Steve Schmidt, Campaign Manager to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger for his re-election campaign, has taken on a consulting role with the candidacy of John McCain for President of the United States.

H/T to Chris Cillizza over at the Washington Post for the scoop on this news.

FR caught up with Schmidt, who told us: "I am very excited to part a part of Senator McCain’s team."

Now – as to whether this gives McCain a leg up on a coveted endorsement in the primary from Governor Schwarzegger — that is unclear. But you can be sure that Schmidt will be sure to keep his former boss very close to the goings-on in the McCain operations.

This news doesn’t really come as a surprise to most political insiders. I had heard it a while back. But it is, perhaps, a testament to Schmidt’s relationships with those of us who report on such things. Out of deference to him, I didn’t report on it first.… Read More

Today Governor Schwarzenegger conducted a healthcare ’round table’ discussion with an assortment of various people who would have different perspectives on the healhcare issue. In connection with that, the Governor had a press availability. You can see the streaming video of his chat with the media on the issue of healthcare, and Q&A on the Governor’s website here.

Here is an excerpt of the Governor’s remarks relative to increasing taxes as a potential means towards dealing with the ‘broken healthcare system’: I think it is very important that as you go and put the final touches on, and introduce our proposals, that everyone understands that taxes is not on the table, because there is no reason to increase taxes, because that would mean that I want to punish the people twice. They are already punished. The people are already punished with the hidden tax. You see, that is the thing that we don’t want to do. Everyone here that has healthcare is… Read More

Until the "reforms" of 2001, the LA Area was represented on the CRP Board by the Vice-Chair South. I was privileged as a "young punk kid" to have been elected to that position in 1993 and re-elected 1995. The new plan gave Los Angeles a separate slot. The elections for these positions can help determine the direction of the CRP Board. In Los Angeles only one candidate has announced. Doug Boyd.Boyd is familiar in LA and for the matter state politics. After leaving the military he hooked up with the LA County Party and became their Executive Director. He was an AA for Dick Mountjoy, COS for a BOE Member (like the use of acronyms there?) and a congressional staffer. Boyd was also the political director for Getty Oil. That’s a company I read … Read More

A couple of years ago when my youngest child was about two years old, my husband bought one of those giant inflatable snowman and snow child and put it up in our front yard about two days before Christmas. My son was delighted to have his very own snowman and periodically had to go outside and check on his new friend. Early the day after Christmas, my son wanted to go check on his snowman and, since his dad was sleeping in, I took him outside…only to find the snowman was gone. When I woke my husband to find out why he had taken the display down so early, he had no idea what I was talking about. Apparently, the snowman was stolen on Christmas night, which left both of us asking, “What kind of person steals a Christmas decoration??”

The people of West Portal Lutheran… Read More

The inaugural issue of Red County magazine features this article by writer John Scott Lewinski on the rise of the Orange County blogosphere. Lewinski interviews FlashReport publisher Jon Fleischman, OC Register political writer Martin Wisckol and yours truly.

(Please -e-mail your name, address and phone number to editor@redcounty.com if you’d like to receive the next issue, due out in February)

… Read More

The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Logan Jenkins delivered anothergreat column yesterday, especially if one follows SD North County politics. A humorous and biting look at some of the political and other ongoings this past year in our northern areas of the county.I don’t always agree with Logan’s politics, but he’s funny…and a great writer.

I’ll get to it in a minute, but reading Jenkins’ wit does bring up a continuing question. Why is it that only the North County is blessed by SD’s newspaper of record with the kind of attention deserving of its own columnist? The politicians in the other areas might not like the prospects, as they could be outed a bit more, but I say bring it on (especially now that I’m out of office…ha!) After all, North County is not the only area of SD home to shenanigans. Plus, Logan doesn’t just hand out bricks…he often gives out bouquets when deserved (an example of both). If they’re doing a good job, the politicos in the non-northern cities should… Read More

I guess we will find out in early January whether California Republicans — especially mainstream GOP voters and those in the GOP donor community — elected a Governor who will stand by the most significant major tenets of the Grand Old Party, or whether they were used by a politician who is prepared to turn his bust of Ronald Reagan to face the wall. How Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approaches his self-imposed top priority of working to tackle the issue of access to and affordability of health insurance for all Californians will define his commitment to core Republican principles. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned for re-election saying that he is fiscally conservative, socially moderate and progressive on environmental issues (or something close to that). Well, as we said at the time, EVERY issue facing state government is ultimately a fiscal issue, and improving access to healthcare is definitely a fiscal issue. As such, we are all hoping that it will be fiscally conservative Arnold Schwarzenegger that steps up to give his State of the State Address in January. There is a very basic and important Republican principle at… Read More

I guess we will find out in early January whether California Republicans — especially mainstream GOP voters and those in the GOP donor community — elected a Governor who will stand by the most significant major tenets of the Grand Old Party, or whether they were used by a politician who is prepared to turn his bust of Ronald Reagan to face the wall. How Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger approaches his self-imposed top priority of working to tackle the issue of access to and affordability of health insurance for all Californians will define his commitment to core Republican principles. Arnold Schwarzenegger campaigned for re-election saying that he is fiscally conservative, socially moderate and progressive on environmental issues (or something close to that). Well, as we said at the time, EVERY issue facing state government is ultimately a fiscal issue, and improving access to healthcare is definitely a fiscal issue. As such, we are all hoping that it will be fiscally conservative Arnold Schwarzenegger that steps up to give his State of the State Address in January. … Read More