When Van Tran first ran for assembly in 2004 he invested huge energy and moneyinto registering Vietnamese voters into the Republican party. Some have estimated he registered over 10,000 new Vietnamese voters. Predictably, during his mud wrestling primary, his opponent accused Van of being "Vietnamese". It was an ugly primary, appealing to left over red neck feelings of a by-gone era. Van’sopponent using Vietnamese national colors to "show" that Van Tran wasn’t a regular Republican backfired. Van won the primary in central Orange County going away. But he did need the 10,000 new Vietnamese voters.

Just 3 years later, Republican Vietnamese voters astound all political pundits.

Experienced pols assumed with 7 Republicans running in a 10 person field for 1st District Supervisor, and, worst than that, 3 Vietnamese Republicans were going to "divide" the fledgling Vietnamese vote. In other words,it would be Supervisor Umberg.

The results in this winner take all Special election yesterday, is that he two top candidates areJanet and TrungNguyen . No relation. Janet now has the lead, but as of this morning… Read More

You know you are at a pretty amazing event when the number of United States Military personnel in dress uniform make up a pretty big percentage of the crowd. Well, that was the case last night when my dad and I were the guests of Gala Chairman Brad Freeman for a dinner banquet for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library Foundation where President George Herbert Walker Bush was presented with the Foundation’s 2007 Ronald Reagan Freedom Award, with nearly a thousand guests on hand in the main ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Former President Bush and Nancy Reagan were both escorted into the dinner, and later onto the stage, by a pair of very sharp looking Marine Sergeants. The Master of Ceremonies was none other than Merv Griffin, a Foundation Board Member, and at one time the owner of the hotel (for a moment there were flashbacks to an old Dean Martin Roast program as Griffen tossed a barb at veteran comedian Don Rickles, who was in attendance).

There was a … Read More

Tonight I attended the monthly meeting of the San Joaquin County Republican Central Committee. The atmosphere in the room is a marked change from the last few years and is directly attributable to the new Chairman Dale Fritchen.

Fritchen, a local school board member, has been able to be a bridge builder and has been going about the hard work of rebuilding the committee’s infrastructure and finances.… Read More

Later today, FR friend Nathan Fletcher will announce his bid to replace termed-out Assemblyman George Plescia in the 75th AD. This is a safe Republican seat that takes in the northern portions of the City of San Diego, Poway, and a portion of Escondido.

Fletcher is a long-time Republican activist and business owner who does more than simply ‘talk the talk’ about patriotism and values…he’s a United States Marine who recently returned from combat tours in Iraq and Northeast Africa. This will work strongly to his advantage in a very military-friendly district, whichlies between the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. AD 75 communities are packed with active duty and retired military members.

I’ve known Nathan for some time, and I canfairly dub him a “Conservative Reagan Republican." Since his return to civilian life, he has not been shy about his disappointment (or disgust) with the lack of ethics and wholly irresponsible fiscal behavior of… Read More

War Resolutions: This week will contain much debate in the Senate, and perhaps some in the House, about the various Iraq war resolutions being offered. There are at least five such resolutions being offered in one house or the other that contain a spectrum of opinions on how the war should be prosecuted from this point forward. Why am I writing to tell you about them before they even come up for a vote? Because none of them will lead to any policy changes, these resolutions do not have the force of law. They are basically an expression of the opinion of Congress. Expressing such an opinion may have some value in countries where their legislative bodies only have the power to make suggestions. But Congress is not powerless relative to the Iraq war. There are at least two votes that will actually dictate policy direction in Iraq, rather than just make a political statement. One of these votes has already occurred. Ten days ago, the United States Senate voted unanimously to confirm General George Petraeus to be the commander of our forces in the Middle East. General Petraeus is basically the architect of the new strategy for and … Read More

San Joaquin County’s continued trend of moving steadily into the Republican column is highlighted by viewing the makeup of the current Board’s Republican majority and a quick look at the future.

Supervisor Leroy Ornellas defeated a corrupt democrat incumbent in his first race and has solidified his position on the board. Supervisor Ken Vogel is the former Executive Director of the San Joaquin GOP and longtime school board member who kept the seat of Jack Sieglock in the Republican column after his win in November. The linchpin of the new majority has been newly elected Supervisor Larry Ruhstaller. Ruhstaller claimed the open seat of the dreadful (and term-limited) democrat Dario Marenco and made it all the sweeter by defeating Sen. Mike Machado’s District Director Anne Baird.

The future looks even better with a strong Republican seat represented by Democrat Supervisor Victor Mow coming open due to term limits and a strong bench to take his place to add to the majority on the board. There is now even talk of being able to make a play to claim the solidly democrat seat of extreme liberal Supervisor Steve Gutierrez who is also term… Read More

Later today, FR friend Nathan Fletcher will announce his bid to replace termed-out Assemblyman George Plescia in the 75th AD. This is a safe Republican seat that takes in the northern portions of the City of San Diego, Poway, and a portion of Escondido.

Fletcher is a long-time Republican activist and business owner who does more than simply ‘talk the talk’ about patriotism and values…he’s a United States Marine who recently returned from combat tours in Iraq and Northeast Africa. This will work strongly to his advantage in a very military-friendly district, whichlies between the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. AD 75 communities are packed with active duty and retired military members.

I’ve known Nathan for some time, and I canfairly dub him a “Conservative Reagan Republican." Since his return to civilian life, he has not been shy about his disappointment (or disgust) with the lack of ethics and wholly irresponsible fiscal behavior of… Read More

Last night, I had the good fortune to spend a couple of hours with about 30 great GOP activists as I was the speaker to the San Diego Young Republicans! The group met over at the Karl Strauss Brewery in San Diego. I was there to talk about my candidacy for Vice Chairman, South, of the California Republican Party — and to also talk to the group about this website. (For those of you reading this, it was a pleasure to spend time with you yesterday).

The YRFC club in San Diego, under the leadership of their President, Katie Hansen, has really been making a difference for Republican candidates and causes in California’s southern-most county.

I was extremely flattered when, after I spoke, the club members voted to endorse my candidacy! I have been really excited about the level of support that I have garnered from San Diego County. My support from Congressmen Duncan Hunter and Darrell Issa have been really great, and Assemblyman Joel Anderson and FR’s own Barry Jantz have been super. I’ll have one more swing into San Diego County and then off to convention later this week.

In the… Read More