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

Yesterday the Poizner for Governor campaign held a press conference via telephone to share their news with reporters (and some bloggers that at least included the CalBuzz boys and yours truly) where they paraded out the principals of their very reputable polling firm, Public Opinion Strategies, to announce that their poll shows that the GOP primary campaign has closed to a ten point race, with Whitman at 38%, Poizner at 28% and the very large remainder of voters being undecided.

Being that this is an internal poll, there is a tendency for those of us who are not affiliated with either campaign to perhaps want to wait for a the next non-candidate sponsored statewide poll to come out. Sacramento Bee reporter John Chang on the conference call even brought this point up. That said, I decided to do some nosing around and I was able to confirm, from solid sources, two other statewide surveys that show this race even closer — in single digits! I was told about a… Read More

FR friend Steve Ding, who is working hard to elect his friend and former boss Richard Pombo to Congress in CD 19 this June (it’s all about the primary in this seat where George Radanovich is retiring) sent me some of the mail pieces that Pombo has dropped. So I thought I would share them. Pombo is in a heated primary with two other credible candidates — Jim Patterson, the former Mayor of Fresno, and State Senator Jeff Denham).

Here are the mailers… (Click on each to see large version.)… Read More

Yes, I know, it’s become cliché but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply.

The 43rd Assembly District, which includes Glendale and Burbank, has not been held by a Republican since my former boss, Jim Rogan, left the seat for Congress in 1996. Rogan was elected in a special election succeeding former Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan. In those years, this seat was a bedrock Republican district but an influx of new Americans, primarily Armenian and Latino, have changed the demographics and ideological bent of the district. Additionally, this has become a bedroom community for entertainment industry workers who also sit on the left of the political spectrum.

Today, the district is 2-1 Democrat with another quarter of voters decline-to-state. On the surface, Republicans should not be in the game here but due to a special election triggered by incumbent Paul Krekorian’s election to the L.A. City Council, we have a very unique opportunity.

On April 13th, Republican Sunder… Read More

Yes, I know, it’s become cliché but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply.

The 43rd Assembly District, which includes Glendale and Burbank, has not been held by a Republican since my former boss, Jim Rogan, left the seat for Congress in 1996. Rogan was elected in a special election succeeding former Assembly GOP Leader Pat Nolan. In those years, this seat was a bedrock Republican district but an influx of new Americans, primarily Armenian and Latino, have changed the demographics and ideological bent of the district. Additionally, this has become a bedroom community for entertainment industry workers who also sit on the left of the political spectrum.

Today, the district is 2-1 Democrat with another quarter of voters decline-to-state. On the surface, Republicans should not be in the game here but due to a special election triggered by incumbent Paul Krekorian’s election to the L.A. City Council, we have a very unique opportunity.… Read More

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

Capitol Alert is reporting that the measure sponsored by Republican Party activist Charles Munger, Jr., to take redistricting out of the hands of the Democrats in Sacramento, and instead put that process under the jurisdiction of the new citizens redistricting commission has qualified for the ballot.

This is great news — especially for Republicans in California. If the Democrats continue to drive the process of Congressional redistricting, they will continue to draw many safe seats to re-elect themselves, and quite possibly carve some current GOPers out of their seats. What would that mean? Few Members of Congress to stand tall against Obamacare, to fight off Cap and Tax, and of course fewer advocates of core principles like the Right To Life.

Munger really deserves a lot of praise as he has really championed this effort — putting vast amounts of money into it (Munger’s father, Charles Munger, Sr., is the longtime partner of Warren Buffet). In addition to pushing this measure to benefit Republicans statewide, Munger is actively engaged not… Read More