It seems to me like one objective sign that candidates are serious about campaigning for California delegates would be what we will call, “resource allocation” – which is to say, if you want to get votes in California, you have to go get them.

Since we are more focused on the GOP primary here in California, I will ask an open question. At what stage should we see resources being visibily committed by a campaign before we can assume they are not serious about competing for our boatload of delegates?

Resource Test #1 – Absentee Voting in California Starts Around Now. Are candidates sending mail to Republican absentee voters? What about a chase program? Do they have enough volunteers to make follow up calls?

Resource Test #2 – Television and Radio Advertising as well as Mail Pieces California’s a big state. It is very expensive to advertise here if you look at it as one big buy. But it isn’t. We are really a group of media markets, and presidential contenders don’t need to go for the whole thing.

It seems to me that Mitt Romney has, more or less, bottomless… Read More

Most news organizations have called the Iowa caucuses – and high expectations has left bruises on early favorites Mitt and Hillary.

On the GOP side, former Arkansas Guv Mike Huckabee was cruising to a win by a large margin — nearly 10 pnts ahead of Mitt Romney.

For the Dems, Barrack Obama posted an 8-pnt with, with Hillary and John Edwards in a virtual tie for 2nd/3rd place.

This has got to be seen a blow to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who spent millions trying to secure a big win here. Instead, his reported $7 million looks to net him only 7 delegates – that’s a million bucks a delegate (nomination requires 1245 delegates — you do the math.)

It’s also a blow to Hillary — who was an early front-runner and thought to be invulnerable…it still remains to be seen if she’ll even squeak by John "million dollar hair-cut" Edwards.

With Californians starting to vote by mail on Monday (around 50% of votes are projected to be… Read More

Well FR readers, welcome to 2008. This promises to be a VERY eventful year in California politics.

Just think about it…

We have not one, not two, but three statewide elections… Already we know that the first one will be filled with the politics of four referendums on Indian Gaming Compacts, the effort of Fabian Nunez to extend his time in office by another six years, and, oh, the minor matter of which GOP and Democrat candidates will win California delegates to their respective party Presidential nominating conventions.

At the center of this year’s three-ring circus will be the politically schizophrenic Arnold Schwarzenegger. On some days of the week, he’ll get out of bed putting his right foot down. This will be the Governor who wants spending caps, opposes “job killer bills” and talks tough on cutting state spending to tackle the state’s massive overspending problems. Other days of the week, he’ll leap out of bed onto his two left… Read More

Well FR readers, welcome to 2008. This promises to be a VERY eventful year in California politics.

Just think about it…

We have not one, not two, but three statewide elections… Already we know that the first one will be filled with the politics of four referendums on Indian Gaming Compacts, the effort of Fabian Nunez to extend his time in office by another six years, and, oh, the minor matter of which GOP and Democrat candidates will win California delegates to their respective party Presidential nominating conventions.

At the center of this year’s three-ring circus will be the politically schizophrenic Arnold Schwarzenegger. On some days of the week, he’ll get out of bed putting his right foot down. This will be the Governor who wants spending caps, opposes “job killer bills” and talks tough on cutting state spending to tackle the state’s massive overspending problems. Other days of the week, he’ll leap out of bed onto his two left… Read More

Just in case the "holiday season" has left you out of sync with that which is shortly to come, the California Presidential Primary is a mere 33 days away. OK, you knew the date, but admit it … you hadn’t thought of it in terms of "shopping days left."

With Iowa on a tad nearer horizon, the SD media is looking to localize the story as much as possible. I loved this headline and editorial from the New Year’s Day SDUT:

The Iowa circus: This is no way to choose party nominees

No way, perhaps, but politics is often a circus. Have some popcorn and hang on.

Speaking of hanging on, the SDUT this morning focuses on Duncan Hunter’s chances:

The art of the lonely Hunter

As reporter Dana Wilkie notes in the piece, Duncan does have the ability to state the obvious when he says, "The only thing that stands between us and high numbers in the polls right now are media coverage and money."… Read More

Another one for the Democrat "do as we say, not as we do" file.

Fox News reports that the Hillary campaign, in order to turn out Iowa voters ID’d as her own voters evidently, has secured two hundred ninety five SUV’s to turn out voters to the caucuses tomorrow. Also, they are lining up vehicles to spread salt on Iowa’s roads where her voters live.

Wouldn’t 600 Priuses have done the job? Do they have enough carbon credits accrued to cover this global warming atrocity caused by all those SUV’s? And sowing the fertile Iowa road-edge soil with salt? I’m appalled at the environmental damage from the Clinton campaign. But Fox reportsHillary is making 600+ snow shovels available so that voters can shovel their way tothe caucuses for the privilege to cast a vote for her. No word on how many months to see a doctor under HillaryCare for a wrenched back from shoveling snow. On the bright side, after the snow subsides, I’m sure those shovels will still come in plenty handy for the rest of the Hillary campaign platform!… Read More

Congressman Tom Lantos has announced he is retiring from Congress. He has been diagnosed with cancer.

Former Senator Jackie Speier will now be running for an open seat.… Read More

The Orange County Taxpayers Association (OCTax) released their official positions on the statewide ballot measures for February.

OPPOSE Prop. 91 – Transportation Funds.

OPPOSE Prop. 92 – Community Colleges. Funding.

OPPOSE Prop. 93 – Term Limits on Legislators’ Terms in Office.

OPPOSE Props. 94, 95, 96, 97 – Referendum Petitions to Overturn Amendments to Indian Gaming Compacts.

No real surprises here. But with OCTax now maintaining a political action committee they could weigh in heavily if they choose. While today the PAC has limited funds on hand, the membership includes some very large business entities which could choose to use the OCTax PAC as a vehicle for impacting county and statewide measures.

A quick look at the most recent donors demonstrates the caliber of the OCTax membership. Donors include The Irvine Company, owned by billionaire Don Bren; Ware… Read More