On April 17th, Assemblyman George Plescia will assume the leadership of a unified Assembly Republican Caucus. Since his unanimous selection by his colleagues over a month ago, there has been a lot of ‘inside the building’ wondering about his leadership team. With Kevin McCarthy stepping down as leader to focus his attention on his race for Congress, also stepping aside is his Lieutenant, Assemblyman Russ Bogh, who has served as Chairman of the Assembly Republican Caucus.

In just a little while, the office of Assembly Republican Leader-elect George Plescia will name conservative San Juaquin Valley Republican Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian to to key post of Caucus Chairman. In this role, Aghazarian will become Plescia’s #1 "go to" guy for all matters dealing with his fellow GOP Assemblymembers.

Aghazarian, who is well liked among his colleagues, was early-on looked at as a possible candidate for Assembly Leader himself. Aghazarian was first election in 2002, and has long been a… Read More

Any experienced participants or observers of politics know that watching the last-minute mail pieces that come out in the final days of a campaign is kinda like watching the commercials during the Superbowl – they are the most amazing and outrageous pieces of all. Especially right towards the end when candidates who are attacked don’t have time to respond.

The attached mail piece is a stinking attack on conservative businessman Eric Roach who is one of the leading candidates in the GOP donnybrook to replace the disgraced and imprisoned Duke Cunningham. Roach is making a big splash, spending millons of dollars to run a targeted campaign in a crowded field. You can read my take on Roach here.

That said, the mail piece that is attached below is a great reminder to anyone thinking about running for office – don’t forget to vote! You never know when it will come back at you — in this case, in full color!

Bilbray roasts Roach on missing a couple of elections, as well as trying to make him out to be a carpetbagger from San Francisco and more.… Read More

I’m not touting it, advocating for it, criticizing it, or analyzing its credibility…just posting it:

Friday Datamar Survey 50th Congressional District Special Election Roach And Bilbray In Tight Fight For Second Busby In Lead At 39% See it here.

I understand that Roger Hedgecock just endorsed former NFLer Scott Turner in the 50th race. Scott is absolutely a rising star in GOP politics, but Congress is not awaiting him this go round. A noble endorsement on Roger’s part, but one that will have no impact on the outcome.… Read More

The LA Times is reporting today that Anaheim Councilman Harry Sidhu is considering a run against first-term mayor Curt Pringle. While I am happy to have been quoted in the article, I think the reporter had very little to go on and it should have been more about an internal policy disagreement rather and a potential political battle.

The fact is you can’t find anyone besides Harry Sidhu himself who thinks he should run or has even heard he is interested in running. The quote of mine they didn’t print was, "No one past, present or future could beat Pringle in November."

I really believe Sidhu (to who’s campaign I am a donor) made a big error in mixing policy with politics here. His disagreement with his colleagues (Anaheim has a five member council including a directly elected mayor) over stadium deals and land sales and whatever else on the council agenda is fair game. Those battles are won and lost in a game we call: can you count to three?

Clearly Harry cannot.

Don’t get me wrong, using the… Read More

Just received a "FlashFax Alert" from Hedgecock producer Jimmy Valentine saying that Roger will endorse a candidate in the 50th CD special Friday on the radio. As close as this race will be, that’s big news.

Most polling — like it or not — is showing a statistical dead heat between Bilbray, Kaloogian and Eric Roach. Watchers are awaiting newpolling data, and some aresaying that Roach may have the momentum and stamina to pull this thing off. I can’t disagree…completely. However, new polling will tell if Brian’s counter-strikes are having any kind of negative impact on Howard and Roach.

Between the front runners, it has been assumed turnout and ground game will be the most significantdeciders. Add to that list…Hedgecock.

Some may laff, but I say not quite so fast. Low turnout, large number of GOP contenders, close election…the radio Mayor of SD could swing this election…if he selects someone actually… Read More

Yesterday, writing from rainy Sacramento, I commented that San Diego County School Boardmember Sue Hartley, a liberal Republican who spends much of every month poking a stick in the collective eyes of her largely Republican and conservative constituents, was under siege from everyone right of say Congressman Ted Kennedy. I posted that Hartley was desperately trying to lock down some support right of center in a district with a voting base considerably right of center. And I posted that I thought the Lincoln Club endorsement was a major part of any strategy ending in her survival. The rumor train today, confirmed from 3 sources, says the Lincoln Club PAC Committee voted to endorse Hartley’s Republican conservative opponent Gary Felien.

Stop the bus folks, we got ourselves a race.

I also hear Felien has hired John Hoy, former executive director of the California Republican Party and current political consultant, to run his race. Good pick.

One better, folks in attendance confirm that Sue Hartley repeated that she would be seeking the Republican Party endorsement. I’d be willing to take odds tonight that she does no such thing. And I’ll… Read More

Remember those protests of last week, where hundreds of thousands turned out to demonstrate against immigration reform proposals that include making it a felon to be in the U.S. illegally? Well, if you have forgotten them AND you live in the 35 State Senate District, Diane Harkey has sent you a reminder.

Click on the link below to view a .pdf of an exceptionally hard-hitting mailer that just dropped where voters are asked to thank Assemblyman Tom Harman for these protests. The connection? The piece highlights a Harman vote on legislation that apparently allowed illegal aliens the ability to get in-state tuition at California colleges…

Anyways, I found the piece to be notable less because of Harkey/Harman, and more because of the example of how current events can quickly find their way to into mail pieces.… Read More

Today, Schwarzenegger Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt (pictured) held a ‘pen and pad’ briefing for about 20 poltical reporters in Sacramento.

You can read a few different takes on that meeting from various reports in the blogosphere: The Sacramento Bee’s Dan Weintraub, the Los Angeles Weekly’s Bill Bradley, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci, and KQED’s John Myers. It’s actually kind of fun to compare what different folks took away from the briefing.

I found the most interesting part of Schmidt’s discussions to be about Susan Kennedy… Read More