John McCain, the U.S. Senator from Arizona with a supposed lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union of 82.3 (even though in 2006 – the most recent rating – it was a very liberal 65), yesterday severely damaged his self-congratulatory character in … Read More

UPDATE: For those who have PowerPoint, you can download the attachment below and walk yourself through a slide-by-slide presentation of data.

Longtime FR Friend Jamie Fisfis is a principal with Chariot Research. His firm does work literally all over the globe. But they just came out of the field with a survey of California voters, giving us a glimpse of where things are in these final days before the Florida primary, to take place this Thursday.

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From Fisfis:

**There is more – click the link**

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Assemblyman Bob Huff has introduced a piece of legislation that seems like a good idea to me. AB 1808 would allow candidates for federal office (U. S. Senate and the House of Representatives) to pay for and submit ballot statements to be put before the voters, much in the way that candidates for state and local office can today.

As long as candidate statements are offered to lower level office seekers, I see no reason why candidates for federal office shouldn’t have the same opportunity.

Something tells me that someone will come up with a reason it isn’t legal, per McCain-Feingold or some other federal law. But hopefully not.

Great idea Assemblyman Huff.… Read More

Due to enough e-mails, I have decided to consent and once again start writing more about Governor Schwarzenegger’s appointments. So as they come out (usually weekly), I will look them over and pick one to highlight. I should add that I didn’t have enough fingers on my left hand to count the number of Democrats that he appointed to the bench (including one to the prestigious Court of Appeals) last Friday.

Anyways… Cythnia Dellums…

I don’t think there is a family that truly hates and despises the American system of capitalism more than the Dellums family of Oakland. As a longtime Member of Congress, Ron Dellums frequently trashed America, and openly considered himself to be a leader of the "socialist caucus" within the Democrat Party back there.

So it is comforting to know that Dellums, now the Mayor of Oakland, is celebrating the appointment by our Republican Governor of his wife, Cynthia, to the Commission on the Status of Women.

No doubt thrilling news for the fine activists of the Alameda County GOP…… Read More

Recently I was chatting with Assemblyman Mike Duvall. As has been the case many times since he was sworn in the legislature just over a year ago, he was sharing we met yet another story of how our state government bureaucracy seems to be specifically designed to be dysfunctional. In the case that the Assemblyman outlines below, he is actually going to try and do something about it. I asked him to pen something for FR readers, so here it is… While the topic of "grade separations" isn’t sexy, this is just one of a pile of examples of how messed up things are in Sacramento…

GRADE SEPARATION FUNDING GETS A FAILING GRADE By Assemblyman Mike Duvall (R-Yorba Linda) … Read More

UPDATE: For those who have PowerPoint, you can download the attachment below and walk yourself through a slide-by-slide presentation of data.

Longtime FR Friend Jamie Fisfis is a principal with Chariot Research. His firm does work literally all over the globe. But they just came out of the field with a survey of California voters, giving us a glimpse of where things are in these final days before the Florida primary, to take place this Thursday.

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From Fisfis: "We have just completed a survey of 800 likely primary voters in an effort to gauge pre-Florida primary numbers. On the Democrat side, Hilary Clinton (38% dem) maintains a significant lead concentrated in the bay are an driven by a broad range of issues. By contrast, Obama (18% dem) and Edwards (12.4% dem) are gaining their numbers based upon their strengths among foreign policy and… Read More

The surge of Republican support for Governor Mitt Romney continues as Bay Area / Central Valley Assemblyman Guy Houston has endorsed Romney. Romney’s support continues to grow as conservatives unite behind the most electable Republican candidate (Disclosure: I support Governor Romney).

Houston stated the following in endorsing Romney "Governor Romney has provided a real blueprint to how he would protect our economy. His recipe of lower taxes for low-wage earners, rewarding savings and giving businesses the tools to invest and provide jobs is a real winner. I am proud to endorse him to be our next President."

Houston has long been a champion of business and job creation bills during his tenure in the State Assembly. As a former member of the Jobs and Economic Development Committee he advocated lower taxes and use of credits to reward companies reinvesting in California jobs.… Read More

We are pleased today to feature a special guest commentary from FR Friend Jon Coupal, who is President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and is a frequent contributor to this site:

In 1990, voters fed up with career politicians who had learned to game the system to perpetuate their careers and live a lavish lifestyle passed Proposition 140 to limit Assembly members to three, two-year terms and State Senators to two, four-year terms.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown — who often behaved like the emperor of California — and his allies fought back, taking their case for an unlimited length of service all the way to the State Supreme Court.

**There is more – click the link**

View Full… Read More