INSURANCE COMMISSIONER ’06 STEVE POIZNER – A STRONG OPPORTUNITY FOR THE GOP Last election day, John Kraft received 617,443 votes. Who is John Kraft? No this isn’t a takeoff from my favorite Ayn Rand novel. John Kraft was a Democratic candidate for State Insurance Commissioner. Kraft received nearly a third of the votes for this office as a virtually unknown candidate who, according to the Secretary of State’s webpage, didn’t even raise the funds required to file a campaign report — which is like $1,000. Well, the real story behind Kraft is not who is he — but rather, who he is… Read More

With speculation swirling around a possible Arnold endorsement of Democrat Dianne Feinstein, Retired State Senator has decided to let the Governor know he is willing and ready to "….fight the liberal policies of Dianne Feinstein, Phil Angelides and others of the far left. "

The Governor should be embracing every nominee of the party. After all aren’t a "Big Tent"?

Read the Mountjoy letter below.… Read More

Long-time readers will recognize this as the third installment of my timetable for driving from here to there in California. Statewide race handlers take note! This trip started on a Friday around 10:10 in downtown San Diego, and ended up in downtown Sacramento around 5:50. To keep this series fresh, I have decided to also add temperature.

As mentioned me, my wife Valerie, and our 2 year old daughter Oncy (Ella) left downtown San Diego at 10:10am, driving north on the 5. It was a comfortable and overcast 68 degrees.

At 11:10 we drove through Irvine, jumping on the 405 for a change of pace. No traffic to speak of. 68 degrees. SAN DIEGO TO IRVINE 1 HOUR.

Around 12:10 we passed the Getty Museum. We did run into traffic around LAX, but nothing to cut your head off over. 75 degrees. IRVINE TO WEST LA 1 HOUR.

It was 1:30 by the time we got to Bakersfield via the 99 (the 5 may be a couple minutes faster, but it’s so boring I’d rather take the 99), and a dreadfully hot 95 degrees. We stopped for a bit to fill up the gas tank (heretofore we’d used half a tank), and to pick up some food at Carl’s Jr. Combined I estimate we… Read More

As most FR readers know, I am not one to post press releases sent to me verbatim. Usually the releases aren’t too notable, or if they are, the downside of printing a release is it seems to exponentially increase the number of press releases SPAMed to me. But that said, if anyone needed a reminder of exactly how much PHIL ANGELIDES LOVES TAX INCREASES, you have to take a read on this info (yes, courtesy of a Schwarzenegger Campaign press release). At least Angelides is consistent — he wants to raise taxes on everything and on everyone! Angelides Promises $10 Billion Tax Increase

Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association: Angelides’ "Promises Would Necessitate Tax Increases Exceeding $10 Billion And Even That Figure Is Probably Low." "We have a real problem with the fact that Mr. Angelides’ promises… Read More

The makeup of the Assembly Republican Caucus, which has already been fairly conservative, will be taking a slight shift even more to the right after the new 11-member Freshman class is sworn in this December. Thanks to theatrocious ‘incumbent protection plan’ adopted by the legislature earlier in the decade, almost all of California’s 80 Assembly Districts are not competitive – drawn to either elect a Democrat (which is most of the districts) or a Republican. There are 32 members of the Assembly that are GOPers right now. And if we look at the Republicans who one the party nomination in the 11 seats where the incumbents either did not or could not run for re-election, it isn’t hard to see where I am coming from: Conservatives being replaced by conservatives – in these five districts, the ideology of the new nominee virtually mirrors that of the retiring legislator.

The makeup of the Assembly Republican Caucus, which has already been fairly conservative, will be taking a slight shift even more to the right after the new 11-member Freshman class is sworn in this December. Thanks to theatrocious ‘incumbent protection plan’ adopted by the legislature earlier in the decade, almost all of California’s 80 Assembly Districts are not competitive – drawn to either elect a Democrat (which is most of the districts) or a Republican. There are 32 members of the Assembly that are GOPers right now. And if we look at the Republicans who one the party nomination in the 11 seats where the incumbents either did not or could not run for re-election, it isn’t hard to see where I am coming from: Conservatives being replaced by conservatives – in these five districts, the ideology of the new nominee virtually mirrors that of the retiring legislator.

The Schwarzenegger campaign opened the general election with a low-key but potentially destructive television commercial charging that Phil Angelides would raise taxes by ten billion dollars. Angelides’ people fought back by arguing that their man will only raise taxes by $5 billion. Something tells me that this is a debate that Team Arnold is willing to have over the next several months.

However, the ad was framed as a question of taking California "backwards". It referred specifically to "a time we never want to see again . when soaring taxes forced jobs and businesses to flee our state…" The reporters covering the announcement immediately began pressing to find out when this particular time existed, pointing out that Gray Davis’ only significant tax increase had been the $4 billion vehicle license fee that Schwarzeneger repealed several weeks after it was implemented.

Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt denied that the ad was referring to former Pete… Read More

Issue Poses a Challenge For Schwarzenegger, Who Seeks Inroads With Latinos By CHRISTOPHER COOPER Wall Street Journal – June 12, 2006;PageA4

REDDING, Calif. — Pacing before a circle of supporters in this northern California city, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger trotted out a slightly romanticized story of a young Austrian who arrived… Read More