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James V. Lacy

The Romney Speech at CPAC

I have been surveying tried-and-true conservatives on their reactions to the McCain speech at CPAC in Washington, D.C. yesterday, and to be honest, most want to talk about the Romney speech earlier in the day, in which Romney announcedhe was "suspending" his campaign, and not the McCain speech.

Gary Kreep of Ramona, CA, the President of the US Justice Foundation and a CPAC "old-hand" summed up the comments I am receiving. He told me this afternoon, "Romney sounded like he was running for President in 2012." Even though Romneymade it plain that the time for a Republican president was now.

I took a second to take that in, and then said, "well, do you think Romney is supportive of McCain in 2008?" And Gary answered, "yes, but my feeling is the speech was about him, not McCain, and that he is running in 2012."

Interesting.

I have had opportunity to commune with a whole lot of people. My friend Lew Uhler, who I have worked with many times, the extremely intelligent lawyer Joe Morris of Chicago, who was Don Devine’s General Counsel at the U.S. Personnel Management… Read More

Jon Fleischman

CalChamber Goes 7 For 7 On Tuesday — Impressive

As I was reflected on the results of how all of the ballot measures fared in last Tuesday’s election, I was struck with a sense of déjà vu. No on 91. No on 92. No on 93. Yes on 94. Yes on 95. Yes on 96. Yes on 97. Then it struck me, and I looked back through my e-mails and sure enough, the California Chamber of Commerce put out a release urging ALL of these positions. Or, to put it another way, the CalChamber went seven for seven, or 100% on election day! All of the measures either passed or failed by pretty wide margins on Tuesday, with the exception of Proposition 93, that was so close that newspapers had to go to print for Wednesday morning without a definitive answer on whether it passed or failed.

Relative to that close measure… There is no doubt that in the hotly charged effort by legislative leaders to extend their own terms, the Chamber’s opposition to Prop. 93 made a big difference. No doubt… Read More

Jon Fleischman

Today’s Commentary: CalChamber Goes 7 For 7 On Tuesday — Impressive

As I was reflected on the results of how all of the ballot measures fared in last Tuesday’s election, I was struck with a sense of déjà vu. No on 91. No on 92. No on 93. Yes on 94. Yes on 95. Yes on 96. Yes on 97. Then it struck me, and I looked back through my e-mails and sure enough, the California Chamber of Commerce put out a release urging ALL of these positions. Or, to put it another way, the CalChamber went seven for seven, or 100% on election day! All of the measures either passed or failed by pretty wide margins on Tuesday, with the exception of Proposition 93, that was so close that newspapers had to go to print for Wednesday morning without a definitive answer on whether it passed or failed.

Relative to that close measure… **There is more – click the link**Read More

James V. Lacy

President Bush to speak at CPAC today (and my secret CPAC George W. Bush story)

President George W. Bush will speak at 10:20 am this morning at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C., his first appearance at the annual conference as President.

During his presidency, Ronald Reagan attended every CPAC conference in person, with the exception of one, and he sent a recordedmessage to that one. He also was a frequent visitor before his election.

I can personally verify, however, that George W. Bush has been to more CPACs than just the one he is attending today, where he is certain to receive a rousing welcome and support for the troop surge in Iraq.

It was the 1988 CPAC conference. However, George W. Bush was not a speaker, rather, he was an on-sitebehind the scenesobserver of a sort of"monitoring" operation on Jack Kemp’s campaign activities at CPAC,as his father, Vice-President George H. W. Bush and Kemp were sparing for the 1988 Presidential nomination, and conservative support, in the process that would ultimately be won by George H.W. I know because I was there…..

My friendCraig Shirley was running the operation, with plausible… Read More

Greetings from the Swamp

Good afternoon!

I’m Jeff Solsby. Jon Fleischman asked me to lend my considerable news-clipping talents to the FlashReport and I’m honored to join my friends and colleagues in the FlashReport blogpen.

Jon has asked me to join a great conservative, Rep. John Campbell–my hometown congressman–in providing an "Inside the Beltway" perspective. So I’ll share news and gossip, and also pass along information of interest to California readers–whether it pertains to our California congressional delegation, or other Golden State news and issues here in what Jon calls "the Swamp." I call DC home despite my affinity for my native Southern California.

I’m thrilled to share some of the high- and low-lights of DC news with you and will welcome your emails at Jeff@flashreport.org. So please feel free to send along any tips, topics and tidbits regarding politics and "left coast" news taking place in the nation’s capital.… Read More

Ray Haynes

I was wrong

When you’re wrong, I have always thought, admit it. So I am going to admit it. I was wrong, this year’s California primary actually meant something. Candidates came here spent money, and actually paid attention to Californians. I thought it wouldn’t happen, and I was wrong.

I mainly objected to moving the primary forward, and I thought that, once again, that would be a futile act. It had been every other time we moved it forward, and I thought this would be no different. In my opinion, California has really screwed up the presidential primary system in its effort to be relevant. I still believe that.

I think I was wrong because of circumstances unique to this primary. For the first time since 1952, no one on the ballot has been president or vice president (that is, in every presidential election since 1952, at least one of the candidates on the ballot was president or vice president when the general election started). That leaves the election wide open, and raises a lot of uncertainty. I think that factor, more than any other, is why California was relevant this year. It is also my opinion that California would still have… Read More

Ray Haynes

Today’s Commentary: I was wrong

When you’re wrong, I have always thought, admit it. So I am going to admit it. I was wrong, this year’s California primary actually meant something. Candidates came here spent money, and actually paid attention to Californians. I thought it wouldn’t happen, and I was wrong.

I mainly objected to moving the primary forward, and I thought that, once again, that would be a futile act. It had been every other time we moved it forward, and I thought this would be no different. In my opinion, California has really screwed up the presidential primary system in its effort to be relevant. I still believe that.

I think I was wrong because of circumstances unique to this primary. For the first time since 1952, no one on the ballot has been president or vice president (that is, in every presidential election since 1952, at least one of the candidates on the ballot was president or vice president when the general election started). That leaves the election wide open, and raises a lot of uncertainty. I think that factor, more than any other, is why California was relevant this year. It is also my opinion that California would still have… Read More

Congressman John Campbell

Semper Fi

You might have heard about Berkeley’s City Council’s recent vote to tell the Marines to close their recruiting station in the city. With this vote, they told the Marines that their recruiting office is not welcome in their city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as an uninvited and unwelcome intruders.

In response to this, Ihave introduced the “Semper Fi Act” in the House of Representatives. This act rescinds all of the funding contained in the FY 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act for the City of Berkeley, CA and transfers those funds to the Marines for recruiting

During the meeting, the City Council also voted to give protest group Code Pink a parking space in front of the recruiting office once a week for six months and a free sound permit for protesting once a week. According to the City Council agenda, they "Encourage all people to avoid cooperation with the Marine Corps recruiting station, and applaud residents and organizations such as Code Pink, that may volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley."

The Marine Corps has… Read More