Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay permanently resigned as Majority Leader in a letter to House Republicans. DeLay’s announcement triggers leadership elections (to be called by the Speaker) that rumors have to be either Jan. 26, bringing Members back prior to President Bush’s Jan. 31 State of the Union speech or on Feb. 2. Either way, the Speaker will want to have this dealt with prior to the Feb. 9-11 GOP Conference retreat.

Ohio Rep. John Boehner, chairman of the Education & the Workforce Committee and Missouri Rep. Roy Blunt, Majority Whip and acting-Majority Leader are considered to be definite candidates to succeed DeLay. House Rules would not require Blunt to resign as Whip meaning he could continue in that capacity if he failed to win the Leader’s post.

RSC chairman Mike Pence of Indiana is rumored to be a candidate for… Read More

Fortunately for me, I grabbed the Canon Powershot Digital Camera before I flew to Sacramento. I did manage to snap a couple of fun pictures. On the left is me with recalled Governor Gray Davis, who was quite uninspiring. As luck would have it, I also got to meet Susan Kennedy, Governor Schwarzenegger’s new Chief of Staff (pictured below).

For a Democrat, I found her to be quite engaging and had a good sense of humor, all things considered. She was at first hesitant when I told her I would put this photo up on the FlashReport — but I told her that (for once) I would be tasteful and kind.

P.S. Speaking of photos, click through and scroll down to see an apoplectic Assemblyman Chuck DeVore responding to the Governor’s speech. Either… Read More

Today I had a very interesting conversation with my friend, Assemblyman Mark Wyland, in a hallway of the State Capitol. The Assemblyman wanted to complement me on the FlashReport website. Apparently he had not been aware of the FR until recently, let alone the fact his Chief of Staff, Duane Dichiara, isa contributor to this blog. Barry Jantz, our other San Diego contributor was with me when this conversation took place. Never one to shy away from embarrassing Duane (who never misses a chance to razzle his friends), I thought I would tell Duane about this on the blog. Barry pointed out that the Assemblyman (you know, the one who JUST started reading the FR) has a quote on the site. I asked Duane if he could… Read More

This morning, click here to read my co-commentary along with FR Contributor Barry Jantz. But as I compiled stories this morning from papers around the state and country on the Governor’s speech, I started to get frustrated as I read all of praise coming from liberal Democrats. Well, here are a few of the choice quotes, following by analysis from the Wall Street Journal that is worth a read.

Recalled Democrat Governor Gray Davis in the Orange County Register: "He gave the kind of speech I would like to have given." Democrat Speaker Fabian Nunez in the Washington Post: "He’s hitting all the Democratic notes in the song. There’s no question that his tone has changed dramatically."… Read More

An earlier post made two errors in a report about a conversation with Assemblyman Wyland in re this blog –

First, and least important, I’m not actually his Chief of Staff. I don’t work for the government. Since I did serve in that position for many years, this reporting error is somewhat understandable.

Second, I believe what Mr. Wyland may actually have been saying is he has not been reading the blog because he already hears far too many of my thrilling “insights” live.… Read More

Since I have been threatened by our editor to pick up the pace (see earlier yellow journalism)… here we go:

The brawl for control of the San Diego City Council is now in full swing. There are two seats that have been vacated because of the local “stripper-gate” scandal.

One seat, district 8, is fairly safe Democrat/machine. It is drawing fire, but mostly labor is just making sure that the next machine candidate is anointed.

The other seat is a bloodbath. Lorena Gonzalez (Bustamonte aide de camp) vs. Kevin Faulconer (local businessman). Disclaimer: Faulconer is a Coronado Communications client. We are talking something like 1.7 million total expenditures for a seat 1/3 the size of an Assembly District. Now nothing could be more entertaining to the average voter than a mailbox full during the holiday season, but there isn’t much option when the election is January 10th. My guess is between the GOP and labor there are 100 people on the ground every day as well… a real house to house battle.

What’s interesting is labor candidate Lorena Gonzalez is getting pummeled for her relationship with old Cruz Bustamonte.… Read More

Arnold Schwarzenegger is showman. He likes to thing big. REALLY BIG. (Think T1, T2, and T3). Running in a controversial recall election — big. In California – big. A complete overhaul of California – big. "Blowing up boxes" – big. A special election to take on the special interests – big. Now, "Mr. Hollywood" has come up with his BIGGEST idea yet…Massive spending (including bonds) to finance BIG state infrastructure needs. His proposal is SO BIG that we really should make the word big into like 50 point font. We’ll get to the big "strategic growth plan" in a moment. The point of talking about Schwarzenegger’s fascination with big things is that it might go a long way towards explaining why he is introducing such a BIG proposal… Jon and Barry met with… Read More

When I met Steve Schmidt in 1998, he was one of three very smart young Republican communications specialists working in California politics, all of whom were far too talented for their work environments. Like Rob Stutzman in Dan Lungren’s office and Nicolle Devenish at the Assembly Republican Caucus, Steve’s job on the Matt Fong for Senate campaign made him a rare bright spot in a tragically flawed political operation.

All three staffers had such superior political and messaging instincts to their colleagues that it was almost painful to watch them struggle to implement an inept strategic plan on a daily basis. Lungren and Fong were the frontmen for two of the worst-run and most strategicaly incoherent statewide campaigns in California history: both were political juggernauts when measured against the paralysis that had taken over the Assembly Republicans at that point in time. But the three young operatives not only survived their mediocre surroundings, but they all developed talents for political communications that have allowed them to achieve extraordinary successful careers in a field that has not historically been an area of Republican… Read More