Who are the People in Orange Shirts?

At this time, we have not received word as to whether efforts to gather 300 signatures by folks aligned with the Mariko Yamada campaign. What the Vanguard can tell you is that things got a little weird last night at least early on.

People supporting the Yamada campaign did indeed tow clipboards around as did folks supporting the Mark Leno campaign. Mark Leno ended up in a similar boat to Yamada, Carole Migden managed to garner 60% of the vote last night--which is difficult to believe that she had that strong a support based on the large number of Leno folks parading around. That one perhaps has a chance of going to the floor. Less so with Yamada I would think.

Back to the Yamada-Cabaldon battle. So it becomes obvious that there are not two sides but three. You have the Yamada camp trying to get signatures. You have the Cabaldon camp passing around fliers to people trying to get them not to sign. And you have the orange shirts.

I tried several times to talk to the orange shirts, and the conversations were weird and evasive. One group claimed they were being paid and asked who paid them, they told me one name that I will withhold, when I asked them, "So it was [blank]?" They said, no, no it wasn't [blank]. Another guy who I asked said he was there on his own and then ran off like I was the paparazzi chasing him down.

I caught wind that it was Paul Mitchell's group "Ed Voice," who are big time Cabaldon supporters and pretty much confirmed that that is who it was.

It seemed clear to me that things were getting carried away from what I saw. I would be stunned at this point however if Cabaldon does not end up one way or another being the party endorsed candidate. But stay tuned for updates on that and Bill Clinton coming to San Jose.

---Doug Paul Davis reporting