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Mark Simon and Bob Marks wrap up a packed month of interviews and dive deeper into the biggest political stories shaping the moment.From rising gas prices and escalating tensions with Iran to the looming midterms and shifting voter sentiment, the conversation explores what success actually looks like in U.S. foreign policy—and whether the current strategy is sustainable.They also break down:The political risks facing President TrumpHow gas prices could reshape the electionGrowing distrust in elections and the SAVE Act debateCalifornia’s chaotic governor’s raceLocal San Mateo County battles heating upAnd a lighter note: Opening Day and optimism for the GiantsIt’s a wide-ranging, candid discussion on politics, policy, and the unpredictability of what comes next.⏱️ Time Breaks (Chapters)00:00 – Intro & March recap00:31 – A month of major interviews00:53 – Iran conflict & rising gas prices01:41 – U.S. policy on Iran & nuclear threats03:20 – What does “success” even look like?05:18 – Military options & Strait of Hormuz07:23 – Global economy & oil disruption09:29 – Gas prices and political fallout10:53 – Trump’s possible endgame12:39 – What has actually been accomplished?15:02 – Midterms outlook & political risks16:18 – “No Kings” protests & voter sentiment18:04 – Will protests impact elections?19:12 – Trump, health, and political stability21:09 – Election trust & voting concerns23:17 – Vote-by-mail debate & Supreme Court26:06 – California governor’s race chaos27:54 – Strategy, money & campaign dynamics29:24 – Why candidates stay in the race33:09 – Why voters aren’t paying attention yet33:41 – Local San Mateo County races38:22 – Development battles & community tensions40:10 – Social media & political polarization42:15 – Giants Opening Day & sports talk46:18 – Buster Posey & rebuilding optimism46:46 – Final thoughts & wrap-upSubscribe for more conversations on California politics, national issues, and the people shaping both.The Game is hosted by Mark Simon and Bob Marks and produced by Frank Bravo, BravoITC.com and YourTechMakeover.com. You can see more information about The Game at TheGamePeninsula.com.
Show Notes
Mark Simon and Bob Marks wrap up a packed month of interviews and dive deeper into the biggest political stories shaping the moment.
From rising gas prices and escalating tensions with Iran to the looming midterms and shifting voter sentiment, the conversation explores what success actually looks like in U.S. foreign policy—and whether the current strategy is sustainable.
They also break down:
- The political risks facing President Trump
- How gas prices could reshape the election
- Growing distrust in elections and the SAVE Act debate
- California’s chaotic governor’s race
- Local San Mateo County battles heating up
- And a lighter note: Opening Day and optimism for the Giants
It’s a wide-ranging, candid discussion on politics, policy, and the unpredictability of what comes next.
Chapters
- (00:00) - Intro & March recap
- (00:31) - A month of major interviews
- (00:53) - Iran conflict & rising gas prices
- (01:41) - U.S. policy on Iran & nuclear threats
- (03:20) - What does “success” even look like?
- (05:18) - Military options & Strait of Hormuz
- (07:23) - Global economy & oil disruption
- (09:29) - Gas prices and political fallout
- (10:53) - Trump’s possible endgame
- (12:39) - What has actually been accomplished?
- (15:02) - Midterms outlook & political risks
- (16:18) - “No Kings” protests & voter sentiment
- (18:04) - Will protests impact elections?
- (19:12) - Trump, health, and political stability
- (21:09) - Election trust & voting concerns
- (23:17) - Vote-by-mail debate & Supreme Court
- (26:06) - California governor’s race chaos
- (27:54) - Strategy, money & campaign dynamics
- (29:24) - Why candidates stay in the race
- (33:09) - Why voters aren’t paying attention yet
- (33:41) - Local San Mateo County races
- (38:22) - Development battles & community tensions
- (40:10) - Social media & political polarization
- (42:15) - Giants Opening Day & sports talk
- (46:18) - Buster Posey & rebuilding optimism
- (46:46) - Final thoughts & wrap-up
The Game is hosted by Mark Simon and Bob Marks and produced by Frank Bravo, BravoITC.com and YourTechMakeover.com. Watch or listen to every episode at TheGamePeninsula.com.
Creators and Guests
BM
Host
Bob Marks
Bob Marks is a longtime Peninsula television producer and executive. He led Peninsula TV (Pen-TV), San Mateo County's public affairs cable channel, and was executive producer of its high school quiz show, Quiz Kids. He has co-hosted public affairs programs with Mark Simon since at least 1999, and the two revived The Game as a podcast and video show in 2024.
Host
Mark Simon
Mark Simon is a veteran Peninsula journalist who writes a weekly column on local news and politics for the San Mateo Daily Journal. He was a political reporter and columnist for the Redwood City Tribune and the Peninsula Times Tribune, then a daily columnist and political writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He later spent about 15 years at SamTrans and Caltrain, retiring in 2017 as chief of staff. He lives in San Carlos.
Producer
What is The Game?
Mark Simon and Bob Marks revive their long-running cable TV show The Game, where they interview local leaders and talk widely about politics, business and sports.
Produced by Frank Bravo, BravoITC.com
00;00;00;12 - 00;00;26;16
Speaker 1
Well, I'm going to do it.
00;00;26;19 - 00;00;53;18
Speaker 2
With Rocky Robinson. Intro. Welcome to the game I'm Mark Simon. I'm Bob marks, and here we are. We're just going to wrap up the march by Bob and I, just talking about a few things that have been on our minds throughout the month. We've had some good interviews. Kevin Mullen, Julie Lind, Roseanne Faust. So it's been a good month for us in terms of interviews, but we've covered a wide spectrum of things, and we're going to dig into a few of them a little more in depth.
