As a former supporter of Rudy Giuliani, I’ve gravitated now to Governor Mitt Romney and have endorsed him as of today. First, my reasons for opposing McCain:

He’s a demagogue on the Bush tax cuts, which saved the post 9-11 economy, and uses class warfare rhetoric; Wrote an amnesty bill and a completely unworkable overhaul of the immigration system; Crafted an anti-free speech campaign finance bill, McCain Feingold; Believes in "climate change", which is a fraud; Opposes exploration for our OWN oil in ANWAR, while we finance terrorism in the … Read More

Here’s a follow-up on the Waste Watch I posted the other day about the excesses of the First 5 program.

Our awesome Senate Republican caucus staff put the piece below together – but the real credit about exposing this abuse of the voter’strust goes to Senator Dave Cox. He’s been all over this issue for a long time.

Enjoy. __________

When the health care reform debate began in earnest at the State Capitol, well over a year ago, Republican legislators came to the table with a multitude of innovative ideas to solve many of the current and inevitable problems in California’s health care system. One of those, authored by Senator Cox (R-Fair Oaks), was to ask voters to reprioritize tobacco tax dollars currently collected under a 1998 voter-approved initiative, Proposition 10, … Read More

GOP – stronger or broader?Debra J. Saunders Thursday, January 31, 2008

Florida was big. Florida Republicans not only went for John McCain over Mitt Romney, but also, when you add the McCain vote (36 percent) to the now-withdrawn Rudy Giuliani vote (15 percent), you see a shift: A majority of Republican voters are straying outside the ever-pure conservative base. While conservative talk show hosts and a slice of the GOP base demand all-or-nothing from GOP candidates, Republican voters in general clearly understand that, in a democracy, the all-or-nothing equation has only one sure outcome: You get nothing.

Especially when your party does not represent the majority of voters.

In his gracious victory speech Tuesday night, Sen. McCain told Team Romney that "the margin that separated us tonight surely isn’t big enough for me to brag about or for you to despair." Wednesday night’s CNN-hosted Republican presidential candidates’ debate was more combative. At the heart of it lies a divide on how far a party should go. Asked which type of Supreme Court justices he would… Read More

Assemblyman Van Tran is an ardent supporter of Senator John McCain’s candidacy for the White House. He makes the following case to FR readers in support McCain:

McCain Will Stand Tall Against Islamic Fanaticism, Wasteful Spending by Assemblyman Van Tran After this week’s Republican Primary victory in Florida, Sen. McCain will now move into Super Tuesday in a great position to be the Republican nominee for President. As a proud member of Senator McCain’s California Finance Team and state Co-Chair, I encourage my fellow conservatives to take a second look at a man who knows that the transcendent challenge of the 21st century is radical Islamic extremism.… Read More

I have been with Governor Romney (listen for our FR Podcast interview tomorrow), and only now am able to let readers know that Governor Schwarzenegger did, in fact, endorse Senator McCain this morning.

As an elected officer of the State GOP, I have not endorsed any candidate. But I will offer McCain some unsolicited advice. Since you are trying to garner conservative support in the final days, you should actually take Arnold on the road to other states, where his status as a celebrity will help your momentum. Here in California, “post partisan” Arnold has worked hard to alienate conservatives (after counting on their support in two statewide elections).

Senator, perhaps have your campaign strategists contact the folks trying to pass the Indian Gambling Compacts on the same ballot. They, too, are trying to move conservatives to support their cause. They’ve pulled their ads featuring the Governor…

Don’t get me wrong – good for you in receiving Arnold’s support. I just don’t think that he will be a good messenger to the very GOP voters you are trying to attract to your candidacy.… Read More

A couple of weeks ago, I noted that former Congressman Doug Ose had decided to run. Now it’s official…sort of. Ose is set to declare Friday in Auburn and has been seen at numerous events in the Roseville area over the past few weeks.

The Roundup carried the following report: "Meanwhile, Doug Ose has decided that the term limits pledge he upheld when he gave up his seat was not a lifetime one, meaning Rico won’t have an easy dance in the primary for John Doolittle’s seat."

A similar report ran in a Sacramento Bee story as well…

It looks like Ose has positioned himself well — he’s got $460,000 left in his Congressional campaign account; and two weeks ago, moderate Mike Holmes dropped out of the race. Holmes praised Ose in his statement to the press, leaving the impression he was clearing out in favor of Ose.

So it looks like another showdown between Ose and conservative former State Senator… Read More

I’m on the road, so here is the latest off the transom from the freedom fighters at No on 93: Desperate Nunez Contributes $1.1 Million to Yes on 93 to Save Speakership Sacramento – Apparently Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez believes it’s a matter of life or death whether he can keep his powerful post until 2014 by passing Proposition 93. At least that’s what recent television advertising by the Yes on 93 campaign suggested. Nunez’s team used EMT Tim Heard to tie the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina and wildfires in California to the need to change term limits in their advertising. Who would have thought so much was on the line on whether the Speaker and his fellow Sacramento legislators can lengthen their terms in office? But then again, Proposition 93 has always been about Fabian Nunez and his lust for the power, perks and personal financial gain of public office. So it’s no wonder that a committee controlled by Nunez now reports contributing a total of almost $1.1 million to the Yes on Proposition 93 campaign. Obviously, the Speaker has waited until the last possible moment to contribute a total amount in excess of $1… Read More

Last disclosure Auday Arabo showed 297k on hand… an amount that observers far and wide found very impressive. So all the talk over the past few weeks has been assuming Auday had the capability of raising even more.A lot more.

Last night at the ‘Back to Session Bash’ I discussed the 78th Assembly District endlessly with lobbyists and assorted political types. The general impression was that, while Auday Arabo was in serious trouble now that Maxine Sherrard was back in the race, he would show at least 250k more raised and at least 400k on hand, and that given Auday’s various past affiliations he would need every penny of it to even have a shot.

But upon reading Arabo’s report as it came over the wire just now, I was as surprised as anyone else to discover old Arabo had raised a total of 55k and ended with a cash balance of 299k. No movement. No momentum.… Read More