There has been a lot of discussion in recent weeks about the effects of term-limits, as efforts are underway to create an additional election next February for an earlier California Presidential primary that some cynics believe is only taking place so that current legislative leaders can have one more crack at trying to relax term-limits before they themselves are forced to retire from office. Well, one impact of our current limits of three two-year terms in the State’s lower house is that, on the GOP side, well over a third of the seats held by the GOP will be "open seats" next year. Over the next few weeks, I will be attempting to take a closer look, well over a year out, at how the races are shaping up in these open GOP seats. Of course, the challenge of looking at the action in the seats this early is that one never knows who might get into the races later, and… Read More

There has been a lot of discussion in recent weeks about the effects of term-limits, as efforts are underway to create an additional election next February for an earlier California Presidential primary that some cynics believe is only taking place so that current legislative leaders can have one more crack at trying to relax term-limits before they themselves are forced to retire from office. Well, one impact of our current limits of three two-year terms in the State’s lower house is that, on the GOP side, well over a third of the seats held by the GOP will be "open seats" next year. Over the next few weeks, I will be attempting to take a closer look, well over a year out, at how the races are shaping up in these open GOP seats. Of course, the challenge of looking at the action in the seats this early is that one never knows who might get into the races later, and… Read More

The razor sharp close count in the recount in the results of the special election to fill the Orange County First Supervisorial seat vacated by Lou Correa when he was sworn into the Senate continues to slowly move along. This is the race where the top two vote gettings, Janet and Trung Ngyuen (no relation), ended up with just a seven vote margin between them, tilted in Trung’s direction. For most of last week and continuing into today, there has been a relatively agonizing recount taking place. The best place to read all of the latest on this is over at Matt Cunningham’s OC Blog/Red County website.

That said, below is a video courtesy of our friends at the OC Register’s Total Buzz Blog, where reporter Peggy Lowe has been down at the Registrar. It would appear that their video camera caught Trung Nguyen’s top legal beagle, Attorney Michael Schroder, telling NBC4 reporter Vikki Vargas the latest details on why, despite an apparent shift in the lead from Trung to Janet, all of the ballots must be counted… … Read More

Jim Gilchrist, the founder of the Minuteman Project, will be in Orange County Superior Court today, Department C-19, at 4:00 pm, seeking an ex parte order to try to win back control of the organization he founded in May of 2005. Gilchrist was thrown out of the organization as a Director and President in late January amid claims by other Directors that Gilchrist had bounced too many checks and was not properly managing the organization. Since then, the directors have conducted an audit and problems in the organization’s direct-mail fundraising program have surfaced, along with regulatory problems with the U.S. Postal Service and failure to file documents with the Internal Revenue Service and California Secretary of State.… Read More

For something entirely different, the Daily News in New York reported today that geneaologists have determined that the great-grandfather of New York civil rights activitist and former Presidential candidate Al Sharpton was a slave owned by the great-great-grandfather of one-time segregationist South Carolina U.S. Senator and former Presidential candidate Strom Thurmond. Good grief! And the mainstream media criticizes content on the Internet!… Read More

Fletcher Scores Another Big Endorsement… Continuing to skate in the direction of thick ice, 75th AD candidate Nathan Fletcher last week announced Sen. Mark Wyland’s support. Add this endorsement to a list that includes current 75th officeholder George Plescia, announced a week prior, and anyone else mulling a run could quickly be yelling uncle, albeit privately. Here’s what Wyland has to say:

I’ve known Nathan for a long time, and I’m proud to endorse him for the State Assembly. He has the experience and work ethic to be an outstanding Assemblyman, and I know he will provide effective representation to the people of the 75th District. Nathan embodies the values we all share; he will work hard to keep our streets safe from dangerous and violent criminals. As Vice Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, I need Nathan in Sacramento to help me bring more accountability to our classrooms and provide our children with a quality education. As a Marine Corps Veteran, Nathan understands the issues our Veterans face, and I know he will be a tireless… Read More

For Californians who follow such things and may be attending the national Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. next weekend (which I had the privilege of co-chairing a few times many years ago while National Chairman of Young Americans for Freedom), Mayor Rudy Guiliani is just reported on Politico to have made the decision to address the CPAC audienceon Friday, at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. For info on CPAC, go to www.conservative.org. Senator McCain and Guiliani were previously reported as both taking a pass on the CPAC conference. Guiliani’s appearance now appears to be a further indication of his concerted interest in building bridges to movement conservatives. I predict he will get a great welcome, as he did at the California Republican Party convention in Sacramento earlier this month.… Read More

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