00;00;53;21 - 00;01;16;07
Speaker 2
Of course, none of those. Well, I guess Kevin's interview, Kevin Mullen talked about the war in Iran and what has done to gas prices. A friend of mine said the other day, who was not a big fan of the president, that he hopes gas goes up to $10 a gallon. And it certainly is. Bob, it certainly is Trump policy.
00;01;16;07 - 00;01;41;05
Speaker 2
He's coming home to roost. I mean, a month ago, he was doing the state of the Union address and boasting about how low gas prices were. There are two indicators, it seems to me that he follows more closely than anything else gas prices and the stock market. So with that as a prelude, what's your take on all the all this, the war and the effect is having domestically?
00;01;41;07 - 00;01;43;22
Speaker 2
Well, when it comes to the war.
00;01;43;24 - 00;02;19;01
Speaker 3
You know, I stand back and look at the, the last seven presidents who've looked in the camera and basically said, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. President Biden famously looked in the camera when asked the question. He said, don't. Vice President Harris. During the campaign against Trump, looked in the camera and said, don't. It reminds me of when our cat wanted to jump on the dining room table, look at it, and sternly say, don't.
00;02;19;04 - 00;02;46;18
Speaker 3
The cat would put his head down, back up a little bit. One minute later I look and he's up on the dining room table. So, you know, it's been a cornerstone of our policy not to allow this to happen. I saw a survey this past week. 36% of Americans say it doesn't matter if Iran has a nuclear weapon.
00;02;46;21 - 00;02;54;06
Speaker 3
And so, you know, it's it's, that's that's where we are at this point.
00;02;54;08 - 00;03;18;15
Speaker 2
Well, the the challenge is. Yeah, Trump looks more like a cat on a hot tin roof than a cat on a table. The challenge is, is this the way to stop them? And it certainly keeps them busy so they can't develop a nuclear weapon when we're bombing the crap out of them. But the fact is, when all is said and done, I don't know if we've made the kind of impact we want to, you know?
00;03;18;16 - 00;03;49;16
Speaker 2
And you, you read about it. I'm no expert. Neither are you. You read what experts say. And to actually eliminate their nuclear weapon capacity would require a commitment of ground troops far in excess of what we're willing to do and probably to to a level of casualties that most people would find unacceptable. So that's the challenge of all this, is that when all is said and done, have we have we made any progress in terms of where we need to be?
00;03;49;18 - 00;04;20;15
Speaker 2
Trump's approaches seems to have been to decapitate the leadership of Iran, but that doesn't seem to have any. And that doesn't seem to be a mission we're accomplishing, whatever that might be. And one of the challenges is that we don't really know what our mission is, because it keeps changing rhetorically. I thought the most telling point that Congressman Kevin Mullen made on our show last week was he reviewed what every president has done before committing this sort of level of military.
00;04;20;17 - 00;04;41;28
Speaker 2
And they've laid groundwork for public opinion. The result being that when they first go in, which is a natural instinct of Americans, I think that we support the effort partly because we, you know, we want to support the troops that are engaged in this. He hasn't done that. He still hasn't laid out a clear policy direction for what this is about.
00;04;42;00 - 00;04;53;10
Speaker 2
And that's the challenge. I guess it makes it easier for him to say, we've won and leave. But at the end of the day, to your point, have we stopped Iran from making a nuclear weapon?
00;04;53;14 - 00;05;19;03
Speaker 3
Well, and I think it's beyond nuclear weapons now. Iran has claimed that they don't have long range ballistic missiles. And yet they fired a missile that went 2500 miles. They now have the ability to hit London in Europe. So, you know, it's I don't know the answer to this. Well.
00;05;19;05 - 00;05;22;00
Speaker 2
I didn't expect you to know the answer, but that's.
00;05;22;00 - 00;05;53;14
Speaker 3
A good here's here's the thing. We are at a point which we've been at throughout our history. Now, where in the next 2 to 4 weeks, we're going to see decisions made that are going to have incredible impact on the future. And, you know, we'll have to see who who are we negotiate with. You know, I think it's fair right now that Harmony's sun is more like a Weekend at Bernie's kind of situation.
00;05;53;16 - 00;06;09;27
Speaker 3
And that the military is clearly in control. But the military doesn't speak with one voice. The choice now is, you know, and it's the classic seduction of the Middle East. Do we put some.
00;06;10;00 - 00;06;31;17
Speaker 3
Troops in there? Small number. Special forces. Whatever you want to call them. And try to seize these islands to open the Straits of Hormuz. The difficulty is in order. You know, we could do that, and I'm sure we can be successful, but we are going to have casualties.
00;06;31;20 - 00;06;33;13
Speaker 2
Well.
00;06;33;15 - 00;06;57;24
Speaker 3
We also need to figure out how to keep the straits open beyond that. So, you know, I think that, that decision is going to be made, whether we like it or not. It's going to be made by the president. I think he has somewhere between 2 to 4 weeks to resolve this in one way or another.
00;06;57;26 - 00;07;23;02
Speaker 3
And if not, the politics of it are going to completely overwhelm him. You know, the American people when it comes to boots on the ground, that seems to be where we draw the line these days. But, you know, we're in for this. Congress can jump up and down and hold their breath and all of that, like they have some better solution to this.
00;07;23;04 - 00;07;40;14
Speaker 3
And but we need to open the Straits of Hormuz. The world economy is at stake. And the irony is, even if we say it's open, the tankers, the captains are going to look at each other and say, who? Who's going first?
