We have some big challenges facing the Republican Party in Congress right now. The GOP lost our majority 2006 in a large part because our party became that which we opposed – the party of big spending. When the 2006 elections were over, the Club for Growth conducted surveys in 15 competitive House seats (where neither candidate was tainted with scandal) and guess what they found out? The GOP had completely lost its fiscal conservative branding. The most startling results was when those polled asked which political party in Washington was “The Party of Big Government” – the results? Republicans 39.3% and Democrats 27.9% – shocking, and sad. (Read more about the CfG survey here).

Yesterday, the lead editorial in the Wall Street Journal was all about how the Republicans, now in the minority in Congress, still don’t get it (in terms of the need for fiscal restraint).… Read More

This time of the political season, we are all following the late-contribution reports to see where the money is flowing — and a lot of it has been moving around — millions.

Nary lost amongst the other activity was this transfer of $110,000 from "Leadership California" (Lame-Duck Senate President Don Perata’s PAC) to the "We Deserve Better; Yes on the Recall of Jeff Denham" PAC.

Given Perata’s public pronouncements recently that he was pulling the plug on any attempt to recall Denham, this transfer raises serious questions. In addition, the pro-recall committee still has yet to return several six figure contributions sent in by labor unions in recent days.

So it begs the question – is the recall back on?

Senator Denham, of course, hasn’t let up from campaigning against this petty political recall instigated by Perata in one of his frequent "I am four years old"… Read More

John Fund in today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

One More Time, Liberals Overplay Their Hand on Gay Marriage

… Read More

San Bernardino County Supervisor (and former FR Blogger) Brad Mitzelfelt seems to be well on track to being re-elected.

Just one little comparison to show how the race is going.

Brad hasbeen all over ABC tv, appearing on World News Tonight and on Good Morning America touting his efforts to keep sex offenders from stalking children behind the wheel of an ice cream truck. Pretty nice opportunity – being able to appear on network tv, talking about a popularissue just before anelection.

By contrast, Brad’s opponent – a woman who decided to base her campaign on the surefire-winning issue of campaign finance reform – hasn’t been able to keep from repeatedly tripping over herself. From failing to and lying about filing her Campaign Finance documents, to now questions arising of whether she hid assets on her Statement of Economic Interest forms, Rita Vogler has been her own biggest obstacle to competitiveness.

But as we sit here two and a half weeks from Election Day – Brad is looking awfully good.… Read More

Just off the transom from uber-consultant Tim Clark on behalf of the Robert Rao campaign in AD 15 (this is what we call an “oops memo”) —

In a statement released earlier today, the Rao for Assembly campaign announced that the Contra Costa Chapter of the California Republican Assembly had endorsed Robert Rao for Assembly in the 15th district. Although Rao won the “straw vote” taken, CRA bylaws do not permit a local CRA chapter to formally endorse except at the district endorsement meeting held earlier in the year.

“We appreciate the wonderful work of the California Republican Assembly and would love to have their formal endorsement,” said Rao Spokesman Mike Caporusso, “but no candidate was endorsed at the Spring meeting, and that’s the official vote, so we respect that.”… Read More

TO: Members and Friends, Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association FROM: Jon Coupal, President SUBJ: California State Budget Yesterday, the Governor released his "May Revision" of his earlier budget proposal. The "May Revise," as it is called, takes into account more recent financial considerations of which our political leaders were unaware back in January. HJTA has several concerns about the Governor’s May Revise. First and foremost, it reflects another failure by projecting a level of spending in excess of revenue. The fact is, the taxpayers of California have done their job — and then some. You have provided political leadership with billions of dollars more than just a few years ago. In fact, general fund spending has about doubled in just ten years, from $50 billion to $100 billion. It may be a worn-out expression, but it is fundamentally true: California does not… Read More

Offsetting the glee from the loony-left, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines issued this strong statement in response to the Supreme Court decision to, in essence, prepare the way for legal same-sex marriage in California…

I read a lot of political discourse that is pretty tedious and boring. I never want this blog to sink to that level. I understand that there is always a risk of that when I bring up such scintillating topics as international tax policy and mortgage origination regulations. Stop yawning!

Anyway, so here is the very first Campbell Quiz. These are a few questions about current events in Congress and politics. And no, I will not make you wait until next week to find the answers. They are all at the end of each question. Good luck, have fun…….oh yeah and maybe you’ll learn something you didn’t know too!

1) Two weeks ago, Congress passed a "technical corrections bill" that contained hundreds of new transportation earmarks including $90 million to study a "maglev" (magnetic levitation) train. This train would run a route that is currently served by dozens of daily airline flights and at a fare of about $118. If it takes $90 million to study it, imagine what it would take to subsidize it. This train would run between:

a) New York and Washington b) Anaheim and Las… Read More