Cara McCormick sits down with former California state senator Steve Peace - author of the Top Two primary law - to react to the California governor's race debate. They unpack the most memorable moments (Becerra's "Steve Hilton's daddy" line, Hilton waving the insurance statute at Becerra on stage, Katie Porter catching Tom Steyer on his own contradiction), why the moderators' yes-or-no format is killing real debate, and why Peace says "there's no longer a constituency for governance." From there, the conversation traces a pattern Peace has watched play out for 30 years - the same playbook that wrecked California's insurance market and energy market is now hitting housing - and ends on why Prop 50, the "jungle primary" smear campaign, and the death of citizen government all connect back to one thing: partisan primaries. 

This episode is sponsored by the Independent Voter Project and produced by Olas Media. 

Listen to more episodes and read in-depth coverage at: https://ivn.us  and https://independentvoterproject.org 

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Chapters:
00:00:00 – The Case for the Political Middle Ground
00:01:05 – California Governor’s Race and Undecided Voters
00:03:00 – Partisan Narratives vs Real Governance
00:07:30 – Debate Culture, Soundbites, and Media Incentives
00:12:30 – Why Yes/No Politics Fails Complex Issues
00:19:00 – Cost of Living, Regulation, and Policy Tradeoffs
00:28:40 – Housing Crisis and the “Abundance” Debate
00:34:30 – How Partisan Primaries Distort Democracy
00:43:00 – The Collapse of Bipartisan Problem-Solving
00:56:00 – Open Primaries and the Future of Elections