The FlashReport would like to congratulate the three members of California’s Congressional delegation who have been tapped with ‘high honors’ from the National Taxpayers Union — receiving their coveted "Taxpayer Friends" rating… And the winners are… Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce and our own FR Beltway Correspondent John Campbell!! It should come as no surprise to FR readers that among the many "F" recipients (all Democrats) from the NTU for 2006 were our two United States Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and of course our new Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Here is how each of the Republicans from California scored, since we follow GOPers most closely here at the FR: Brian Bilbray: *n/a – Bilbray was elected in a special election in 2006 and so was not rated. Mary Bono: C-… Read More

Online media is quickly outpacing the "real" media thanks to e-pioneers like Jon Fleischman (yes, a gratuitous compliment – he is the boss). E-media and blogs are nimble, aggressive and timely — and it’s hard for the traditional media to keep pace.

(If you don’t believe it, note the resources papers like the Sacramento Bee are shifting to online reporting…)

So when rumors fly across the blogosphere that Governor Schwarzenegger was checking out of the Presidential race, I had to take notice.

But talking with sources "in the know", it’s possible these reports are just wrong. In fact, Schwarzenegger may be planning an endorsement for the upcoming Presidential race — despite the reports on Politico.com.

If I’m wrong, I’ll post a mea culpa, but it makes more sense for him to endorse than not, so I’m betting one of the Presidential candidates will get a much anticipated phone call from the Terminator.

Here’s my thoughts:

The Governor is a media-genic star who loves the spotlight — sitting out the biggest political show on the biggest state just… Read More

The FlashReport would like to congratulate the three members of California’s Congressional delegation who have been tapped with ‘high honors’ from the National Taxpayers Union — receiving their coveted "Taxpayer Friends" rating… And the winners are… Dana Rohrabacher, Ed Royce and our own FR Beltway Correspondent John Campbell!! It should come as no surprise to FR readers that among the many "F" recipients (all Democrats) from the NTU for 2006 were our two United States Senators, Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, and of course our new Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Here is how each of the Republicans from California scored, since we follow GOPers most closely here at the FR…

**There is more – click the link**

View Full Commentary… Read More

There is a ‘must read’ story in the new Beltway Uber-Online Newspaper, The Politico, where reporter Roger Simon publishes a story after conducting a 45 minute private interview with Governor Schwarzenegger. In the story, apparently the Governor told Simon that he would not endorse a Republican in the Presidential primary, though he had praise for McCain and Giuliani for being "centrist" and the kind of Republicans that can win California. The way that Simon worded his story, there is no commitment that the Governor will limit his endorsement options to only the GOP nominee… The Governor quelched any rumors that his wife, Maria Schriver, might run for public office herself, talks about how Democrats are being unfair to Hillary, and expresses his support for a date-specific withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. You can see the story here. … Read More

The convention wisdom in modern American politics is that in a primary, a Republican should run to the "right" and a Democrat to the "left" — seeking to tie down core base voters of their party. Then, in a general election, the candidates who emphasize those issues that would appeal to voters in the other party. Apparently no one has given John McCain the important memo — the one that has two parts. First, you’re in a GOP primary. And the second — you do not get the ‘internationally famous movie star turned politician’ exemption to this rule. Last year, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lurches to the ideological left that most infuriated GOP leaders and activists around California was his calling for the passage of Assembly Bill 32, dubbed by the environmental-extremist community as the "Global Warming Solutions Act" — legislation which has called for increasing regulations in California to fight an alleged… Read More

The convention wisdom in modern American politics is that in a primary, a Republican should run to the "right" and a Democrat to the "left" — seeking to tie down core base voters of their party. Then, in a general election, the candidates who emphasize those issues that would appeal to voters in the other party. Apparently no one has given John McCain the important memo — the one that has two parts. First, you’re in a GOP primary. And the second — you do not get the ‘internationally famous movie star turned politician’ exemption to this rule. Last year, one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lurches to the ideological left that most infuriated GOP leaders and activists around California was his calling for the passage of Assembly Bill 32, dubbed by the environmental-extremist community as the "Global Warming Solutions Act" — legislation which has called for increasing regulations in California to fight an alleged… Read More

Our former State Capitol Correspondent for the FR, Karen Hanretty, maintains a regular blog over at the MSM’s News10 Website, but (with permission) I lifted this post for your reading pleasure: Robbing Small Businesses to Pay for Illegal Workers A capitol insider asked me the other week if I think anything will come this year of Governor Schwarzenegger’s $12 billion health care proposal to provide health insurance to 6.5 million uninsured people in California. … Read More

FR friend and Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego County) is running for President. Today he announced, on the steps of the State Capitol steps in the early-primary state of South Carolina that Horry County Auditor Lois Eargle, former Republican lieutenant governor candidate Henry Jordan and former state Rep. Tom Marchant would help lead his state campaign.

Needs four reasons to vote for Hunter? They’re here on his website. Hopefully we’ll get a fifth paragraph up soon, comprehensively approaching the issue of reducing the size and scope of the federal government, and addressing the over-spending of the President and Congress. Foreign policy is important, but so is domestic policy.… Read More