Sen. John Campbell was in Washington last week making the rounds and 
raising money. In a reception last Wednesday, Campbell brought in $80,000 and also found time to drop by a reception hosted by Reps. Pete Sessions (TX), Mike Rogers (MI), and Jim McCrery (LA) for the top Republican challenger candidates of 2006. Each of those candidates raised over $80,000.
Vartan Djihanian, former communications director for Rep. Buck McKeon, has returned to California to serve as district director for Sen. Bill Morrow (R-Oceanside). Eventually, Vartan will move over to the campaign side and run Morrow’s campaign for Congress. Vartan got his start in 1994, while still in high school, as a volunteer on Jim Rogan’s first campaign for the State Assembly in the wake of Pat Nolan’s resignation. Vartan worked on every one of Rogan’s campaigns until his loss in 2000 and has been deployed by the NRCC to races around the country ever since then. He is considered one of the top campaigners among Washington Hill staff.
The House Conservative Fund, the political arm of the conservative 
Republican Study Committee, has new leadership. Rep. Ernest Istook (OK), has resigned as chairman to seek the Republican nomination for Oklahoma governor. Rep. Tom Feeney (FL), a second term Member who sits on the RSC Steering Committee has been asked to serve as the new chairman.
Rep. John Doolittle introduced a new lapel pin for Republican Members in Washington. The pin, a tiny hammer, is being sported by Members and staff to show their support for Tom DeLay as he fights off the attacks from Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle. DeLay’s communications director, Kevin Madden, mused that some Democrats were wondering where he found the tiny hardware store to buy them.
President Bush betrayed conservatives – again – with his recision of his repeal of Davis-Bacon, the Jim Crow-era law that forces government contractors to pay prevailing wage. Rep. Feeney expounds on this latest betrayal in Human Events.
I am leaving for Liberia on Thursday to serve as an election observer for the
presidential election and will be somewhere in the bush for 10 days. Should I get a chance to lay my hands on a computer, I will attempt another missive but don’t hold your breath. And don’t expect it to have much to do with California.