Yesterday, I spoke to a GOP Women’s club about initiatives on the November ballot. This cycle, I usually say there is total agreement from GOP organizations against all the tax increases and voting yes on1A, 83, 85 and 90. Then there is disagreement about the bonds with most groups opposing all five, While the CRP and CCR support a couple of them, someare neutral etc…. (BTWvote against all the bonds)

Yesterday, I also found out that wasn’t so. The Log Cabin Republican Club, a group that attempts to promote"gay-friendly" policies among Republican office holders,while opposing the tax increases is opposing Prop. 90- the eminent domain initiative, neutral on Prop. 85- Parental Notification and most odd "neutral" on Prop- 83-Jessica’s law a crack down on sex offenses, pedophiles etc…

I get a lot of grief about not towing the Governor’s line on a host of isues. I’d be curuious to know how much grief this club has gotten for not being on board Arnold’s first signature campaignissue.

I know members of this club. In fact I… Read More

Two big issues – and bad voter perceptions. First, the Iraq war. Let’s face something head on here. The public doesn’t know anything about what is happening in Iraq. 100% of their information comes from the media. 75% of the stories are negative. Therefore, voters are against the war. By almost every historical objective measurement, this war is going well. Casualties and setbacks are a part of war. Civil War is something we are not used to facing in countries have invaded. There is not much unusual about civil war in a new democracy. We had one, remember?

Second, the economy. Unbelievably, the Bush economy has been in every respect better than the Clinton economy – and still is. The American public don’t have a clue about the national economy, only their own. Most people are doing well. 85% of the stories on the national economy are negative. Therefore, voters don’t sense the economic well being of the country as a whole.

Two big issues. Two issues where voter perceptions are entirely media driven. And two issues working against Republicans in the this election. A country full of… Read More

This just came over the trasem… MEDIA ADVISORY WHAT: Tom Del Beccaro, Chair of the Contra Costa Republican Party and Mark Pruner, Chair of the Yolo County Republican Party, will be holding a press conference to discuss their filing of a lawsuit that seeks declaratory relief that Jerry Brown is ineligible to serve as Attorney General, because he does not meet the minimum qualifications for the office as set forth in California law and injunctive relief directing Registrars of Voters not to count ballots cast for Brown due to his ineligibility. WHERE: In front of the Superior Court for Sacramento County, 720 Ninth Street, Sacramento, California WHEN: 10:30 AM, Thursday, October 19, 2006 … Read More

San Diego Lincoln Club Executive Director Chris Niemeyer, largely responsible — with the support of his board — for taking the organization to a new level in recent years (see Duane Dichiara’s post of last December), is leaving for other pastures.I say "other," not "greener," in that my guess is Chris loves the political work, but also knows he’s capable of doing very well financially in the "real private" sector. He is right. The word is that Chris wants to take a stab at being a political donor, not just an operative. Good for him.

I wish him very well.

The rest of the inside word is that after running through about a half-dozen applicants, the list of replacements has been narrowed to two, a Republican legislative aide in San Diego (who will remain nameless for the present), and a local political consultant (who…yeah, yeah…I gotta keep this one nameless too).

My understanding is that the Lincoln Club may make a final selection tomorrow. More to… Read More

I have seen the numbers and they were good.

I just got the chance to review the internal polling numbers from the Strickland campaign for Controller. Chiang and Strickland are polling very close.

The numbers also show that no one knows who either of them are, although a more voters know and like Strickland than Chiang.

Here are the numbers from the Oct. 15 – 18 tracking poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies:

In such a Democratic state, why is the GOP… Read More

This time of year is the silly season for candidates and their tripping all over each other to parade out their endorsements from newspapers. So I thought I would take a few minutes to share my ten cents about "newspaper endorsements" — which is this.

First and foremost — what IS the endorsement of a newspaper? In almost every case, it means that the editorial board of a newspaper has held some sort of vote and decided to put the good name of that paper behind a particular candidate for office. Who is on an editorial board? Well, to be honest, that varies from paper to paper. But it has been my experience that these are the editorial writers for the paper, and then add for good measure the editorial page director, sometimes it includes columnists, and even the local cartoonist. Decidedly NOT voting on the final decision to endorse a particular candidate are the political reporters from the ‘news’ side of a newspaper, though often the news reporters are invited to come and ‘explain’ the details of a race that they are covering, and answer questions from the editorial board. Of course, the important… Read More

This time of year is the silly season for candidates and their tripping all over each other to parade out their endorsements from newspapers. So I thought I would take a few minutes to share my ten cents about "newspaper endorsements" — which is this.

First and foremost — what IS the endorsement of a newspaper? In almost every case, it means that the editorial board of a newspaper has held some sort of vote and decided to put the good name of that paper behind a particular candidate for office. Who is on an editorial board? Well, to be honest, that varies from paper to paper. But it has been my experience that these are the editorial writers for the paper, and then add for good measure the editorial page director, sometimes it includes columnists, and even the local cartoonist. Decidedly NOT voting on the final decision to endorse a particular candidate are the political reporters from the ‘news’ side of a newspaper, though often the news reporters are invited to come and ‘explain’ the details of a race that they are covering, and answer questions from the editorial board. Of course, the important… Read More

The registration numbers and past history tell us that the election for the 18th Assembly District was over when Mary Hayashi won the Democratic primary in June. But this year, the GOP candidate, Jill Buck, is making the general election matter by running a smart campaign that has attracted Republican and Democrat supporters. Even elected Democrats are coming out to publicly support Buck’s campaign for the Assembly. Check out this quote by Dublin Mayor Jane Lockhart (which will be going out on a mailer to district voters): “As a life-long Democrat I look to my party to provide the best candidate. Sometimes that does not happen, and I must step outside my party affiliations and select the best person for the job. Jill Buck is just such a candidate. I know she will work hard to form a bipartisan team in Sa cramento and will represent ALL of the district’s… Read More