I'm happy to be at a luncheon today at Morton's Steakhouse in Anaheim in support of USA Volleyball. The Mens team has been training in Anaheim since 2005 and last year the Womens team relocated here from Colorado Springs. I have never felt so… short! It's pretty cool that so many of the players are sporting Olympic Gold Medals!

FR readers will recognize two of the major forces behind USA Volleyball here in the OC. One is Mike Schroeder, the former State GOP Chairman, who has headed up the fundraising efforts to make things viable — and the other is Anaheim Mayor and former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle.

I'm already anxious to head off to the 2012 Games in London to watch both teams compete — and hopefully bring home the Gold!… Read More

Though the "Roberts" Supreme Court operates on the meaty decisions largely by 5-4 votes, what great votes they are!

Our publisher made sure we reviewed the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the justices decided that a local Federal court sanctioned removal of an eight-foot-tall cross on a Mojave Desert hilltop as a memorial to fallen World War I service members, was probably illegal.

The case, known as Salazar v. Buono, began when a former National Park Service employee, Frank Buono, filed a lawsuit challenging the location of the cross on public land within California’s Mojave National Preserve. The suit said the presence of the cross on federal land violated the First Amendment’s prohibition on government endorsement of religion. A federal judge and federal appeals court panel agreed and ordered the cross removed. But on Wednesday, the Robert’s court, the same court that has upheld First Amendment rights against undue government control of the election process, reversed that decision and told the Federal judge to start over! Justice… Read More

This just in from Matt Rexroad over at the Andy Pugno for Assembly campaign. My loooongtime friend Andy (we go back to our College Republican days together) is the front-runner in the GOP primary in the 5th Assembly District (where Roger Niello is termed out) in the Sacramento area. It is an interesting memo from Pugno’s pollster, the respected Gary Lawrence… The significant an important message in this memo is that Pugno is well ahead of any of the Democrats whom he may face this November…

TO: Andy Pugno FROM: Gary Lawrence RE: Survey Results DATE: April 27, 2010… Read More

Someone called the 1992 elections the "Year of the Woman" — but it would be more accurate that ’92 was the election of the pro-abortion women. In response to a year when a lot of female candidates who to not respect the Right to Life were elected, the Susan B. Anthony List was formed as national pro-life organization committed to elected pro-life women to office.

The Susan B. Anthony List has announced their endorsement of Carly Fiorina in the U.S. Senate primary here in California.

Of course, Fiorina has two primary opponents, neither of whom could qualify to get the List’s endorsement. Campbell, of course, is pro-abortion and does not respect the Right To Life. DeVore, who is staunchy pro-life, is not a woman!… Read More

Consultants Dave Gilliard and Carlos Rodriguez, in this commercial for their client Jeff Denham, are taking a big stick to Denham’s primary opponent, former Congressman Richard Pombo. Back when he was in Congress Pombo took some flack for taking a motor home on the road to visit many of America’s National Parks (he was Chairman of the House Committee with jurisdiction over the National Park Service). Anyways, the ad speaks for itself… (there is a slight pause before the video starts)

… Read More

I am struggling to try and praise Governor Schwarzenegger for his apparent decision to call a special election this summer to fill the vacant Senate Seat of Abel Maldonado, as opposed to consolidating that election with the general election in November (he has the latitude to due either). But I prepared to do just that, but let me start first by "setting the table" appropriately.

First and foremost, I really can’t think of anyone worse who is a registered Republican whom Governor Schwarzenegger could have tapped to be Lt. Governor. The Governor may not see it that way since a lot of the reasons why I have issues with Maldonado also apply to the Governor — most notably there is a special place reserved in you-know-where for Republicans who campaign and get elected (or re-elected) on solid GOP principles like limited government, opposition to higher taxes, and promotion of individual freedom and liberty — and proceed to then use their offices to do the opposite — expand government, raise taxes, and make policy decisions that erode individual freedom and liberty. That is what we got with Abel Maldonado — so a special "no… Read More

Many of you have been following the race here in the Central Valley to succeed retiring member of Congress George Radanovich,in California’s 19th Congressional District There are four candidates in this primary, and until now, I have been undecided about who to support. I like and respect each of the men running, and at different times have supported each of them for public office.

In sizing up the race, I would say we have the "annointed" candidate, the "farmer" candidate, the "unlikely" candidate, and the "grassroots" candidate. Let me explain as follows:

State Senator Jeff Denham was asked by George Radanovich to run to succeed him. The Central Valley’s Westside farmers and Congressman Devin Nunes jumped early on former Congressman Richard Pombo’s bandwagon, City Council Member Larry Westerlund shocked everyone by getting into this race as an unknown outsider, and former Fresno Mayor Jim Patterson… Read More

The Whitman for Governor campaign has started to air their 30 minute "infomercial" which clearly is being aired as an advertisement for Whitman’s campaign. The style of the advertisement is to place the candidate, Whitman, in a "townhall style" environment, where she is meeting new people (presumably the voter at home can empathize as someone also trying to get to know the candidate). There was a dust up a couple of months back during the taping of this event because everything is staged, and someone had a video camera and caught candid moments of the coaching of the "actors" (supporters) in the spot. I didn’t devote a whole lot of time to this back when it happened because I found it to be largely a non issue. Why would a candidate tape their own advertisement and do so in an unpredictable, dynamic environment? I don’t know anyone who films a campaign commercial, whether 30 seconds or 30 minutes, that doesn’t completely control every word said from front to end.

Okay, that said, the Poizner campaign put together a short web video (we try to bring all… Read More