Over on the San Francisco Chronicle’s Politics Blog, ace reporter Carla Marinucci is sharing that there is word out there that new polling shows that Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has significantly closed in on GOP gubernatorial front-runner Meg Whitman.

Here is what Marinucci has deduced thus far. Also in Marinucci’s piece is a new ad put out by the Whitman campaign, which we have embedded below.

The Poizner campaign is holding a 1:30pm press call (which FR will be on) to get more details…

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The Poizner Campaign has released a new survey, and here is their pre-spin and followed by the spin from the pollster… The Whitman Collapse Whitman’s Lead Shrinks to 10 points; Down to 5 in Targeted Markets Team Poizner today announced the latest internal polling showing Meg Whitman’s once 48 point lead down to just 10 points. The poll proves that Poizner’s messaging is moving numbers fast, while Whitman’s messages have been ineffective. Whitman’s 48 point lead has shrunk to five points in all markets outside of the San Francisco Bay Area. While Whitman has poured millions into television and radio in the San Francisco media market, Poizner has yet to launch his broadcast TV campaign there, but will soon.… Read More

This morning the California Pro-Life Council has released this statement exclusively to the FlashReport (well, for a few hours anyways) — it is an announcement concerning the United States Senate race taking place this year in California…

You have seen discussion of the CA Governor’s race in other places on this web site. Today we want to discuss the candidates and campaign for the U.S. Senate nomination to replace Barbara Boxer.. Months ago we were in an enviable position, both candidates were pro-life. Pro-life assemblyman Chuck Devore was running and Carly Fiorina, who had made public statements of being pro-life. What remained was assertaining just how real those commitments were. … Read More

Since we’re a website on California politics, I am not going to assume that all of our readers know that life-long Republican Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida and a candidate for United States Senate, in recent days announced his departure from the GOP, choosing to re-register as an independent to guarantee his presence as a candidate for the Senate this November. Crist, you see, had been the prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination – but his strong embrace of President Obama and some of his most liberal policies (most famously the TARP plan) on top of years of embracing his own form of populism that demonstrated a severe lack of defining ideology – made him very unpopular with Florida’s Republican voters. His former primary opponent, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a strong conservative, had been an underdog against Crist, but then as Rubio’s message spread, and Crist’s embrace of Obama (literally) became well know, Rubio shot way ahead to the point where Crist was sure to lose the GOP nomination – hence his decision to bail on the Republican Party all… Read More

This afternoon GOP legislators will have a start contrast available to them as they decide where to get their late afternoon munchies. You see, after his "inauguration" event this afternoon, Abel Maldonado is having a reception to celebrate his ascending to the state’s top most meaningless post. But at the very same time, the Lt. Governor campaign of conservative State Senator Sam Aanestad is having their own event.

FlashReport’s eyes and ears will be trolling about both events — and we’ll be interested to see who goes to which. Will legislators prioritize making an important statement about their primary choice? Or will they revert to what experts call "grazing" — where you go to all events, just to get as much food as possible.

Of course, if they attend the Maldonado inauguration, they may not have an appetite afterward so the "grazing" argument would be rendered moot.… Read More

Garrick Fights Against Raising Taxes on Working Californians* from CA Assembly GOP on Vimeo.… Read More

Welcome to "Whitman University" — this professionally created video highlighting a campaign appearance by GOP Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman yesterday in Diamond Bar is really an important reminder to everyone about the importance of protecting Proposition 13…

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Since we’re a website on California politics, I am not going to assume that all of our readers know that life-long Republican Charlie Crist, the Governor of Florida and a candidate for United States Senate, in recent days announced his departure from the GOP, choosing to re-register as an independent to guarantee his presence as a candidate for the Senate this November. Crist, you see, had been the prohibitive front-runner for the GOP nomination – but his strong embrace of President Obama and some of his most liberal policies (most famously the TARP plan) on top of years of embracing his own form of populism that demonstrated a severe lack of defining ideology – made him very unpopular with Florida’s Republican voters. His former primary opponent, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, a strong conservative, had been an underdog against Crist, but then as Rubio’s message spread, and Crist’s embrace of Obama (literally) became well know, Rubio shot way ahead to the point where Crist was sure to lose the GOP nomination – hence his decision to bail on the Republican Party all… Read More