00;07;40;17 - 00;07;42;15
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
00;07;42;17 - 00;07;57;29
Speaker 3
Beyond that. One last thing. And that is that in a sense, it comes down to insurance companies. We can say it's open, but those tankers are not going to go unless they have insurance. That's kind of an irony as to where we are in the world.
00;07;58;01 - 00;08;03;21
Speaker 2
I think the point maybe that that underscores what you're saying is we don't really know what success is.
00;08;03;27 - 00;08;04;20
Speaker 3
Right.
00;08;04;22 - 00;08;27;07
Speaker 2
What does that look like? Reopening the Strait of Hormuz? Well, yeah, but it was open before, you know. So it's it's a problem we created, right? And and there's no clear solution even taking over that island whose name I can never pronounce properly. It doesn't seem to really be an answer anyway. Plus, it's within the ballistic missile range of the Iranians.
00;08;27;07 - 00;08;55;22
Speaker 2
So it. The problem is what is success look like? And you know, the best case scenario is that he he gets out. But we really haven't demonstrably changed the circumstances and demeanor of the Iranians in terms of their desire to have a nuclear weapon or to replace them. You know, nobody wants regime change. That was one of the things that Trump was adamantly opposed to when he was a candidate.
00;08;55;24 - 00;09;17;22
Speaker 2
And in fact, he was highly critical of anybody who engaged in anything that remotely smacked to that. And now that may be the only real answer. And even then, you know, you're inviting a guerrilla level war that could last for another set of decades. We saw that in Afghanistan. That that there's no way to really change the dynamic.
00;09;17;24 - 00;09;42;03
Speaker 2
You know, and the fear is for every bomb we drop, we radicalize another 100 people in the country against us. So they have no reason to stop. And we haven't really given them a reason. And so their strategy clearly is how long can the American people withstand whatever pain is being inflicted on us? And that leads us to gas prices.
00;09;42;04 - 00;10;08;14
Speaker 2
You say 2 to 4 weeks. I've heard people say the Republicans will finally begin objecting to what Trump's doing once the filing deadline passes and they see who they have running against them in primaries. Although it's a small sample. It's not necessarily a federal level sample, but there's clearly indications that Trump's influence on voters has greatly diminished based on the last couple of elections.
00;10;08;17 - 00;10;31;24
Speaker 2
Gas prices are a killer. They just destroy political careers all the time. And the longer they stay up, you know, their strategy now is to say that, you know, suffering through high gas prices is a form of patriotism. Well, that's not going to fly from Republicans any more than it would have flown for Democrats. Yeah.
00;10;31;27 - 00;10;52;27
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, I agree with you. And I you know, I think there are two endgames here, and one is that he finds a way to negotiate himself out of this situation. And. Excuse me.
00;10;53;00 - 00;10;55;25
Speaker 2
You know, you get all about this stuff. Bob. Yes.
00;10;55;27 - 00;11;17;23
Speaker 3
He finds a way to negotiate himself out of it. Or we force the straits to be open. That's where we are. I'm not. You know, I don't disagree with what you're saying. I do think that we've done a lot more damage than your than you're talking about. Well, I'm. I'm damage to that country.
00;11;17;25 - 00;11;44;13
Speaker 2
I'm not disputing that. I really am not. The question is again. So what? I mean not to be careful there about it, but yeah, we can destroy their their army and their navy and whatever else you want to call it. And they're still launching missiles. So what have we destroyed, really? But more importantly, how how do we stop them from starting over again and saying, you know, we still have this nuclear materials.
00;11;44;15 - 00;12;18;19
Speaker 2
We're going to use them any way we want. There, there. There's an authoritarian, religious organization, government running that country. There's no indication that's going to change. And so, you know, when the dust settles and we have pillaged and ravaged the country, what's left is still a people in place who are in control of the government and who have no interest in working with us, and whose main interests, as they have demonstrated for decades now, is to be the leading exporter of terrorism all over the world.
00;12;18;20 - 00;12;39;10
Speaker 2
And the great fear of this nuclear stuff is not a bomb. But, you know, somebody drops a vial in the middle of Penn Station in New York City with nuclear material in it. The next thing you know, everybody's sick or even worse, smallpox or something like that. So the question is, what have we really done? What have we really accomplished?
00;12;39;11 - 00;12;45;12
Speaker 2
And and I guess more, more importantly, from a political perspective, what is the mission?
00;12;45;15 - 00;13;15;13
Speaker 3
And I to me, I think after some double talk at the beginning, the the mission, at least in the president's mind has been clear. But my question to you is let's go back to prior to this war starting what what was the answer to dealing with Iran? It sounds to me like the Democrats answer is basically to accept the fact that a growing number of Americans don't care if they have a nuclear weapon.
00;13;15;16 - 00;13;19;21
Speaker 3
And so we do nothing. You know.
00;13;19;23 - 00;13;29;15
Speaker 2
We didn't do nothing. We we had a treaty that seemed to be working. That certainly was better than what we had done. And Trump avoided it immediately.
00;13;29;18 - 00;13;35;05
Speaker 3
It you know, I think we can argue about whether that was a good treaty when you.
00;13;35;07 - 00;13;37;08
Speaker 2
Least it was something it was better than nothing.
00;13;37;09 - 00;13;41;02
Speaker 3
Yeah, but who can trust Iran? They've lied for 50 years.
00;13;41;05 - 00;13;45;22
Speaker 2
And to your favorite president, trust but verify. Yeah. You know, the.
00;13;45;22 - 00;13;47;26
Speaker 3
Fact is that my favorite president.
00;13;47;28 - 00;13;56;09
Speaker 2
But it was certainly a working solution that has a more clear cut strategy and vision than we have now.
