Republican political consultant Jack Orr died Saturday morning of a heart attack.

Inhis saladdays, Jack had been a member of the Reagan, Nixon, and Ford campaigns or administrations in Sacramento and Washington D.C.. Often when I meet one of the bigwigs from the 1970’s or 1980’s and they find out I’m from San Diego, they ask about Jack, and relay stories about his bulldog like campaigning for the tops of the ticket in years past.

Later,Jack made his home in San Diego’s North County and built a stable of medium sized city clients while he lobbied county government. He founded a unique North County institution, the Albondigas Club, a social order of local politicians and other interested folks in politics. With any luck, Encinitas Councilman Jerome Stocks will pick up the reigns of this organization.

Jack was a true rough and tumble campaigner. No mercy given or asked. He didn’t always win, and he didn’t always lose, but he always got his knuckles bloody. And at the ripe age of (I believe) 68 or 69 he was still working daily on new innovations, including ‘auto-dial polling’.

Jack Orr spent a… Read More

Last night Orange County Republicans filled the main ballroom at the Irvine Hyatt Hotel to capacity for the 8th Annual Flag Day Celebration fundraising event. The "big winner" of the evening was OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, who spearheaded a major effort to sell out this event, succeeding as over 1100 Republicans were on hand to hear from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The event raised over $300,000 for the party, and gave Giuliani the coveted opportunity to bring his message to the single largest annual gathering of GOPers in America’s most Republican county.

My colleague, Matt Cunningham, a FR Orange County blogger on this site, and the proprietor of the venerable Red County OC Blog (where I am a blogger as well) was at this dinner as well (digital camera in hand) and he’ll be cross-posting his take on the event, for you to read all about it. Fellow FR bloggers Adam Probolsky Ray Haynes, Adam Aleman and Jim Lacy were also on hand, and perhaps we’ll hear from them as well.

I am leaving right after I post this commentary to travel up to Santa Barbara where I will be touring the Reagan Ranch in advance of a major event… Read More

Last night Orange County Republicans filled the main ballroom at the Irvine Hyatt Hotel to capacity for the 8th Annual Flag Day Celebration fundraising event. The "big winner" of the evening was OC GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, who spearheaded a major effort to sell out this event, succeeding as over 1100 Republicans were on hand to hear from former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The event raised over $300,000 for the party, and gave Giuliani the coveted opportunity to bring his message to the single largest annual gathering of GOPers in America’s most Republican county.

My colleague, Matt Cunningham, a FR Orange County blogger on this site, and the proprietor of the venerable Red County OC Blog (where I am a blogger as well) was at this dinner as well (digital camera in hand) and he’ll be cross-posting his take on the event, for you to read all about it. Fellow FR bloggers Adam Probolsky, Ray Haynes, Adam Aleman and Jim Lacy were also on hand, and perhaps we’ll hear from them as well.

I am leaving right after I post this commentary to travel up to Santa Barbara where I will be touring the Reagan Ranch in advance of a major event… Read More

The FlashReport has learned that within the next day or so there will be an announcement of state legislative support for a still-possible Fred Thompson candidacy for the presidency of the United States. On the final day of session this past week, Republican legislators were circulating a letter of "encouragement" for Thompson to join the race for the White House. All but one of these aren’t endorsements — yet — but the FR presumes they would become endorsements when/if Thompson makes an official announcement (the exception is Assemblyman Chuck DeVore who was the first to figuratively endorse the former U.S. Senator from Tennessee publicly last Thursday).

The list of those legislative Republicans "encouraging" Thompson are:

Senator Sam Aanestad… Read More

Enjoy your weekend. I am. Look for more insights and commentary tomorrow in this space.

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

Wishin’ for Wi-Fi in San Diego… The prospects for SD going the wireless way of some other big U.S. cities have been seemingly slim, yet Matt Potter provides some hope in the Reader this past week. "It turns out," Potter writes, "that the City has been quietly negotiating for at least six months with EarthLink Municipal Networks, the Atlanta-based firm that is building systems in Philadelphia and San Francisco, among other cities."

Potter also indicates that the Earthlink system in Philly is"a lot cheaper than the rates offered by San Diego cable providers Cox Communications and Time Warner, who are said to be gearing up to fight any kind of similar arrangement that might emerge here. Verizon Wireless and other mobile carriers who offer data services equivalent to Wi-Fi can also be expected to lobby against free or low-priced service plans."

Unlike the Wal-Mart debate, where the SD City Council majority can’t see the point of providing lower prices to their constituents, this fight won’t be influenced by labor as much as it will be by long-time area… Read More

That’s the quote from Green Party 37th Congressional DistrictCandidateDaniel Abraham Brezenoff. One part of the debate between the candidates focused on what leading canidates said or didn’t say about each others mother. A fun read here.… Read More

As we go into a quiet weekend, with all of America comforted by the fact that Paris Hilton is back behind bars, we’re left to contemplate the aftermath of the so-far unsuccessful attempts by President Bush, Teddy Kennedy and others to push through the federal immigration amnesty package.

A couple of weeks ago, it looked like passage through the Senate, while a rocky road, was a likely one. But over the last couple of weeks, despite a barrage of misleading messaging from the White House and other sources, somehow trying to say that amnesty isn’t amnesty, enough GOP Senators came together (whether through enlightenment, impact from an intense grassroots lobbying effort, or a combination of the two) to prevent the matter from coming to a final vote in the Senate. Second only to the fact that this ill-advised bill was so strongly supported by a Republican President to whom I devoted the 2000 election cycle when I worked as Executive Director of the California Republican Party was the rhetoric coming from the otherwise reliable stable of conservative/libertarian thought over on the Wall Street Journal editorial board.… Read More