I just watched the speech that Mitt Romney gave suspending his campaign. He did an excellent job of defining the biggest challenges facing our nation today, and what our Party must do to meet them. He was every bit the outstanding speaker that I remember seeing at the CRP convention a while back in LA…inspiring, articulate, and thoroughly motivating. His speech today was strong, gracious, and patriotic to the “n-th” degree. I know this is not an easy day for those who fought so hard for their candidate. Romney is a very good man, and a class act. Personally, I’m so proud that he is a Republican, and I know that he will fight on for the principles we hold dear. Governor Romney gave us all our marching orders…it’s time to come together to ensure that we win the White House. He outlined his belief that a Clinton or Obama presidency would mean defeat in the war against radical jihadists, and we cannot allow that to happen.

Many of you know I am a McCain supporter, and have been since 1999 when I loaded up my minivan with my 2 year old, my 6 month old, and McCain yard signs to deliver. My greatest hope is that my pals from the Flash Report who have not… Read More

The Rose Institute has done an analysis of California’s Primary results, complete with maps that shows that Liberal GOP voters (defines as Rudy/McCain) breathe sea air and Conservative GOP (Romney/Huckabee etc.)voters breathe smog and dust. Interesting… Read More

This morning Governor Mitt Romney delivered an inspiring and moving speech to the conservative base at CPAC. Filled with the kind of conservative philosophical ideology that we conservatives have been craving, it was perhaps the most impressive speech we have heard this election season. Unfortunately, the crescendo of the speech was Romney’s announcement that he will suspend his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. Even through the television, the shock and disappointment of the audience was palpable. With Romney’s withdrawal, we have lost, as Laura Ingraham declared in introducing Governor Romney, the only conservative contender in the race.

As I’ve talked with fellow conservative friends in California about McCain, the general sentiment seems to be, “Here we go again!” What the rest of the nation is about to discover is the sad reality we have experienced here in California with our own “maverick” governor. Senator McCain’s CPAC speech solidified our trepidation about a President McCain.

Prior to the speech, conservative commentators had stated that McCain would have to really win over the conservatives in order to lock the… Read More

Today was a great day. While Don Perata and Fabian Nunez are not off of their imperial thrones just yet, their poltical capital in the State Capitol, with the failure of Prop. 93, as of today has diminished greatly.

On the Senate site, Senator Darrell Steinberg will replace Perata, but not until later this year. On the Assembly side, they will have a vote for a new Speaker in March, who will replace Nunez after the legislative session.

Especially in the case of Fabian Nunez, the specific news on the timeline of his departure from the State Assembly is great to hear. Now we know how the Winkies felt when they were excited and grateful when the wicked witch was doused with a bucket of water, and melted.

I can think of no better spectator sport this next few months than watching Fabian Nunez slowly melt…

Oh, is that Steve Poizner holding the bucket of water?

(… Read More

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

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

If one was going to make a list of winners looking at the results of last night’s results in California — the BIG list is short — John McCain, Hillary Clinton, the Indian Tribes whose compacts were upheld, and last but certainly not least, STEVE POIZNER, because he led the successful effort to stop Proposition 93 from passing.

Night owl that he is, Insurance Commissioner Poizner sent over the following for FR readers:

Yesterday, the voters of California sent a resounding message to the politicians in Sacramento — stop trying to fool us, stop insulting our intelligence and stop putting your own careers ahead of the job we elected you to do.

Voters from virtually every age group, political party and geographic region saw through this… Read More

Let me start off my commentary this morning with a congratulatory message for United States Senator John McCain. Senator, your win here in California was impressive, and your overall performance around the country gives you bragging rights to be able to say that in 2008, it was Super McCain Tuesday. Congrats on your big win! A lot of folks were working hard on the McCain efforts in the final push, and so I also want to congratulate all of them.

Tomorrow I will be devoting my column to sharing more thoughts with FR readers about a John McCain nomination, but for today, I want to devote the rest of my column to a very important victory — THE DEFEAT OF PROPOSITION 93!! As FR readers well know, since I have devoted so much ‘cyber ink’ to Proposition 93, it was a terrible measure constructed out of the hubris of now-retiring Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. The entire campaign to pass the measure, which contained a specific provision to allow dozens of termed-out California State Legislators to serve well beyond even the new terms articulated in 93, was constructed around what had been labeled, THE BIG LIE. Attorney General Jerry… Read More