00;13;56;11 - 00;14;13;07
Speaker 3
I, I don't think, you know, when you start out by sending billions and billions of dollars in cash to a regime, even John Kerry at the time said likely some of that money is going to be used for terrorism. So, you know.
00;14;13;08 - 00;14;35;28
Speaker 2
Okay, it's great to see what did the Democrats do, but they're not in charge now. You know, and this is their war. This is the mess they've created. And okay, fine. If you want to say the Democrats didn't make it any better, fine. But the question is, are we making it any better now because it's a different president whose main campaign message was, those guys are screwing up.
00;14;35;29 - 00;14;38;21
Speaker 2
I'm going to make it better. And the fact is, he has.
00;14;38;25 - 00;15;02;23
Speaker 3
Agreed with that politically. He's on the edge here. And, you know, in the next 2 to 4 weeks, we could see a dramatic shift in, you know, voters minds. That'll be that'll be hard to reverse that. We're talking about the house. We're talking about the Senate. And I know Democrats say, whoa! Yippee! That's great.
00;15;02;25 - 00;15;03;07
Speaker 2
Well.
00;15;03;12 - 00;15;08;10
Speaker 3
But we we end up back where we where we have been all along.
00;15;08;13 - 00;15;27;12
Speaker 2
What? We'll see, I think, in the next 2 to 4 weeks, if gas prices stay up and the market continues to go down. President Trump will change something somehow to try and make it look as though this is all going to turn out. And that includes he's got to, you know, from a political perspective, he's got to do something to bring down the price of gas.
00;15;27;15 - 00;15;50;10
Speaker 2
And the only way to do that is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. You make a great point about everybody's going to be well after you. You go ahead. Let me know how that works out. But the fact remains, even though you could argue that the only that's being bottled up in the strait is not coming to our country, which makes you wonder why the prices have skyrocketed the way they have since.
00;15;50;10 - 00;16;18;04
Speaker 2
It doesn't really seem to affect our supply. But the bottom line is, you know, gas is through the roof and it's going to stay that way as long as this conflict keeps the Strait of Hormuz Hormuz impassable. So let's talk a little bit about the midterms. This Saturday, just tomorrow is another round of No Kings rallies, which look like they're going to take place all over the country.
00;16;18;07 - 00;16;42;17
Speaker 2
There are reports by the organizers. There'll be 3000 different rallies around the country. Last time they did this. There were literally millions of people who participated. I think they're expecting there to be more. There's some magic number. There's like, if 3.5% of the population is in the streets protesting something. It usually manifests itself in a dramatic political shift.
00;16;42;19 - 00;17;10;26
Speaker 2
So they're clearly shooting for that number I don't know. You know what if it's 3.4? What if it's 3.6? I mean, I don't know if you can put that kind of exact detail on it, but the question is, is there growing dissatisfaction? I think the answer to that is yes. Is there a growing, undermining of the coalition that Trump put together to to take control of both houses of Congress?
00;17;10;29 - 00;17;17;00
Speaker 2
It certainly looks like that's the case, that he is losing ground rapidly or steadily is probably a better one.
00;17;17;01 - 00;17;45;12
Speaker 3
He is. And you can see it with independent voters. Democrats have always been against it. The people who are out there marching are people that have always been against him. And and that's fine. But the reality is his popularity has dropped significantly. It's because he's lost independence. Younger voters. And that was the coalition that got him elected.
00;17;45;13 - 00;18;03;28
Speaker 3
So the march is fine. I don't think it ultimately has an impact on the election that's going to occur here in November. I think some of these larger issues are going to be more, more important in terms of how that comes out. So.
00;18;04;00 - 00;18;32;03
Speaker 2
Well, the question, I guess, is whether it's a catalyst that mobilizes some activists. You know, it's not activists. It's not regular folks who tend to show up at these marches, which is not to diminish who they are or what they're doing or why they're doing it. But those tend to be the people who, man, phone banks, who go door to door, who participate in the process and get the rest of us showing up at the ballot.
00;18;32;06 - 00;18;57;16
Speaker 2
And so it's it's useful, I suppose, in the sense that it energizes, the opposition to them. It does make me think if I were Hakeem Jeffries and I were in charge of the Democratic caucus, I'd be telling my members, don't do anything. Let him do our work for us, because every day he does something. I mean, every day is just something just plain weird.
00;18;57;18 - 00;19;12;03
Speaker 2
I mean, he he rattles on, rambles on about things. He does not look healthy. He looks unhealthy, in fact. So I think there's a lot of reasons why he's undermining his own level of support in this upcoming election.
00;19;12;06 - 00;19;42;25
Speaker 3
He's you know, he's Trump. He's been, you know, all those things that you're saying he's been doing for the last decade. And up until now to a great success in terms of politically, you know, I, I agree with you. You know, I mean, in the normal circumstance, the Democrats are going to win the House. It's just the way historically, things have gone are losing the Senate, which I think is a real possibility.
00;19;42;27 - 00;20;05;22
Speaker 3
Is is a bigger issue. And then, you know, Trump is still going to be president. Democrats may try to impeach him. I expect that they will. I don't think it'll have any more success than they've had the the last few times that they've tried to do it. I guess what worries me, and this is where I've always had a problem.
00;20;05;24 - 00;20;27;25
Speaker 3
With Trump is he's an incredibly flawed individual. And, you know, put him into a corner, a real corner, like he may be here in the next few weeks. He's still the president. And who knows what's going to happen? Yeah. So, you know, I mean.
