Here are some thoughts, in no particular order, on the passing scene…
– At the CA Majority Report kickoff event, I was surprised how many Democrats I was meeting for the first time were quite candid in their expectation that Phil Angelides would lose. Some were senior Dem strategists.
– I know Ben Lopez. Ben Lopez is a friend of mine. Ben Lopez is not Lou Sheldon.
– I got irked that someone from the Governor’s Team tried to console me on the minimum wage increase by saying that at least we didn’t get stuck with indexing the minimum wage to inflation. Given that there zero GOP votes in the legislature to override a veto of ANY hike in the wage mandate, it wasn’t too much comfort.
– The most surreal moment of my week came when I saw the words “Flash Report” come out of the mouth of Gray Davis.
– The big education bond measure on the ballot should be called the “Blue County Bond” – a local school district has to put up matching funds to get the bond funds, but only liberal areas will pass local tax increases to create the matching funds.
– The OC Board of Supervisors put a term-limits loosening measure on the November ballot, and then took it off when no statewide term limits deal materialized. Guess after eight long years, the Supes will have to get (gasp!) real jobs after all.
– The GOP may not lose Congress this November, but we deserve to! The vast growth in the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy under Republican rule is more than embarrassing, it is dereliction of duty.
– Congressman Brian Bilbray told me last weekend that he believes that every “earmark” request in Congress should be tied to the individual Member of Congress who has introduced it. This is a great idea. Perhaps it will reduce the pork. Though that guy from Alaska seemed to be just fine bragging up his “bridge to nowhere.”
– FR friend Bob White was quite pleased when I told him that you can go to the upper right hand corner of the FlashReport and toggle to any previous day’s news stories going back to October 1, 2005, when we went live.
– If Assemblyman Bob Huff were a stock, I would tell everyone to buy.
– Last week, when I heard Massachusetts’ Republican Governor Mitt Romney speak at a large event here in California, I decided that W. is officially a lame duck. He’ll still run the nation, but my eyes are now on who will fill the top spot at the end of ’08.