The San Diego Union Tribune

SACRAMENTO – It was a watershed moment in his campaign for re-election. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger turned to Democratic challenger Phil Angelides during their one and only debate and said: “I can tell by the joy I see in your eyes that you love to raise taxes. Why don't you just say right now, 'I love increasing your taxes?' ”These days, Schwarzenegger certainly isn't shy about asking taxpayers for more, but it's hard to tell if he gets any… more

SACRAMENTO – Comprehensive health care reform was once considered to be part of the electrified third rail of politics, bringing shock and pain to anyone who dared touch it.Now, promoting major health care changes is getting safer.Across the nation, governors and state lawmakers are following the lead of Massachusetts and California in proposing plans to cut soaring health care costs and cover many of the 46 million Americans with no insurance.Kansas, Wisconsin, Illinois, Pennsylvania… more

Visits to the doctor often leave Katherine Beatty feeling sicker than when she left home...

Beatty is part of a Medicare experiment to see if old-fashioned house calls can improve the health of some of the agency's sickest beneficiaries while saving taxpayers money.

If the three-year pilot project in California and two other states is successful, Medicare officials likely would try the service on a larger scale before asking Congress to make it a permanent part of the federal government's health… more

California first lady Maria Shriver, John Edwards and other political luminaries have converged on Los Angeles for a summit on California poverty. The organizers asked speakers to present ways to help California's poor that are "innovative, practical and achievable."

That's a tall order, but it's a timely one. California is at a crossroads in how it assists its less fortunate residents. We can limit ourselves to the old tools and policies. Or California can lead the country in the democratization… more

With members of Congress home for summer recess, the smoke is still clearing over the smoldering ruins of what's left to fiscal restraint and the federal budget. Even a Republican-controlled Congress can't seem to resist spending Americans' tax dollars. The incentive for each district representative and GOP leaders to bring home the bacon is too tempting to resist.

When Democrats were in control of Congress until 1994, Republicans routinely accused Democrats of spending like drunken sailors on a Saturday night… more

Prospects for the governor's controversial redistricting initiative have grown appropriately dim. Whatever its ultimate fate, Schwarzenegger has done a good and decent thing in using his considerable bully pulpit power to raise awareness about the relatively obscure, but important issue of political gerrymandering. Without his call to arms, the powers that be in Sacramento almost certainly would have continued ignoring the very obvious problems with our process for drawing legislative districts lines. They're paying attention now.

But political gerrymandering is… more

For the past month, San Diego voters have been witnessing the breakdown of the method used to elect the mayor. That method is so confusing that San Diego still does not know the winner four weeks after the election. Blame and finger pointing are dividing the city. The legal costs of several lawsuits, as well as the expense of an unnecessary second election to determine the winner, is hitting taxpayers in the wallet.

The fundamental problem springs from using a… more

President Bush's vision of an "ownership society" expounded on the campaign trail certainly sounds good. In his travels across the country, he touts his plan to promote Americans' ability to save, invest and own their homes.

The campaign strategists may have stumbled upon a potent rhetorical device because the power of ownership has been experienced by the more fortunate families across the country. Financial success in America today increasingly requires not just a job and growing income, but the ability… more

The U.S. government has yet again hit the debt ceiling -- a limit that was increased by $450 billion to a whopping $6.4 trillion just last year. The lack of fanfare surrounding the event reflects that the debt ceiling is now little more than a whisper of a reminder that there is a downside to excessive government borrowing, not the closing of the credit line it was intended to be. Given the return of structural budget deficits and the looming… more

Social Security reform has long been considered an issue so dangerously charged it has been heralded as the third rail of politics -- touch it and you die.