00;20;27;27 - 00;20;43;20
Speaker 2
Minds me one of my favorite peanuts cartoons where Lucy Van Pelt is at the blackboard in her classroom writing. I will not talk in class. I will not talk in class for three screens. And on the fourth screen, she wrote. On the other hand, who knows what I'll do?
00;20;43;23 - 00;20;45;01
Speaker 3
Exactly.
00;20;45;04 - 00;21;02;22
Speaker 2
And there's your geezer reference for the day. You know, the interesting thing is that there's a lot of worry about what's going to happen. Trump is making a lot of noise about, how he wants to control the election, how he wants to eliminate a bunch of things. And I know we want to talk about vote by mail.
00;21;02;25 - 00;21;38;15
Speaker 2
But, the trouble they've got is that it looks like it's too broad. I mean, it's one thing in a close election to say, okay, we're going to we're not going to let them vote the way they want to in Milwaukee or in Arizona or wherever they have been seasoning ballots. We're calling into question ballots. My sense of it and it's you know, it's just that is that this is much more broadly based than that and that disputing over one precinct or one county somewhere in the in the country is not going to really demonstrably change the outlook.
00;21;38;18 - 00;21;59;12
Speaker 2
There was a poll I quoted in my column in the Daily Journal this week. There's something like only 23% of Americans have confidence that the election will be held in an above board and rigged way. Now, apparently that cuts across all the lines that that for whatever, you know, they think the Republicans are going to screw it up.
00;21;59;13 - 00;22;08;09
Speaker 2
The Democrats are going to screw it up. But but it speaks to the level of distrust in this country. That's that really is what a Trump's legacy is, I think.
00;22;08;11 - 00;22;39;13
Speaker 3
Well, yeah, it's his legacy. But, you know, look where we were before he was president. That that just trust has been growing for a long time. The fact is, neither party crossed the other party and is not going to give an inch. The save act, has become ridiculous because they've added so many other things on their Christmas tree effect to try to force the Democrats to vote on transgender issues and things like that.
00;22;39;15 - 00;23;06;25
Speaker 3
The real issue, I think when it comes down to it, I have no problem with voting by mail. From the beginning. I've thought that it made a lot of sense. But we saw in the Supreme Court this week that it's likely that they, the Supreme Court is they're not going to outlaw voting by mail, but they're going to try to draw a line as to what point, you can accept ballots.
00;23;06;27 - 00;23;33;20
Speaker 3
And whether that means that you set, like, a five day limit before the election for ballots to be postmarked or or how you do that. You know, you and I. We've been involved in this forever. We've watched elections here. San Mateo County and throughout California. I'm very comfortable with the election process. And while there's always been fraud, it's anecdotal.
00;23;33;27 - 00;23;59;15
Speaker 3
You can point to this situation here or that situation there, but I and I do think that this is a big part of Trump's legacy is he has really undermined, trust in elections and done it kind of effectively. And the numbers that you quoted show show what it is. I'm not sure how we get back from there.
00;23;59;16 - 00;24;03;00
Speaker 3
You can't put the genie back in the in the bottle.
00;24;03;02 - 00;24;28;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. Yeah. And the challenge to that is that if one person says and it's the president, who obviously remains a persuasive figure in a lot of corners, his ability to show distrust, maybe his greatest talent. Yeah. So doubt. In fact, he emerged on the national scene because he raised doubts about, Barack Obama's legitimacy as an American citizen.
00;24;29;02 - 00;24;57;00
Speaker 2
But, the counterbalance to that is for responsible leaders to say, I'm okay with how this turned out. I'm okay that the system is safe. And the trouble is, we don't see that happening on the Republican side at all. They just won't say. I mean, you see federal hearing after congressional hearing, after congressional hearing, where people are asked directly by Democrats, did you know did Joe Biden win the election in 2020?
00;24;57;02 - 00;25;20;03
Speaker 2
And they won't say yes. They avoid the question to me. That being said, you're absolutely right. Our own experience. San Mateo County was one of the leading counties in the country at going to vote by mail, and there's been no hint of any. You know, they're more likely to be incompetence in the vote count than there is fraud.
00;25;20;05 - 00;25;42;06
Speaker 2
And so I, I, I guess there's a level at which I can understand if they don't show up by Election Day. I mean, that's to me that parallels voting in person. You can't vote the day after Election Day. So I don't think it's that big a burden to say to people. You have to have it in by this date.
00;25;42;08 - 00;26;06;05
Speaker 2
It has to arrive in the county elections office by election day. I, I can't. I also can't imagine. See this? I can't imagine it's going to have the huge impact on turnout that I think the Republicans would like it to. Yeah. The more owner is part of this is the ID part which which is really anti-democratic with a small D, I think.
00;26;06;07 - 00;26;07;12
Speaker 2
Yeah.
00;26;07;14 - 00;26;08;19
Speaker 3
Well.
00;26;08;21 - 00;26;33;11
Speaker 2
Well, let's talk a little bit about the governor's race, which has still remained a muddy affair. Yeah. When we were on with Congressman Mullen last week. I said I thought that the race would crystallize at some point. It's clearly late. Although I would argue it's early in the race because the candidates. I mean, I just saw my first, first ad.
00;26;33;11 - 00;26;59;02
Speaker 2
I was watching the NCAA tournament and saw an ad for, for Swalwell, his first ad. So I think they're beginning to show up now in ways they haven't. Maybe they needed to wait and save their money. Maybe they needed to wait. Because in terms of really going full barrels with with ads, you know, better than I having been a consultant, it actually is kind of early to go into a major ad blitz.
00;26;59;03 - 00;27;12;26
Speaker 2
It is. And the proof of that is Tom Steyer. Whatever bump he was going to get from his ads has come and gone, and he really hasn't moved the needle all that much beyond getting from 1% to 10%.
