LA Times: For Democrats in California, a generational shift pulls the party left.....
For Democrats in California, a generational shift pulls the party left, with danger and opportunity ahead
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-california-democrats-analysis-20170522-story.html
For decades, Democratic politics in the nations most populous state has been overseen by a quintet of leaders who helped propel California from reliably Republican to dominantly Democratic.
To outsiders, they were the West Coast liberals whom conservatives love to hate stereotyped as chardonnay-sipping, tree-hugging, near-socialists who, were it geologically possible, would push the state so far left it would plunk into the Pacific. In truth, they have exerted a moderating force on Democrats here.
Their reign effectively ended at this weekends state party convention, part of a shift both generational and ideological that is altering power across the country and in the nations biggest Democratic state. Whoever fills the vacuum will answer defining questions: How far left will the California Democratic Party now go? Will its movement backfire?
Gov. Jerry Brown and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, ages 79 and 83, respectively, didnt show up at the convention. Former Sen. Barbara Boxer, 76, who left office in January, skipped it as well. State party chief John Burton, 84, was heralded in large part because he was leaving for retirement.
I'd be interested in hearing a critique of this article by our CA DU'ers.