollars for public works projects. More than just putting big ideas on a list, Schwarzenegger is also showing a willingness to confront -- and even unite -- vested interests resistant to the kind of audacious change the governor has in mind. more