00;27;12;29 - 00;27;37;24
Speaker 3
You know, the way I look at it, and it's a little different than what I've said before. We really do have two separate primaries going on. The Republicans are going to get 35, maybe 40% of the vote. And then the Democrats have their primary. Where the Democrats have a problem is they're going to be attacking each other.
00;27;37;27 - 00;28;08;27
Speaker 3
Even in Swalwell ad that I saw down here. They're undertones of attacking Mahan. Who's who's got a very large independent expenditure that's waiting out there to weigh into this. I saw that by Basara down here in the in the Inland Empire. And, you know, it was kind of the classic ad, so they're going to be out there, but as it gets closer, they're going to be attacking each other.
00;28;09;04 - 00;28;26;14
Speaker 3
And when you start attacking each other, you know, go back to the last really competitive race in California outside of the recall. And that was 1998. It was between Al Chechi,
00;28;26;17 - 00;28;54;10
Speaker 3
Jane Harman, Congresswoman, and Gray Davis. Gray Davis was mired in third place. Wasn't even a factor but catchy. And Harman spent all their money attacking each other. And Davis won the primary. By the way, this week he urged all the candidates to stay in the race, using his situation as an example. Not that anybody should listen to what Gray Davis has to say.
00;28;54;12 - 00;29;24;07
Speaker 3
I just think when they start attacking each other. It brings all of those candidates to a certain level. We saw in the latest poll, 16 for Hilton, 14 for Blanco and a 10% for the three leading Democrats. So while I still think that somehow it's going to be a Democrat or a Republican in the end. I think, you know, anything can happen at this.
00;29;24;07 - 00;29;24;25
Speaker 3
Well.
00;29;24;28 - 00;29;43;17
Speaker 2
The other question is that, you know, that at what point do the Republicans start ripping into each other and one of them emerges? See, I think part of your calculation there, if I can project what you're saying, is that one of those two is going to fall by the wayside. They're not going to stay 20%.
00;29;43;20 - 00;30;09;24
Speaker 3
Yeah. I you know, that probably is the case. But it's it's interesting situation there. Hilton has a lot of money. He has more money than Swalwell. Lisa. Last reporting period or or anybody but Stier and and Mehan Blanco, you know, and being a former consultant, what did he do this week? He sees the ballots from last year.
00;30;09;26 - 00;30;34;22
Speaker 3
The prop 50 ballots here in Riverside County. A judge here gave him permission to do that. Appellate court backed up. You know, bond. Has the attorney general sued and backed up a blank? The appellate court backed him up. Why is he doing that? He's doing that because he wants to get attention. He doesn't have the money.
00;30;34;24 - 00;30;56;07
Speaker 3
And so he wants to fight with somebody. And Trump is not going to endorse Blanco. He's not going to endorse either of them. I don't think at this stage. But you're right, they're going to have their battle and are going to have their battle. And we'll see. We'll see what happens. Yeah.
00;30;56;09 - 00;31;15;23
Speaker 2
I by the way, I want to I want to put in a plug for those who've decided to stay in the race, because I think I understand why it makes me think of Shirley Chisholm when she ran. Nobody thought she was going to win the Democratic nomination for president. But she thought it was important to make a statement on behalf of the community that she came from.
00;31;15;24 - 00;31;43;05
Speaker 2
And I understand completely why, Becerra would stay in for that reason, that he would stay in for that reason, if for no other reason to, than to change the dynamic the next time. I don't think they expect to win. I don't think that they should necessarily expect the win. But there's an important statement from their perspective, I think, to make about being in the race, being seen as part of the the group of people who are being taken seriously as running for governor.
00;31;43;06 - 00;32;09;18
Speaker 2
And frankly, I mean, we've done this ourselves when we've had candidates on our show who are in competitive races, and we've opted to have, like the top two candidates, and we made a decision not to include the third party candidates and everybody else along the same lines that USC made, initially about why they wouldn't include everybody. But I don't have any problem with all nine of them debating, because it's another good way to discern between them.
00;32;09;22 - 00;32;14;29
Speaker 2
And I'm disappointed that they didn't go ahead and have the debate and just include everybody.
00;32;15;01 - 00;32;30;27
Speaker 3
Yeah, I mean, I, I agree with that. Plus, if you're at 4%, 3%, 5% and the leading Democrat is a 10%. You know, why? Why would you drop out of the race?
00;32;31;01 - 00;32;42;12
Speaker 2
You know, it reminds me of my one of my favorite quotes was a pitcher for the Saint Louis Cardinals named Joaquin IndyCar. And after a game, he said, well, you know, I only have one word to say. You never know.
00;32;42;15 - 00;32;43;12
Speaker 3
Yeah.
00;32;43;15 - 00;33;02;13
Speaker 2
And I always like to think about his printing it. His one word. So the race is going to remain a mess for a while. They'll spend their money, they'll do what they do. And I think, you know, it's understandable that people aren't focused on it. The race is the candidates have not done anything other than Stiers. Incredible.
00;33;02;14 - 00;33;28;19
Speaker 2
Add barrage to make us think I need to pay attention now. And people have other things to do. There's no reason for them to feel like they have to pay attention now. I would dispute the polls that show the undecided is like a 15 or 16%. I'm sure it's much higher than that, but the way they ask a question in a poll is, well, if you had to decide today, and I think some people answer that question knowing that they're not really deciding today.
00;33;28;25 - 00;33;55;19
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I think that will muddle along and it'll be interesting. But I think it'll get closer, especially as we start seeing ballots show up in the mail, assuming we still get the vote that way. Yeah. Let's talk a little bit about some local stuff we have. Oddly enough, the most hotly contested race is for assessor clerk recorder, which is one of the few remaining offices where you run county wide.
