There is no doubt that much of the success of Governor Schwarzenegger’s re-election triumph last November can be laid at the feet of Steve Schmidt and Katie Levinson. Schmidt was famously tapped by the Governor to come out from D.C. to take the reigns as Manager of his campaign. Steve came from the reknowned Bush communications team, bringing with him, among others, Katie Levinson (Katie was actually named Arnold’s “MVP” by this website for her role in the re-elect).

With the Governor’s campaign all done – a triumph for Schmidt, Levinson and many others – those responsible for shepparding the GOP Governor to a landslide victory in a year that was terrible for Republicans nationally – are in high demand.

It was not unexpected when, a few weeks ago, it was announced that Schmidt had signed on as a Senior Advisor to the Presidential campaign of Arizona Senator John McCain. A number of significant Bush players have jumped onboard with the maverick Senator’s effort, including as campaign manager, Terry Nelson. Schmidt and Nelson are friends. Billionairre Irvine Company owner Donald Bren is McCain’s… Read More

All the excitement is building up this morning for the Governor’s inauguration starting at about 11AM over at the Memorial Auditorium. We go into session at 9AM, for just a bit of housekeeping, mainly to distribute our tickets to the show today, before we get shuttled overto the festivities.We will alsoadopt a set of Joint Rules of the Assembly and Senate, something that hasn’t been done formally for a decade I’m told. The interaction between the 2 houses has been done under a less formal set of agreements. Hopefullynew ruleswill help us operate more efficiently and straight up, with less games and power struggles between the houses….OK, we can be optimistic, it’s still only 5 days into the new year, right? "I’ll be back" with more on how the ceremonies and other stuff goes today.… Read More

Next up, the California Dream Team Luncheon as it was being billed,on the West Steps.

The Inaugural Ceremony was nicely choreographed, Willie was funny, he didn’t want it to end, he said it was the biggest audience he’d spoken to since the 72 Dem election. Chief Justice Ron George did the oath, the Guv with his hand on the Bible and Maria on his arm. Also, Governors Wilson and Davis wereon the stage, with wives Gayle and Sharon. Immediately after the oath, a choir sang "Hallelujah." JillBuck did a much better job ofreporting on these happeningsthan I would’ve, so I’ll leave it to her post.

The lunch on the West Steps was in a tent with a clear plastic roof, a hot house effect, or perhaps one of the first of the Million Solar roofs…it was quite warm inside. George Schultz was one of the main speakers, the Guv spoke and made a lot of jokes that he’d probably like to have back, but it was all in fun. Rob Lowe did some of the MC work as well. I mentioned to Rob later that some of his finest work was as the "Young Number Two" in the Austin Powers 2nd movie, he seemed delighted… Read More

Liberalism as a strategy and philosophy is a failure. Progressivism is meeting a similar fate. To continue to govern as a majority in California, the Democrats have had to again redefine their agenda. The easiest path is to redefine centrism leftward. The Governor is coming right along. He used the word "centrist" several times in his inaugural speech today. Unfortunately, it no longer has the same meaning.

It wasn’t that long ago when Governor Pete Wilson was known as a "moderate" or "centrist" leader. He ran balanced budgets, applied entrepreneurial solutions to the State’s problems, rejected extreme environmentalism, funded education sensibly, avoided excessive borrowing, and demanded accountability in State Government. A similar strategy today would be characterized as "right wing extremism".

Up until November of 2005 one could easily argue that Governor Schwarzenegger was indeed a centrist from the Pete Wilson mold. But in fact, with the defeat of his four reform initiatives, Arnold has nowin fact moved well to the left of Pete Wilson, both in policy and future planning. Even with… Read More

Kudos to Jon Fleishman for his commentary on Joe Nunez. I had told him pre-Christmas that I was planning on posting about this appointment, but the holidays and President Ford’s passing away sidetracked me. Jon detailed the curious nature of this appointment. I just want to add a little more on reasons why my caucus needs to unanimously vote against this one.

As Jon reported, Joe Nunez is Chairman of the Alliance for a Better California (ABC), which ran the campaign to defeat the Governor’s initiatives in November 2005. ABC spent $80 million to kill the initiatives.

The LA Times reported (4/14/06): "Few people worked harder than Joe Nunez to sabotage Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political fortunes. A high ranking teacher’s union official, he helped engineer the Governor’s embarrassing defeat in the special election last year"

ABC, under Nunez, also filed a complaint against the Governor’s campaign with the FPPC for campaign… Read More

Next month, at the California Republican Party Convention, the roughly 1600 members of the California Republican Party State Central Committee will be gathering for the biennial organizational convention for the Party — and electing a new State Chairman. The incumbent, Duf Sundheim, after four tireless years of hard work, is retiring (or as we say in the biz, is "termed out") and so that means that there is no incumbent. Well, not quite…

Two years ago, San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring (and also then President of the Republican County Chairmens’ Association) ran for and was elected without opposition as the Vice Chairman of the Party. Since then, in addition to continuing to work hard as Chairman of his own County Party in San Diego, Ron has been working side by side with the other CRP Officers and Staff, and has been traveling all around the Golden State on behalf of our GOP candidates and endorsed causes.

All of Ron’s hard work has earned him the respect of the… Read More

Next month, at the California Republican Party Convention, the roughly 1600 members of the California Republican Party State Central Committee will be gathering for the biennial organizational convention for the Party — and electing a new State Chairman. The incumbent, Duf Sundheim, after four tireless years of hard work, is retiring (or as we say in the biz, is "termed out") and so that means that there is no incumbent. Well, not quite…

Two years ago, San Diego County Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring (and also then President of the Republican County Chairmens’ Association) ran for and was elected without opposition as the Vice Chairman of the Party. Since then, in addition to continuing to work hard as Chairman of his own County Party in San Diego, Ron has been working side by side with the other CRP Officers and Staff, and has been traveling all around the Golden State on behalf of our GOP candidates and endorsed causes.

All of Ron’s hard work has earned him the respect of the… Read More

The following is an exclusive piece from Joel Fox, President of the Small Business Action Committee, who shares some very important perspective in response to the main stream media’s blow out coverage of the recent poll conducted by Field, on behalf of their client, the New America Foundation, an organization that supports universal health care coverage, starting with all children. They promote this "shared responsibility" doctrine which is a shift away from individual responsibility towards some sort of collective group responsibility, where the government plays a significant role in providing for health insurance for the people. Scary stuff. – Flash

FROM JOEL FOX… … Read More