Let there be Bass

Shane Goldmacher and Jim Sanders, dogged Capitol reporters for the Sacramento Bee, will report tomorrow that Assemblywoman Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, has the votes to succeed Fabian Nunez as Speaker of the lower house.

A snippet from the SacBee Capitol Alert: ... Assemblywoman Karen Bass has secured the votes to become the next speaker of the California Assembly, elevating an African American woman to the post for the first time in California history, several Democratic colleagues said Wednesday.

Dan Walters, a columnist for the Bee, columnized that Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada Flintridge, had emerged as the leading contender for the job. I'm still not sure what led him to that conclusion, other than hopefulness. However, it caused Fred Ortega, City Hall reporter for the Pasadena Star-News, to lose faith in me with this entry on his Under the Dome blog.

Here's what I predicted back on Feb. 13.