00;33;55;19 - 00;34;23;24
Speaker 2
Now we have Supervisor David Running and the assistant assessor clerk, Recorder Jim Irizarry, running. Clearly, what canopy wants to do is to make the conduct of the office up to now. The main issue there have, over the number of years now, been highly critical reports produced that suggest that the offices, all three of those are not well managed, that there's been a lot of turnover.
00;34;24;00 - 00;34;59;12
Speaker 2
People are not at an employment level happy to be working for the current assessor. Recorder Mark church and his hand-picked his assistant, Jim Irizarry. There's some question about whether or not the assessments are lagging in a dramatic and unfortunate way. There are a lag. I was just told by some internal sources that the assessor's office, there's a lag in the the, assessed valuations that are levied against non-profits.
00;34;59;15 - 00;35;30;27
Speaker 2
They get an exemption and that those exemption, the granting of those exemptions is lagging behind. And it's going to be a terrible shock to some of these organizations to discover a tax burden that's much greater than they think it's going to be. So that being said, it's an odd race because it's not a political position. I would imagine it's hard to raise money for it because there's nothing you can do in that office that benefits people unless you decide you're going to give out contracts illegally.
00;35;30;29 - 00;36;05;28
Speaker 3
Yeah. And you know, as we've talked about before. Really to me is a battle versus name ID and the candidate that has money versus the guy who has the ballot designation in those lower tier races. On the ballot doesn't mean they're not important. People do look for who who's the most qualified. And so that's what Irizarry has going for him.
00;36;06;00 - 00;36;17;07
Speaker 3
Otherwise. Canopus seems to have everything else going for him. So we'll see. We'll see how how that how that.
00;36;17;09 - 00;36;44;05
Speaker 2
Irizarry ballot designation is assisting. And then it's the job title. So that's that's got to be a significant plus in a race where people aren't probably not paying much attention. The rumors are, that Irizarry is able to sell fund his campaign, so that he would be competitive, with David Canepa, who, when he ran for Congress against Kevin Mullin four years ago, demonstrated he had his own fundraising base.
00;36;44;07 - 00;36;57;08
Speaker 2
And he is quite literally everywhere. I mean, every time you turn around, if you had some public event, there he is. Yeah. So it'll be interesting to see how that manifests itself. Right.
00;36;57;10 - 00;37;07;17
Speaker 3
Have you seen any evidence of Irizarry having money to spend or doing anything? Campaign? No, no.
00;37;07;19 - 00;37;14;07
Speaker 2
In fact, I joked about it in my column. He now has a website, but if you go on it, it says yes, private page.
00;37;14;14 - 00;37;19;08
Speaker 3
Yes. Which, you know, and I actually after that went on it. And you were right.
00;37;19;12 - 00;37;46;29
Speaker 2
Yeah. Well, good, I was accurate. Yes. So, you know, it's it's, I talked to him just last week. And at a charity event, and he seems very comfortable, very much at ease. So maybe there's more there. And he's just waiting, to to reveal it, as it were. Again, it is. It is only enough that you don't necessarily have to do everything right now.
00;37;47;01 - 00;38;09;24
Speaker 2
Assuming that the title he can list on the ballot designation is a huge leg up. Yeah. But, you know, it is. You know, we're sort of closing in on the when it's time to get going. Right. Ballots drop, I think May 6th to something like that. So pretty soon, you know, people will start voting and you have to have something to tell people about why they should be for you.
00;38;09;27 - 00;38;54;24
Speaker 2
Yeah. The other local issues are interesting, and they're interesting. For this reason, we'll have almost every city council in the county having elections in November. So it's it's quite early there. Filing has not even come close to closing. But there are two big issues in San Mateo. One is the the plans by the Bohannan company to completely redesign and redevelop the Hillsdale shopping Mall into a massive residential center with a commercial component to it that's very similar to what's called the North Area now, which has got an Apple Store and a bowling alley and a movie theater, and is very much sort of gathering place.
00;38;54;29 - 00;39;22;05
Speaker 2
Yeah, above and beyond some retail. The proposal calls for 8 to 10 story residential buildings on the El Camino side of it, two story on the residential side. And the battle lines are clearly being drawn. There's a person running in that district against an incumbent who clearly wants to make that, you know, opposition to that proposal a central issue.
00;39;22;10 - 00;39;45;03
Speaker 2
And then there's a proposal to put a detox center in a residential neighborhood. And what strikes me about these, the merits of each side is that we see the kind of hardening of lines on opposition and support that we see mirroring what happens at the national level, that it isn't just I don't think this is a good idea.
00;39;45;05 - 00;40;09;27
Speaker 2
This is a bad idea. And the other side is evil and it's it's unsettling. There was a public event last week or this week where the way that people opposition behaved was embarrassing. It was way out of control. And so what we see is what's going on at the national level, the kind of divisions and the hard line divisions are being mirrored here at the local level.
00;40;10;00 - 00;40;37;19
Speaker 3
Yeah. And a lot of it has to do with neighborhoods. Around there. And that's been the case in San Mateo forever. I grew up there and lived there most of my life. Still have a place there. But I've seen over the years where there have been these intense battles that take place that are really driven by neighborhood associations.
00;40;37;22 - 00;41;03;16
Speaker 3
And, you know, I so I think that's part of it. I think you're right. I think that where things used to be a little bit, less vitriol, today, the politics at the national level is now also down here at the local level. And people I think a lot of it has to do with social media.
