I do a fair amount of Independent Expenditure work in California. Often times my clients make more resources available to shape a race than the candidates have available to them. You can thank the intersection of campaign finance reform and the 1st Amendment for that.

This time of year we are all waiting for the voting to start. During the next week we will see what sort of efforts third parties will make to elect or defeat candidates. That is why many of us are looking at the Secretary of State’s website each day for information about committees being formed and expenditures being reported.

So here is my rub.

If someone like me wants to help a campaign like yours — then meet me half way. I can’t call you. I can’t e-mail you. I won’t even return your calls or e-mails.

Most of the time I’m depending on your campaign website to guide me to where the race is going. I’m looking for pictures, themes, logos, examples of your mail, sources for quotes, all that stuff.

Two years ago a client wanted to help in an Assembly race. I could not find a good picture of the candidate anywhere. I had to… Read More

Thursday evening I had the opportunity to attend the taping of the U.S. Senate Republican primary debate. The hour-long debate will air on ABC affiliates throughout the state on Sunday, May 9th. As far as I know, this is the only scheduled television debate with all three candidates before the primary election on June 8th.

Held at the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, the debate was moderated by Los Angeles ABC anchor Mark Brown. Since readers can watch the debate themselves this weekend, I won’t go into detail about what took place. Although, I live tweeted the entire debate that evening. I will offer a few insights on the general response from the audience (mostly filled with campaign supporters for the respective campaigns), and share some of the feedback I encountered immediately following the debate.

Each of the candidates stuck to their strengths as they squared off. Tom Campbell, ever the professor, provided detailed policy answers to each question. I heard those around murmuring about how knowledgeable he is, and how he always comes across as an expert on technical policy issues.

Chuck DeVore… Read More

Yesterday former Alaska Governor and GOP Vice Presidential nominee turned national grassroots conservative phenomenon Sarah Palin endorsed the candidacy of Carly Fiorina for United States Senate.

This endorsement is a big boost to Fiorina’s candidacy amongst conservatives — and is a significant blow to the campaign of Chuck DeVore. Fiorina has been striving hard to make the case to voters that she is a conservative candidate — but there is no doubt that she is not as conservative as one of her opponents, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. Of course, Tom Campbell completely occupies the moderate end of the GOP spectrum, based on his record on fiscal and social issues.

One of the key necessities of a DeVore primary victory is to paint Fiorina as more of a moderate, and there is no doubt that a Palin endorsement of Fiorina makes that task significantly more challenging.

The DeVore campaign did respond to Palin’s endorsement which you can check out… Read More

Apparently Riverside County District Attorney Rod Pacheco (the former Assembly Republican Leader) is in the midst of a pretty serious re-election challenge from a conservative Superior Court Judge and former County Prosecutor Paul Zellerbach. Check out the message that Zellerbach is pushing out to voters — ouch!

… Read More

OK, having been "cast" by my friend and fellow FR blogger Jim Battin in previous JibJab online movie productions, it’s my turn to return the favor…

So we present to you The Empire Strikes Back starring…

As Han Solo — Supervisor John Benoit… As Princess Leia Organa — Congresswoman Mary Bono Mack… As Lando Calrissian — Gary Jeandron and… in his starring role… As Luke Skywalker — Jim Battin!

(Our apologies to Jim’s Coachella Valley neighbors for being cast in this feature, but if it goes viral, maybe there will be residuals!)

The link to the short movie is under this outstanding screen shot of it’s star…

LINK TO THE MOVIE… Read More

This just in from Assemblyman Joel Anderson… If you are in the San Diego area — you’re help is needed TOMORROW… Note: See this column from Assemblyman Jim Neilsen that also appears on the FlashReport today for more information, as well as information on other events besides the San Diego one detailed below. Assemblyman Anderson Issues Taxpayer Call to Arms! … Read More

I just got off of the phone from a "media" conference call with the Carly Fiorina campaign team — the call was hosted by Fiorina’s top campaign strategist Marty Wilson, and her media strategist Fred Davis — with some insightful tid bits from Judie Soderlund as well.

Marty Wilson opened by saying that the campaign had reached the "finally" phase — in that with a month to go, with a large number of undecided voters, it is finally time for the voters to be able to get introduced to Carly Fiorina through an aggressive voter contact campaign.

Marty said that the campaign would be focused on the "three M’s" – Momentum, Message, Messengers…

Momentum Great debate performance — Carly has the, "policy and intellectual chops to go up against our primary… Read More

Whitman Campaign Senior Advisor Rob Stutzman (pictured) just held a "starring role" in a telephone conference call with "media" (co-starring Whitman Comms Director Tucker Bounds where they talked about a new media buy by the California Democrat Party — which has purchased $800,000 of television time over the next four days.

While as of this moment the CDP has not yet released these ads online, and they have not yet appeared on television, the Whitman campaign has seen the piece (via the stations who have received it) and Stutzman characterized the ad as a, "Goldmach Sachs hit."

Stutzman went on to say that, "This is proof positive that the unions are intent on influencing the Republican Primary. Proof that they fear Meg Whitman as the only real… Read More