CA Rent-Seekers' Dilemma

Once upon a time, Eric Swalwell was endorsed for governor by all of the “Big Three” of California’s establishment: the California Teachers’ Association (CTA), the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and the California Hospital Association (CHA). Together the members of those organizations collect upwards of $80 billion per year from the governor and legislature. They chose Swalwell because he had long demonstrated he was an easily-controllable puppet for the establishment.

Now Swalwell has exited the race. CTA moved quickly to endorse Tom Steyer who, unlike Swalwell, has no record of being a puppet but like Oprah, has been offering CA’s rent-seeking establishment the equivalent of a car key under every seat (eg, single-payer insurance to get the nurses’ endorsement). SEIU and CHA haven’t picked yet but I’m guessing they are looking closely at Xavier Becerra who has long demonstrated he is a controllable puppet of the establishment. But splitting the Big Three would be less efficient than getting behind one candidate, so CTA moving first bodes well for Steyer. But then again, Katie Porter has bona fides with some of the rent-seeking class so who knows.

All I know is that the general election will come down to Oxford (Steve Hilton) vs. Yale (Porter or Steyer), Stanford (Becerra) or Harvard (Matt Mahan), and that a Democrat will win the general election (even Abe Lincoln could not prevail in Trump-deranged California with an “R” after his name). Whoever it is, polls won’t be meaningful until the middle of May.