Given John McCain’s clear disdain for the growth in government spending under the GOP Senate and Congress, (see the video at the bottom of this post), I don’t understand what appears to be a systematic avoidance of all of the places where conservatives, collectively, are meeting. If McCain cannot figure out how to embrace the base of the Party, his quest for the nomination will be a short one. And if you avoid the respected leaders of the Party’s base, over and over, establishing that key dialogue and winning support will be very, very difficult:

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail (with the video clip I reference below it):

Playing Hooky

Senator John McCain has raised the ire of his erstwhile media fans by appearing to pander too much to conservatives.… Read More

I have a few testimonials on the "FlashCam" from the McCain event, that I’ll get up as time permits. Here is the first one, from a familiar face in California politics. … Read More

Last evening, United States Senator John McCain raised over a half a million dollars at a fundraising event at the Irvine Hyatt Hotel in Orange County. I was invited by the McCain campaign to attend not only the reception, but also an exclusive round-table discussion that took place beforehand. As a Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party, I am officially neutral in the Presidential primary, but was very pleased to accept the generous invitation of the McCain Campaign. Even better, I got an ‘okay’ to bring along the new digital camcorder that I just purchased!

The event, which probably had about 200 or so people at it, was organized by some of Orange Counties heaviest hitters — former U.S. Ambassador to Spain George Argyros, Irvine Company owner Don Bren (who, according to Forbes, is the 80th richest person in the world), renowned developer General William Lyon, and former Secretary of State Bill Jones. Introducing Senator McCain was the Irvine Company’s Dan Young, who filled in for Don Bren, who attended but was sidelined with a bad case of laryngitis. After McCain’s speech, he was followed by fundraising guru Gary Hunt.… Read More

After the recount, the margin that elected the Mayor is ONE vote. Don’t worry there will be a recount and if the Orange County folks involved in the Nguyen race get involved, who knows. See article here.See Previous FR Story here.… Read More

That is the headline from the alert I received from the Capitol Resource Institute. I have to admit, I’m surprised that there was a bump in this bill. I figured the Dems would pass it on and of course our Dudley Do-Gooder of a Governor would feel he knew better than parents what was good for everyone and of course make Merck lots of money. You can see the blow by blow here.

Kudos to GOPer’s Strickland, Huff and Gaines… Read More

The San Diego Ethics Commission has come to conclude they can over-rule the First Amendment…calling the ACLU!

(I read this first on www.redcountysandiego.com)

Rules push candidates into the woodwork San Diego Union Tribune Monday, March 12, 2007 By Logan Jenkins

News bulletin:

ZERO CANDIDATES RUNNING IN SAN DIEGO ELECTIONS!

The seats for council Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 will open up wide in 2008, thanks to term limits, but not one early riser is out on the hustings hustling love or money, the mother’s milk of political ambition.

How does one account for this remarkable restraint?

In a word, ECCO.

OK, it’s not a word. It’s an acronym, not to be confused with eco-cool Danish footwear.

In the legalistic view of the Election Campaign Control Ordinance – approved by the San Diego City Council in late 2005; fine-tuned and enforced by the city’s Ethics Commission – a candidate is not a real candidate until the moment he/she receives or spends campaign funds.

Because ECCO strictly prohibits candidates… Read More

Last evening, United States Senator John McCain raised over a half a million dollars at a fundraising event at the Irvine Hyatt Hotel in Orange County. I was invited by the McCain campaign to attend not only the reception, but also an exclusive round-table discussion that took place beforehand. As a Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party, I am officially neutral in the Presidential primary, but was very pleased to accept the generous invitation of the McCain Campaign. Even better, I got an ‘okay’ to bring along the new digital camcorder that I just purchased!

The event, which probably had about 200 or so people at it, was organized by some of Orange Counties heaviest hitters — former U.S. Ambassador to Spain George Argyros, Irvine Company owner Don Bren (who, according to Forbes, is the 80th richest person in the world), renowned developer General William Lyon, and former Secretary of State Bill Jones. Introducing Senator McCain was the Irvine Company’s Dan Young, who filled in for Don Bren, who attended but was sidelined with a bad case of laryngitis. After McCain’s speech, he was followed by fundraising guru Gary Hunt.… Read More

Today’s Commentary was filmed on the new FR "ActionCam" (I’m open to a new name for the cool all-digital Sony CamCorder I just bought). It is a two minute introduction to our four-column series on the candidates for the GOP nomination for the Presidency, that starts with this column from State Senator Mark Wyland on behalf of his candidate, Mitt Romney.

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More