Another Alternative to Biden – WSJ

Voters in the survey do not appear to have been asked about Mrs. Obama, perhaps because she has often indicated that she’s not interested in running. But if Democratic primary voters decide they’re ready to move on from Mr. Biden but have no obvious alternative, they may urge the former first lady to reconsider.

In 2020 Democratic voters didn’t immediately fall in love with Mr. Biden but decided he was more marketable in middle America than, for example, socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In 2024 Democrats may decide that they need someone who is more broadly popular than their current roster of professional politicians. This week’s survey of New Hampshire’s likely Democratic primary voters showed significant support for candidates representing the left wing of the party.

Yet a changing electorate means that Democrats may have to work even harder than in 2020 to win over people in the middle. Jeffrey Jones of Gallup recently noted:

Americans’ party preferences were evenly divided in 2022, with 45% of U.S. adults identifying as Republican or saying they were Republican-leaning independents, and 44% identifying as Democrats or saying they were Democratic-leaning independents. The last time preferences were this closely divided was in 2011, with Democrats holding at least a three-percentage-point advantage in each year of the past decade.

More generally, stretching back to 1991, when Gallup began regularly measuring party identification and leaning, Democrats have held an edge in most years.

Some media coverage may suggest that the country is moving toward the Sandernista view of the world, but Gallup suggests otherwise:

The stronger year for Republicans in 2022 was manifested in their party’s winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Nationwide, more voters cast ballots for Republicans than Democratic U.S. House candidates last year by a margin of about three points. However, Republicans were not able to gain a majority in the U.S. Senate.

It’s not just that the country is lately more Republican. The number of nonpartisans is also significant. Mr. Jones writes:

When Gallup began conducting its interviews exclusively by telephone in 1988, there were similar proportions of Democrats, Republicans and independents in the U.S. In the early 1990s, independents began to outnumber Republicans and Democrats, but that advantage faded in the early 2000s.

However, since 2009, independent identification has grown and reached levels not seen before. Now, political independents (41%) greatly outnumber Republican (28%) and Democratic (28%) identifiers.

Some may not think this is Michelle Obama’s moment given the polarizing politics of her husband. But she largely avoided them and remains well-known and well-liked.

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California Leads the Nation in Alleging Environmental Problems. Does It Solve Any of Them?
Golden State politicians emit more virtue signals than any other segment of the U.S. population. But don’t expect the Sacramento gang’s expensive environmental regulation to actually prevent or ameliorate the conditions they regard as dangerous. It seems the hard work happens outside the state’s borders.

Robert Lewis reports for CalMatters:

In the past five years, California has disposed of more than 660,000 tons of contaminated soil in Arizona landfills and nearly a million tons at a Utah landfill… while California officials have discussed the issue for years, including a state initiative that looked at ways to treat more contaminated soil on-site, they’ve done little to address it. In fact, the state’s own hazardous waste watchdog – the Department of Toxic Substances Control – is one of the biggest out-of-state dumpers.

Gee, that doesn’t sound very virtuous at all. The California government itself is a major exporter of hazardous waste? Mr. Lewis continues:

Since 2018, the department has removed more than 105,000 tons of contaminated soil from the site of the state’s biggest cleanup effort… and disposed of it in western Arizona. Regulatory filings show most wound up at the South Yuma County Landfill, which sits just a few miles from the Cocopah Indian Tribe’s reservation and abuts the lush, green orchards of a company that grows organic dates. It’s a landfill that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality labeled as posing an “imminent and substantial threat” in 2021 after an inspection noted windblown litter, large amounts of “disease vectors” (flies and birds), and groundwater with elevated levels of chromium – a metal that can harm people and the environment.

Officials with the Department of Toxic Substances Control said the decision to ship the waste out-of-state was driven by cost. Director Meredith Williams acknowledged her agency doesn’t monitor landfill conditions in other states. But she said the department is crafting a new hazardous waste management plan for the state – due in 2025 – that could “reflect the kinds of concerns that you’re hearing about.”

Gov.

Gavin Newsom’s

office did not respond to a request for comment.

Well, no wonder. What is there for Mr. Newsom to say?

Perhaps someone should tell him that if the California regulatory state makes it too expensive to solve problems identified by the California regulatory state, there’s a compelling need for sensible risk analysis and careful consideration of costs and benefits.

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Now how do we get Ari Kagan to run for governor of California?

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James Freeman is the co-author of “The Cost: Trump, China and American Revival.”

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(Lisa Rossi helps compile Best of the Web. Thanks to Tony Lima.)

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