US Senate

U.S. Sen. Barbara BoxerDemocratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer of California has added her name to those opposing Proposition 11, a redistricting initiative.

A press release from the anti-11 group Citizens for Accountability quoted Boxer as saying in a letter to the group that she was concerned that the measure would put too much power in the hands of too few unaccountable people.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D): Campaign PhotoWASHINGTON, D.C. - California U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Tuesday that due to an ankle injury she will not be attending next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver to lead the Golden State's Democratic delegation:

In a brief statement, Feinstein said:

"Last Friday -- the day before the Lake Tahoe Summit -- I slipped and broke my left ankle while I was on a walk with Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher on the Meeks Bay Trail in the Tahoe forest.

My doctor has advised me not to travel in the short-term, and so, regretfully, I am unable to attend what will surely be an historic convention in Denver.

I was very much looking forward to chairing the California Delegation, and I offer my best wishes to California's delegates in this vital nomination process."

WomenCountPAC, the political action committee founded by prominent California Hillary Clinton supporter Susie Tompkins Buell, is being re-launched at the Democratic National Convention later this month with Clinton herself headlining the event.

The organization, which in the closing days of the Democratic primary contest took out advertisements in prominent newspapers pushing back against those urging Clinton to drop out, announced plans in July to help promote the candidacies of women running for elected office.

Attending the Aug. 26 event along with Clinton will be U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio) and several other U.S. House and U.S. Senate candidates the organization is supporting. Chelsea Clinton may also attend, a spokeswoman for WomanCountPAC said.

The organization expressed outrage about what it saw as sexism in the media’s coverage of the primary contest. Since refocusing its efforts from Clinton, the organization has called for language in the Democratic Platform condemning the coverage.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D)SACRAMENTO - U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) wouldn't say what her plans are for 2010, but seemed more concerned with California getting a statewide water bond on the ballot for 2008 during a Tuesday press conference.

Speaking at a brief press conference after a luncheon speech to the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, Feinstein said her plan for now is to run for re-election, rather than considering a run for California governor.

Unauthorized video of Sen. Hillary Clinton at a recent fundraiser in Palo Alto reveals that the senator wouldn't exactly mind if her name came up during a symbolic first ballot nomination during the Democratic National Convention later this month.

The five-minute-long video was shot in the backyard of a patron on July 31, the same day Clinton addressed several thousand members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union at the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO - U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer called a press conference Monday to criticize the Bush Administration's lack of a national energy policy and the president's recent call to begin offshore outer continental shelf oil drilling.

Speaking in a conference room at the historic San Francisco Ferry Building, Boxer (D-California) lambasted Bush for his call to begin offshore oil exploration in ecologically-sensitive waters that up until recently have been thought politically off limits.

Boxer said she had zero confidence in recent Senate Republican assurances that increased drilling will not lead to environmental damage from spills.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco) and former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell (R-Roy) are looking good in recent gubernatorial polling, while Brent Wilkes got some bad news from a judge this week. They're among this week's Winners & Losers. | CLICK HERE

U.S. Sen. Barbara BoxerFed up with what she said was open favoritism toward polluters, California's junior U.S. senator, Barbara Boxer, called this week for the resignation of Stephen Johnson, head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The San Francisco-based Democrat said Johnson has consistently sided with polluters instead of fighting global warming and other ecological problems.

Boxer was joined in her call for Johnson to resign by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

When Californians elect their U.S. Senators, they usually like to stick with them. Incumbent senators running for re-election have rarely been ousted since the first direct election took place in 1912.

A rare early exception was James Phelan (D) who was defeated in 1920 by Samuel Shortridge (R) after just one term in office. In 1970, incumbent U.S. Sen. George Murphy (R) lost to John Tunney (D), who in turn lost to S. I. Hayakawa (R) six years later. And most recently, in a special election in 1992, Dianne Feinstein (D-San Francisco) defeated U.S. Sen. John Seymour (R), who was appointed a year earlier by then-Gov. Pete Wilson (R) to fill the seat he vacated to run for governor.