Here are some thoughts, in no particular order, on the passing scene…

– At the CA Majority Report kickoff event, I was surprised how many Democrats I was meeting for the first time were quite candid in their expectation that Phil Angelides would lose. Some were senior Dem strategists.

– I know Ben Lopez. Ben Lopez is a friend of mine. Ben Lopez is not Lou Sheldon.

– I got irked that someone from the Governor’s Team tried to console me on the minimum wage increase by saying that at least we didn’t get stuck with indexing the minimum wage to inflation. Given that there zero GOP votes in the legislature to override a veto of ANY hike in the wage mandate, it wasn’t too much comfort.

– The most surreal moment of my week came when I saw the words “Flash Report” come out of the mouth of Gray Davis.

– The big education bond measure on the ballot should be called the “Blue County Bond” – a local school district has to put up matching funds to get the bond funds, but only liberal areas will pass local tax increases to create the matching funds.

– The OC Board… Read More

If there was ever an argument for hiring a political consultant, the really sorry excuses for ballot statements that pop up every election is one of them.

I will hight light several glaring examples of how candidates do the unthinkable…feel free to send me your own examples.

In today’s example, my favorite so far this year, Mr. Che Hill, in the FIRST LINE of his ballot statement, proclaims: "My name is Che Hill. I was named after the Cuban Revolutionary Che Guevara." [See the full ballot statement attached below.]

I prefer Guevara’s Bolivian work myself but something tells me the people of Perris where Che was planning on running for city council would not have appreciated the distinction.

Luckily they won’t have to. You see Che did not qualify for the ballot. I am not sure why and I am unclear as to whether he paid for the ballot statement anyway, but I am too embarrassed for him to even ask.

More from the ballot statements of… Read More

Early this morning, at midnight, a group of ultra-liberal California Democrat operatives – Steve Maviglio, Jason Kinney, and Roger Salazar – launched a new blogsite that is supposed to be the left’s answer to… well, this website! They have amassed an impressive array of Donkey operatives (see the attachment) and should be producing quite a bit of content… You can be sure that we (that would be me and the FR blog team) will be keeping an eye on them! This site has been up for nearly a year now, and has been starving for some company. A clear contrast between the failed liberal policies of the Democrat Party and the solid, sound principles of conservatism will show that, by and large, Republicans are right and Democrats are wrong! I have actually had a few chats over some months with the development team of their new site, the California Majority Report (CMR), in terms of giving them some logistical advice. I would have tried to offer some policy advice as… Read More

Vacationing in Newport Beach this week (where else would a Republican stuck living in Ron Dellums-Barbara Lee’s backyard go on vacation?), we had dinner last night with some SoCal friends when one of them asked what we thought of the governor. This friend was no fan of the governator when I was cheering on Schwarzenegger’s candidacy in the recall election. To my "I’m in the anyone-but-Phil-so-I’m-going-to-hold-my-nose-and-vote camp," I got a big (and deserved) "I told you so." I said that while I knew that the governor was no Ronald Reagan, I thought he was more of a Chamber-of-Commerce Republican. And he was–the first two years in office. But this morning’s news on the minimum wage rate increase convinces me that the California Republicans are going to help re-elect Schwarzenegger to office and spend the next four years wondering what we did to ourselves.

I don’t really blame the governor. He is a product of Hollywood and, it seems to me, values making a deal and keeping the press and Maria happy over sticking to GOP values. But since this is his first elected office, we had no idea how… Read More

I will be hosting for Fresno based Ray Appleton today from 12:00 – 2:00 pm on Newstalk 580. Topics will include the Governor’s race, Political Misery and more. Tune in.

Also, I had the following letter published in the Wall Street Journal today:

LETTERS The Lamont Wing Is a Threat to Security

Gen. Wesley Clark could not be more mistaken in his argument that "The truth is that Democrats are as patriotic as Republicans, want a strong and secure America, and like every other American, want to trust the president and his team on national security issues" ("A Judgment on Iraq," editorial page, Aug. 10). The result wasn’t a judgment on Iraq. I have seen absolutely no evidence that the left wing of the Democratic Party remotely approaches anything patriotic, or that it wants a secure America, or that it will trust the president on national security issues. The left, seething with hatred, is breathtakingly weak on national security matters and hides behind feckless organizations like the U.N. at every turn. Leftists openly root for our defeat in international affairs and mockingly criticize our… Read More

Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. I came home on Sunday from the State GOP Convention all pumped up for the Fall elections. The Governor’s speech was great, and really fired me up. The Governor asked the audience, "What do we say to more government control?" The audience answered with a resounding "NO!" Well, by agreeing to hike the mandated wage that California businesses, large and small, must pay employees, the Governor has said a resounding "YES" to more government control. And that is exactly what has happenned – as Arnold Scharzenegger, without the support of our GOP legislative caucuses, has cut a deal with legislative Democrats to impose more government control on all California employers. His support for hiking the minimum wage (to the highest in the nation) strikes right at the heart of those who believe that the size and scope and regulatory authority of government is too vast, and that at risk is the liberty of all Californians. This… Read More

Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. I came home on Sunday from the State GOP Convention all pumped up for the Fall elections. The Governor’s speech was great, and really fired me up. The Governor asked the audience, "What do we say to more government control?" The audience answered with a resounding "NO!" Well, by agreeing to hike the mandated wage that California businesses, large and small, must pay employees, the Governor has said a resounding "YES" to more government control. And that is exactly what has happenned – as Arnold Scharzenegger, without the support of our GOP legislative caucuses, has cut a deal with legislative Democrats to impose more government control on all California employers. His support for hiking the minimum wage (to the highest in the nation) strikes right at the heart of those who believe that the size and scope and regulatory authority of government is too vast, and that at risk is the liberty of all Californians. This… Read More

The California Republican Party Chairman, Duf Sundheim, has his own blog, and here is his official post-convention ‘pep-talk’ to the troops: Shortly after the Recall, I was asked whether the Recall marked a turning point in California politics. I said it was either a turning point or an aberration, depending upon where we went from here. By reelecting Governor Schwarzenegger and winning down ballot races in 2006, we will demonstrate that the Recall election of 2003 was The turning point. That is why… Read More