Last seen withdrawing from the California Gubernatorial primary against a not-yet-officially-announced Jerry Brown, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has entered the fray for the second spot on the ballot: Lieutenant Governor.

Why should anyone care? Well, first of all, because the Lieutenant Governor is not an entirely useless post: it comes with ex officio positions on important boards such as the State Lands Commission and the University of California Board of Regents. But with Jerry Brown uncontested at the top of the ticket, the Lieutenant Governor’s race is the highest-profile contested election on the Democratic Primary ballot this June–and Democrats are going to counted on to show up in June to support some really good measures on the statewide ballot, and defeat some really ugly ones.

Newsom still has good name recognition and a decent base of support owing to his failed run for Governor earlier in the year, and his entry into the Lt. Gov. race has prompted State Senator Dean Florez to drop out–leaving the voters to decide between Newsom and Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn, who is seeking to be the first female Lieutenant Governor in the history of the State.

This race is going to be the top race to watch in the Democratic Primary–not only because it’s the most top-tier, but also because it’s likely to see some sparks. Garry South, who has a reputation as a hard-hitting consultant, used to work for Newsom’s Gubernatorial campaign–and he now works for Janice Hahn.

No statistically reliable polls have been done on this race yet, but I would expect Newsom to have an initial lead based on name recognition, while Hahn will spend the campaign trying to increase her own name ID and drive up Newsom’s negatives.

Meanwhile, there are some in San Francisco who are pulling for Newsom–just so he won’t be mayor any more. That’s not a good sign. Either way, it’s a shame that when we really need Democratic turnout in California, this race is the best we can do for top-tier.

While new technologies continue to emerge, allowing people to share more information on what seems like a daily basis, the privacy protections built into these tools has nowhere near caught up.

Practicing Joyful Mindfulness got my mind accustomed to ease, humor and lightness, thus allowing it to connect with sukha more readily during formal practice.

At the end of a week when House Republicans agreed to suspend all forms of earmark carve-outs on next year’s spending bills, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said the Senate needs to go even further.

McCain on Friday announced plans to propose an …

By popular request in comment threads and emails, I’ll be putting together a Saturday digest of election-oriented diaries from now until November. This project emerged from the Community Power! Election Season diary written Feb. 20. Next week I’ll introduce you to a couple of other Kossacks who will be joining me in running the project.

Each digest will include a list of election diaries published during the previous week and categorized by region. A separate section will include diaries written in the previous week by incumbents, new candidates and wannabe candidates. (Diaries by incumbents may or may not be directly related to the coming elections.)

Digests will also focus on a few tips for making diaries more persuasive, informative and written in a way that encourages everyone to read them even if they live 2000 miles away from the spotlighted contest. This week, we’re talking headlines.

Just as with a story in a newspaper or magazine, a headline can make or break a diary. That is, you can attract an audience or drive it away by the words and structure you choose. Crafting great headlines is something even some of the best writers never quite get the knack of, but everybody can train themselves to become better at it. Too many writers spend hours on research and writing their diaries, then slap on a 30-second headline. Spend some time at it. A good practice is to write three or four possible headlines and choose the best one. Happily for bloggers, some of the old rules from the old media – like character counts – don’t apply in wwwLand. But some do. Here are 10 guidelines to think about:

• Headlines are bait. Instill curiosity: “Paternity Test Demanded for Florida Abstinence Campaigner”; “Voters Eager to Punish Liberals, Selves”

• Conversational headlines appeal to the most readers.

• Use the active voice. Good verbs work wonders. “To be” conjugations bore readers.

• There’s power in humor, but serious stories suffer from overly cute headlines. Headlines with a twist of an old cliché reel in readers. But take care not to twist too far.

• Beware. Double entendres can help or hurt. “Cops Pinch Lewd Nude” works; however, “Clinton Wins Budget; More Lies Ahead” has problems.

• Be succinct. Short headlines are punchier and easier to read. Ernest Hemingway told a whole story once in six words – “For sale: baby shoes, never used.” A helluva good headline, too.

• Match the headline to the story. Don’t deceive. Nobody likes being taken for a fool.

• If the diary is about a candidate, the candidate’s and/or district’s name should usually appear in the headline.

• DON’T WRITE HEADLINES IN ALL CAPS. Besides “shouting,” they are hard to read.

• If it’s not BREAKING! don’t lie about it.

From this week’s collection of election diaries, I’ve picked what I think are four solid headlines. But even most of them could be tweaked:

NY-Sen: GOP eyes notorious Bush war-flack Dan Senor. (Perfect)

Sen. Richard Burr: Playing Politics in Right Field. (N.C. Sen. Richard Burr: Playing Politics in Right Field)

A call to Netroots – There’s a Dem willing to fight against DeMint. (Calling the Netroots – There’s a Dem willing to fight DeMint)

Is it all about the Benjamins? The GOP primary for governor in Wisconsin. (Is it all about the Benjamins? In Wisconsin’s GOP primary, yes)

The election digest follows below.

Promised pensions benefits for public-sector employees represent a massive overhang that threatens the financial future of many cities and states.

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