United States Senate

The United States Senate is a legislative chamber in the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the House of Representatives makes up the U.S. Congress.

First convened in 1789, the composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each state is represented by two senators, regardless of population, who serve staggered six-year terms. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C. The House of Representatives convenes in the south wing of the same building.

The Senate has several exclusive powers not granted to the House, including consenting to treaties as a precondition to their ratification and consenting to or confirming appointments of Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, other federal executive officials, military officers, regulatory officials, ambassadors, and other federal uniformed officers, as well as trial of federal officials impeached by the House. The Senate is widely considered both a more deliberative and more prestigious body than the House of Representatives, due to its longer terms, smaller size, and statewide constituencies, which historically led to a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere. The Senate is sometimes called the "world's greatest deliberative body", sometimes pejoratively.

Kamala Harris

Kamala Devi Harris (/ˈkɑːmələ/; born October 20, 1964) is an American attorney, politician and member of the Democratic Party who has been the 32nd and current Attorney General of California since 2011.

Harris graduated from Howard University and University of California, Hastings College of the Law, then worked as a Deputy District Attorney in Alameda County, California from 1990 to 1998. She served as Managing Attorney of the Career Criminal Unit in the San Francisco District Attorney's Office from 1998 to 2000 and as Chief of the Community and Neighborhood Division in the office of San Francisco City Attorney from 2000 to 2003. In 2003, she was elected District Attorney of San Francisco, defeating incumbent Terence Hallinan. She was re-elected in 2007 and served from 2004 to 2011.

Harris was elected Attorney General in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Harris is the first female, the first African-American, and the first Asian-American attorney general in California. She is running for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Barbara Boxer in the 2016 election. In February 2016 The New York Times identified her as a potential nominee to replace Justice Antonin Scalia.

California Counts

California Counts is an organization and campaign based in Sacramento, California, United States, advocating electoral reform in that state. The organization's focus is securing a statewide initiative in June 2008, specifying that California's 55 electoral votes be divided up not on a statewide basis, but on the basis of the state's individual congressional districts.

Signature gatherers are working to collect the 434,000 signatures that are necessary in order to get the initiative on the ballot. As of December 1, 2007, organizers have failed to raise $2 million for petition circulators and their target of 700,000 signatures to allow leeway for disqualified signatures. The initiative will not appear on the June 2008 California direct primary election ballot to affect the 2008 presidential elections because of lack of funding and time.

Motivation

According to The Independent newspaper, the campaign, while being presented to California voters as a populist issue, in actuality is being engineered to assist the Republican Party in winning the United States presidency in 2008 by giving the Republican candidate 20 more electoral votes. Nearly all the individuals and organizations listed in the "Endorsements" section of the California Counts official website are affiliated with the Republican Party.

Loretta Sanchez

Loretta L. Sánchez (born January 7, 1960) is the U.S. Representative for California's 46th congressional district, serving in Congress since 1997. Sanchez has represented California's 47th congressional district from 2003 to 2013 and the 46th district from 1997 to 2003. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. The district lies in central Orange County.

Early life and education

Sánchez was born in Lynwood, California, and graduated from Katella High School in Anaheim in 1978. Her father was a unionized machinist and her mother worked as a secretary. Her Mexican immigrant parents had seven children. She joined the United Food and Commercial Workers when she worked as an ice cream server in high school, and received a union scholarship to college. She received her undergraduate degree in Economics from Chapman College in Orange in 1982, obtained her MBA from American University in Washington, DC in 1984, and was a financial analyst until entering the House. Sanchez describes herself as growing up a "shy, quiet girl" who did not speak English. She credits government with much of her success in public life.

California

California (ⁱ/ˌkælᵻˈfɔːrnjə/ KAL-ə-FORN-yə, /ˌkælᵻˈfɔːrniə/ KAL-ə-FAWR-nee-ə) is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is the most populous U.S. state, with 39 million people, and the third largest state by area (after Alaska and Texas). California is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and the Mexican state of Baja California to the south. It contains the nation's second most populous census statistical area (Greater Los Angeles Area) and the fifth most populous (San Francisco Bay Area), and eight of the nation's 50 most populated cities (Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, and Oakland). Sacramento has been the state capital since 1854.

What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries. It was then claimed by the Spanish Empire as part of Alta California in the larger territory of New Spain. Alta California became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its successful war for independence, but was ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican–American War. The western portion of Alta California was organized as the State of California, which was admitted as the 31st state on September 9, 1850. The California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic change, with large-scale immigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom.