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

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

Part of winning an election is:" Who you are running against?" Metropolitan News-Enterprise has article about the one Los Angeles Superior Court Judge to draw a challenger.His nameDzintra Janavs.

Would you vote against him because of his name? I remember back in the early 90’s when Armand Arabain was appointed to the State Supreme Court by Deukmejian. He lost confirmation votes in some Republican precincts in the San Gabriel Valley, while the others were winning confirmation. The article alludes to the Murphy vs. Kahn race that happened out here as well. What’s in name? You be the judge.You can access the full article here.

OC Register editorialist Steve Greenhut has penned an excellent column in the Wall Street Journal on Anaheim’s freedom-friendly revolution inspired and led by Mayor Curt Pringle [full disclosure: I do some consulting work for Anaheim].

Greenhut’s column in a leading national publication focuses much-deserved attention on what Curt and his city council allies have accomplishes simply by embracing the free market, rather than trying to control and direct it. As Greenhut points out, most cities employ the latter approach — and their record of failure underscores the bankruptcy of that approach. However, city bureaucracies can become so addicted to the command-and-control approach to redevelopment that, like the classic definition of insanity, they keep trying the same thing over and over again and hoping for a different result.

The power of what is happening in Anaheim is it provides a concrete example of how quickly the free market can revitalize a city — and without the abuse, heavy-handedness and political alienation that follow in the wake of traditional… Read More

From the Associated Press….

Live round on desk blows off part of hand

VENTURA – A teacher who kept a 40mm round on his desk as a paperweight blew off part of his hand when he apparently used the object to try to squash a bug, authorities say.

The 5-inch-long round, which Robert Colla had found while hunting years ago, exploded Monday while Colla was teaching 20 to 25 students at an adult education class. Part of Colla’s right hand was severed and he suffered severe burns and minor shrapnel wounds to his forearms and torso, fire Capt. Tom Weinell said. No one else was injured. He was reported in stable condition at a hospital.… Read More

My blogmate Barry Jantz has written a few times about the antics of the ‘Republican’ majority on the San Diego County School Board. There are three Republicans on the County Board – Sue Hartley, John Witt, and Bob Watkins. Two of the three Republican members recently voted to appoint Democrat Sharon Jones to a vacant largely Republican east county based seat. Hartley and Witt joined the sole sitting Democrat member of the board in appointing the Democrat. Hartley was particularly smug about the appointment. Whether or not that Democrat will survive election is anyone’s guess… but I wouldn’t bet the farm on it.

But the story isn’t over. Liberal Republican Boardmember Sue Hartley represents a heavily Republican North County San Diego district. Four years ago, Hartley defeated a more conservative candidate in a fairly hot race. Whatever her merits on the policy issues the conservative had a shrill style that alienated much of the Republican and donor community. Time and time again the incumbent ignored issues that would have united her base, and focused on issues which divided them. Many if not most of the partisan officials,… Read More

Back in January of 2003 there was a friendly wager placed between then California Governor Gray Davis and Florida Governor Jeb Bush (pictured to the left) over the outcome of Superbowl XXXVII, a battle between the country’s top two football teams – the Oakland Raiders and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Of course, in that duel, the Raiders were spanked by the Bucs by a lopsided score of 48 – 21.

One of the items put up in that wager by… Read More