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

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.

I know Proposition 140. I successfully argued in defense of Proposition 140 before the Court. And Proposition 93, being falsely advertised as a further reduction in terms, is no Proposition 140.

Proposition 93 on the February ballot is a fraud designed to allow all current members of the Assembly to serve an additional six… Read More

U.S. Representative Jerry "The King of Pork" Lewis is officially the Million Dollar man. Why? Because his costs in legal fees to deal with an ongoing federal investigation has now cost him over a cool mil. Check it out here.

(h/t CfG Blog)… Read More

Earlier this week, I was the speaker at a meeting of the Tustin Area Republican Assembly, a chapter of the California Republican Assembly, located in the heart of conservative Orange County. As part of my presentation, I took the opportunity to survey the audience of around fifty people as to whom they were supporting for President. I ran through the names — Giuliani, Romney, McCain, Paul, Huckabee. It was easy to see that the vast majority of the folks in the room did not raise their hands for any of the candidates. So I asked the group about that. From the feedback I received, it was clear that to the overwhelming majority of this group of core Republican activists, none of the candidates were conservative enough. Fault was found with each one.

But while I think that the activists in this club are representative of many conservatives, they certainly are not representative of all conservatives. So, of those conservative activists who have endorsed candidates, who are they supporting? To be honest with you, as I talk and e-mail with people all around California (and I do a lot of that), it literally runs the gamut. Which is to say that there is no one… Read More

Earlier this week, I was the speaker at a meeting of the Tustin Area Republican Assembly, a chapter of the California Republican Assembly, located in the heart of conservative Orange County. As part of my presentation, I took the opportunity to survey the audience of around fifty people as to whom they were supporting for President. I ran through the names — Giuliani, Romney, McCain, Paul, Huckabee. It was easy to see that the vast majority of the folks in the room did not raise their hands for any of the candidates. So I asked the group about that. From the feedback I received, it was clear that to the overwhelming majority of this group of core Republican activists, none of the candidates were conservative enough. Fault was found with each one.

But while I think that the activists in this club are representative of many conservatives, they certainly are not representative of all conservatives. So, of those conservative activists who have endorsed candidates, who are they supporting? To be honest with you, as I talk and e-mail with people all around California (and I do a lot of that), it literally runs the gamut. Which is to say that there is no one… Read More

In politics especially, it is said that timing is everything. It is clear after spending time on 80+ news websites this morning that the big issue going into the Florida primaries and into Super Tuesday, short of a major terrorist attack, is the economy. That seems to me that it plays to the advantage, to the candidacy of Mitt Romney. After all, he’s the guy with all of the business experience. But more importantly for Romney, the shift to the economy is a move away from his area of weakness – foreign policy gravitas. And his gain is a loss of sorts for McCain and Giuliani. Of course, these are just pieces in a much bigger puzzle. But as this race closes down to the wire… It all matters…… Read More

This morning after my wife Valerie popped in and said that she thought it might be nice for someone other than an ‘insider’ to grade the mail each day. She clearly indicated that she would be that ‘outsider’ (It was not in my interest to argue with her assertion that she is an outsider… but I would point out that before the kids came along she worked as an account executive for Ralph Reed at Century Strategies in Atlanta, for a campaign fundraising operation in LA, and for a builders’ association in Sacramento).So she’ll be grading the February 5th mail with me each day.

Anyway…. this all being the case, the only political mail I got today was a letter from former CRP Chairmen Visco, Schroeder, and Antonovich endorsing Shawn Steel for National Committeeman. Good piece, and came with a vast endorsement list, but we feel no obligation to grade the piece because it does not deal with a race to be decided on the 5th.… Read More