Today there is a lot of news to cover…
GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an 
important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a double (mainly with his late moneys surge). McCain made it to first base, but his fundraising is going to have to pick up big time if he candidacy is going to stay viable. Probably no coincidence that McCain released the endorsement news today – former California State Senate Republican Leader Jim Brulte has endorsed his candidacy.
Since I am from Orange County, I will give a shout-out to Romney’s top fundraising chief down here — hotelier Hadi Makarechian. The fundraising juggernaut he has put together in "The OC" is very impressive, and he must be quite proud of the role that he and his team have played in Romney’s overall numbers.
DEM PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS
Results of a Field Poll came out, and showed that Al Gore would fare very well in California, if he would jump into the race. Apparently his Academy Award performance has bucked him up with Golden State Democrats. Absent a Gore option (he says he isn’t running), Hillary Clinton is in a very strong position. That said, her impressive fundraising total may not carry her too far if Obama’s reported 20 million ++ turns out to be the case. It will be a real donnybrook for Team Donkey.
GOLDEN PEN AWARDEES
Today we highlighted two great columns. The first is by FR friend Bill Saracino, who takes on one of Hollywood’s elite left-wingers — Pierce Brosnan. The retired Bond actor has been pooh-poohing a proposed LNG facility off of the Los Angeles Coast (undoubtedly Brosnan is concerned about the marring of the views from his mega-million dollar Malibu estate). The second column, by our own Adam Probolsky tells an amazing tale. It is not unusual that there is legislation in Sacramento to MANDATE that high school students must perform community service to graduate. The unusual part is that this Nanny State bill is being authored by a Republican! Curious as to who it is? Check out Adam’s piece on the main page.
HONORABLE MENTION
The Orange County Register’s main story today talks about ill-advised legislation to put the taxpayers on the hook to the tune of $250,000,000 to ‘insure’ the financial success of a potential Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2016. Government should not be in the business of — sporting events. State Senators should vote down this bill.
OTHER MAJOR STORIES
- No doubt the Global Warming ‘alarmist’ crowd will be gleeful at the decision yesterday of the U.S. Supreme Court that faults the EPA on auto-emissions.
- It’s Fabian Nunez vs. Catholic Church as Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney takes off the gloves, chastising Nunez for his support of legal suicide measure.
- More on the LNG Plant — The staff of the State Lands Commission is recommending approval for the facility, and also the Malibu eco-nuts are turning on one of their own who has accused them of being alarmists.
- Arguments begin today in front of the California Supreme Court as a challenge is being made to our state’s ban on homosexual marriage.
- A survey released from San Jose State shows that Californian’s would support amending term limits in some circumstances. We’ll bring you more on this later today.
There are a lot more stories worth reading, so hop over to the main page!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.
**There is more – click the link**