Depending on which pollster you ask as California voters begin to turn in their ballots, Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom's bid is wrapped in an aura of inevitability – OR wealth management financier John Cox, Newsom's opponent in the governor's race, is dramatically closing the gap between them.

Whence cometh the difference?

In the latest episode of "In Full Color," IVN Editor Shawn Griffiths discusses a new voting method with Sara Wolf, campaign manager for STAR Voting for Lane County in Oregon that could change the way we look at elections.

Imagine you could rate candidates on the ballot like you rate your Uber driver or a product on Amazon? That's the idea, and advocates say it gives all voters an equal vote, provides a more accurate and more representative look at how voters view each candidate, and elects the best candidates.

Job Posting:

U.S. House of Representatives

Starting Salary: $174,000

Job Description

For the 116th time in history, the entire U.S. House of Representatives is hiring for all 435 positions.

Politically ambitious Californians have applied for one of 53 positions in the state’s congressional delegation. Duties include:

California Prop 8 (2018) is a ballot initiative measure that, if passed, will require kidney dialysis clinics in California to make no more than 15% in profit markups over expenses from their operations.

Proposition 8 would set up a state committee to oversee its requirements, and force kidney dialysis clinics in the state to report revenues and expenses to the committee.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel officially endorsed the Reform Party’s candidates for governor and lieutenant governor on Thursday.

"I am pleased to put my full support behind Darcy Richardson and Nancy Argenziano on the Reform Party ticket in Florida," Gravel said. "Republican and Democratic elites have rejected the empowerment of regular citizens at every turn."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnEzyyssU8A

Hollywood actress Jennifer Lawrence is warning Memphis voters not to be tricked at the ballot box. Local voters passed laws 10 years ago that implement ranked choice voting (aka instant runoff voting), increase accountability, and enact term limits. Now, Lawrence says, city officials are trying to overturn all of it.

If you are one of the many people who feel strongly that we need to change the direction of our politics, remember how much power social media already has over our political process.

The special interests, donors, pollsters, consultants, partisan think tanks, corporate media, and lobbyists that support the existing two-party system are working hard to leverage existing social networks. They have proven to be very successful in these efforts, and often not to our benefit.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. - With voting already underway and trailing in the polls, Kevin de León desperately needed to score big in Wednesday’s one-and-only quasi-debate with U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

Billed as a “conversation” by the Public Policy Institute of California, the event was carried live only on the Internet in the middle of a weekday, and so would be viewed by only a tiny fraction of the California electorate.

Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate in a three way U.S. Senate race in New Mexico this year (and the former Republican governor of the state), went on CNN earlier this year to talk about his campaign and share his views on President Trump.

As the nation becomes increasingly polarized, the reality of politics becomes ever more obvious. Nothing illustrates that better than the recent circus (and subsequent side show) surrounding the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett Kavanaugh.

Even before Kavanaugh was nominated, a number of Democratic senators stated they would vote against whomever President Trump nominated for the open Supreme Court seat.