I was stunned when I first read the campaign fundraising totals for this period reported by John Doolittle (h/t to Hank Shaw over at the Stockton Record).

I live far away from the 4th CD, in Orange County, but I know the kind of momentum you need to have going on to gear up to win a "battleground" U.S. House seat. It takes a staggering amount of money — and Doolittle’s anemic totals this year make Doolittle’s first and most important hurdle that much harder… According to published reports, Doolittle raised just over $50,000 to Democrat Charlie Brown’s impressive $212,000.

Looking at the fundraising numbers from neighboring CD 11, another "battleground" seat, the incumbent Congressman, Democrat Jerry McNerney, raised $234K in the third quarter and reported $757K cash on hand. A little different picture than that of the incumbent in CD 4. For those interested, Dean Andal, McNerney’s probably GOP opponent, raised $101,000 this period with a cash on hand of $351,118.

John Doolittle needs to be able to make… Read More

The first of many, given that Don Perata and Fabian Nunez continue to be such a rich source for material on why neither of them should be granted more time in the legislature… (kudos to FR friend Greg Hill over at GBWA for his fine work on this.) … Read More

A great post by "Mighty Thor" yesterday on Red County/San Diego about the Governor’s signing of Assemblyman Martin Garrick’s AB 1430, as well as a reference back to GOP Chairman Ron Nehring’s July 12 column on these pages about the issue. From the RCSD post:

In short, the bill preserves free political speech rather than restrict it further. The Governor did the courageous thing because various ‘Ethics Commissions’ and newspaper editorial boards had grossly distorted the impact of the bill (five newspapers editorial boards attacked it, including the SDUT and the LA Times). But the Governor stood on principal and protected the First Amendment.

Next time you see Garrick thank him for protect your right to say whatever you want…Congratulations, Martin, for having the initiative to get this accomplished in your first year!… Read More

I’d like to offer a big congrats to all those involved in making this past weekend’s Western CPAC a big success.

Doing anything like this for the first time is tough. People are leery of committing to come speak, or contribute money to something that hasn’t already been established. But even with those speed bumps in place, the hundreds of people in attendance no doubt agree with me that WCPAC was a hit.

Michael Reagan, David Keene, and Tom McClintock on Friday. Dinesh D’Souza, Dana Rohrabacher, Mark Larson, and Duncan Hunter on Saturday… and a whole lot more.

Jim Lacy, who’s brain child this Conference was, I’m sure is sleeping in a little today. But he deserves a lot of kudos for spearheading this thing. As does my friend Tiffany Delepine, who organized it. The entire Board who helped put this thing together (including the publisher of this very website) did a fantastic job.

Ihope they do it againnext year, as it’d surely be bigger and better!… Read More

Dean Andal reported on his FEC filings raising another $101,000 with a cash on hand of $351,118. Notable donations received were from Representatives Mary Bono and Wally Herger and a maxing out by the Lincoln Club of Northern California. These should be some of the strongest challenger numbers in the country. Now we will wait to see how much liberal D.C. money has been pumped into Jerry McNerney’s coffers in the third quarter.… Read More

Jerry McNerney raised $234K in the third quarter and reported $757K cash on hand.… Read More

Monday, October 15

Well, I figured I would update my own post on the Dirty Dozen bills posted last month that the Governor had in front of him andsee how we came out with the veto pen. There was certainly plenty more bills I could’ve listed to write about, say 144bad bills [The Gross Gross?] but that would’ve beena bit much. TheScorecard: SB 924-Iraq war-Vetoedearlier.

SB 8-Enviromental Justice for flood water-Vetoed

AB 8-Health Care tax on employers-Vetoed

AB 1471-ID numbers on bullets-Signed &*&*#^%*#^!!Dumb, won’t solve crime.

AB 821 Lead Bullet hunting ban [where condors mightflyover]-Signed-aw heck, who needs proof, ban it anyway.

AB 43-Same sex marriage-Vetoed. Marriage will be between one man and one woman for at least one more year in California!

SB 777-Equality In Textbook… Read More

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Governor cares little about his relationship with Republicans, and the groups that count on Republicans to protect them from an intrusive government. Whether it is the business community, taxpayers, gunowners, or families, every recent Republican governor has at least understood that only way that Republicans could prevail is by keeping these groups somewhat happy. Even Pete Wilson, whose pro-choice position caused some consternation in conservative circles, took on education, tax, gun, and family battles so that those of us who were conservatives could honestly look at our constituents and say that they could support Wilson, and have a governor to be proud of. Schwarzenegger has abandoned that position.

He wasn’t always like that. When I met Schwarzenegger at the Mission Inn in Riverside in 2003 during the recall, he look at me and told me that conservatives would be proud of him as Governor. He would sign no new gun laws, he would never raise taxes, and though he could affect abortion as a Governor, he would appoint judges that would be strict constructionists. So much for campaign promises.

So, why is… Read More