California Insider

Democratic bloggers have been suggesting today that the Schwarzenegger audio tape got out not through a breach of computer security but because it was stored in an unguarded spot on the Internet accessible to the public. The governor's legal affairs secretary, Andrea Hoch, just put out a statement contradicting that speculation:

"As a result of the Governor's Office internal audit, this office discovered that on August 29 and 30, 2006, an unknown person or persons downloaded an audio file from the Governor's Office computer system. The Governor's Office has identified the IP address used for this action. This access was unauthorized and constitutes a breach of one or more security protocols within the Governor's Office, which allowed unknown persons to access private files stored in a password protected area of the Governor's Office network computer system. This information has been forwarded to the California Highway Patrol for its ongoing investigation. As other information is discovered during this internal audit, the Governor's Office will forward additional information to the California Highway Patrol."

The Angelides camp is touting a Wall Street Journal/Zogby poll that shows the Democrat trailing by only 3.5 points, 43.5 to 40. But the same poll has Schwarzenegger up by almost twice that margin when minor candidates are included (the Green Party's Camejo takes 6 percent). And the poll shows Schwarzenegger leading by one point among Hispanics, which can't be good news for Angelides. But it's early yet. I still believe this race will be in the mid-single digits as we head down the stretch in October, after Democrats begin to coalesce around their party's nominee.

Bob Salladay details a bunch of the little things Schwarzenegger is doing to try to reduce the Democrats' usual advantage among California's diverse ethnic electorate.