Californians paying zero attention to governor's race

[politicallefty]

Brown has retaken the lead in San Diego County. Surprisingly, I doubt he'll be able to take Riverside or San Bernardino Counties. From the way it looks, Merced looks to be the only obvious gain from what he doesn't have right now (and perhaps maybe, Del Norte). At this point, it seems like the true saviour for the left in California is the Bay Area and Sacramento. SoCal seems to have experienced a less-severe version of this year's turnout drop-off. I think NorCal has definitely been the firewall against the past two Republican midterm waves.

[politicallefty]

WTF happened in Lassen County? Kashkari lived around Lake Tahoe for awhile when he decided to go all mountain man, but that isn't Lassen...

Lassen County is one of a number of traditionally working class counties in the West that ditched the Democratic Party in the 90s due to industrial decline, the death of the Greatest Generation and the Democratic Party's preoccupation with the environment and social issues.

Look at Clearwater County in Idaho or Coos County in Oregon and you'll find the same trend: retired/former loggers hate the Democratic Party.

Lassen County has indeed become very Republican, typically only second to Modoc County. I wonder if he was pointing out the swing from 2010. If anything, the result this time was a reversion to the norm. The better question I have is how Brown managed to hold Whitman to a 50%-42% margin four years ago. It'd be one thing if it was typical of the area, but it was quite the anomalous result in far Northern California.