00;41;03;18 - 00;41;10;13
Speaker 3
I think that's really changed. Local race. It's dramatically. So, it's.
00;41;10;19 - 00;41;32;29
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's a good point because it's called keyboard Courage. Right. Right. People are willing to say things. I mean, because I'm in the public eye writing a weekly column, I get a fair amount of that. You know, I'll reach out to people when they, you know, they write to me in surprisingly hostile ways. You write back and they go, oh, geez, I'm sorry, I, I didn't mean to get that angry sometimes.
00;41;32;29 - 00;41;35;15
Speaker 2
Sometimes they don't say that, but. Yeah, but.
00;41;35;15 - 00;41;36;20
Speaker 3
It doesn't matter.
00;41;36;22 - 00;41;58;05
Speaker 2
I still remember when I was writing for climate magazine before it went under. Somebody posted on one of the social media sites. Well, we all know Mark Simon is a, you know, a tool of developers and I, which would come as a surprise to developers, I suspect. But I wrote to the guy and said, have we met? And he said, no.
00;41;58;05 - 00;42;19;17
Speaker 2
I said, well, would you like to meet for a cup of coffee? No, I feel no reason to talk to you. And I said, well, that makes it easier for me. Thank you. But geez. To change subjects, because it's March 27th, it is opening day at Oracle Park in the San Francisco Giants. Never mind that opening night thing, which I thought was never mind the game.
00;42;19;17 - 00;42;44;10
Speaker 2
I thought the broadcast was disastrously poorly run. They really weren't watching the game very much. They were so busy being thrilled that they were the ones launching baseball. But I am, as always, optimistic about the Giants this year. I think that they goes the way it should. They could be a pretty good team. And that's, you know, the big caveat if everything goes the way it should.
00;42;44;12 - 00;43;10;24
Speaker 3
Yeah. You know, speaking of the game the other night, a lot of it is just promoting Netflix programing. It was Amazon and basketball and you know and the and the football games that have been on there. So that's a different subject. Yeah. You know, on opening day you're going to have each team's two best pitchers going. And so that's graceful.
00;43;10;28 - 00;43;32;05
Speaker 3
You know it was was not a good night for the Giants. I agree with you I think their their lineup. Even if you look at last year's numbers there's a tremendous amount of potential there. And so I think they're going to score more runs than they have in the recent past. A lot of it comes down to pitching.
00;43;32;07 - 00;43;54;23
Speaker 3
And when you talk about pitching now, it really a lot of it is bullpens. And so that's kind of a question mark with the Giants. And the bigger problem is LA. You know I think if we stop focusing on the Dodgers and and say if we can beat San Diego, you know, if we can compete with them.
00;43;54;26 - 00;44;21;16
Speaker 3
I think there's kind of a different way to look at it. And, but like you, I'm. I'm optimistic. You and I, ever since the first day we met, this is what we've talked about, I think the most. Yeah. We both grew up loving baseball. We both grew up with in an era of Willie Mays and Willie McCovey and some of the greatest players that have ever played.
00;44;21;18 - 00;44;41;20
Speaker 3
And so, you know, hopefully, hopefully their offense can start to, to show. And, you know, we'll see what they have a long way to go. Only 161 games to go. So I have seen some articles saying oh it's the same team. Yeah. Let's hang it up now and all of that.
00;44;41;27 - 00;45;03;29
Speaker 2
Well, it gets back to your point about social media. It's like the negativity. The people who are unhappy seem always to show up. And it's like one game. Well, see, I told you there no good. Well, you know, let's let the season unfold. What? What I'm hoping, at a minimum, is that there'll be more interesting. Yeah. You know, the kind of lineup they have.
00;45;04;01 - 00;45;26;17
Speaker 2
They're not going to have guys who hit three run home runs very often. They got a couple of guys who can do that. Yeah. But the fact is, stringing 5 or 6 hits together and scoring three runs that way is a lot more fun to watch than a three run homer anyway. So I'm I'm optimistic about that. And you know, the, the the last couple of years, they've committed to me the unpardonable sin.
00;45;26;21 - 00;45;43;20
Speaker 2
They're just not interesting. And, you know, they they get down three to nothing and you think, well, that's it. They're not going to come back. So I'm hoping that they'll be better that way. Yeah. And there's nothing else. You know, I'm just glad baseball is back because it's always more fun to watch that. It's like this. The soundtrack of the summer, you know?
00;45;43;23 - 00;46;10;20
Speaker 3
Yeah. You know, and one, one other thing is, is Buster Posey, who's really running the show. You can say whatever you want, but he is not staid, Pat. He has been out there a very aggressively trying to improve this team. And I think that's what you want. And I think he understands that. You got to put an interesting product out on the field.
00;46;10;23 - 00;46;17;27
Speaker 3
You know, if if you're going to bring fans, put fans in the seats and get the community excited.
00;46;18;03 - 00;46;39;28
Speaker 2
Well, when he was hired for the job he has, he he said, we are in the memory making business. And boy, that. First of all, for him to be smart enough to, to coin that phrase, well, maybe he didn't. Either way, it's it's spot on. Yeah. I mean, what do we love about baseball? You and I can go back about things we saw and things we heard.
00;46;40;03 - 00;46;53;24
Speaker 2
Yeah. Great calls on the radio. Great call. So, yeah, I'd like to make some good memories this year. Yeah. And I think that's as good a place as any to wrap it up. Bob is always fun to be with you. I'm Mark Simon.
00;46;54;01 - 00;46;55;06
Speaker 3
I'm Bob marks.
00;46;55;09 - 00;47;00;08
Speaker 2
And thanks to Frank Bravo, our producer. We'll we'll see you again soon.