Dan Walters

With unemployment passing 12% and a state budget shortfall around $20 billion, the economic picture in California is looking bleak. On today's edition of our 2010 midterm-election series The Big Picture, Cathleen Decker, state politics editor and writer for the Los Angeles Times, and by Dan Walters, political columnist for the Sacramento Bee, look at the crises plaguing the Golden State and candidates who want a shot at fixing them.

California is facing a $20 billion dollar deficit and is asking the federal government for roughly $8 billion to help stay afloat. The governor has threatened to cut back, if not elim...

After weeks of budget battles and threatened cuts, the California state budget is finally up for a vote today. Or maybe tomorrow. Possibly next week. The Takeaway talks to Dan Walters...

The new fiscal year for 46 states started this week. But eight states had to extend their legislative sessions in order to balance their 2010 budgets. California is even issuing IOUs ...

Time magazine's Swampland contributor Ana Marie Cox helps us dissect last night’s results and the morning after.

Also: we talk to journalists who participated in our States of the Union series to talk about down-ticket races and why some states did or didn’t turn out the ...