Quote of the Day: “…if we can save money by adding 30 million people to our rolls, we need to go insure everybody in China and then we’ll be done with the deficit. This bill is a disaster."– Congressman Louie Gohmert (R-TX)

Sunday: It now appears that the earliest the Government -Run Healthcare vote will occur is Sunday afternoon. There is still strong bipartisan opposition. There is only single party support. As of now they do not have enough votes. Hopefully that will still be the case on Sunday. The President has again delayed his trip overseas to continue applying pressure on wavering Democrats. This is a change from his previous plan which was to have an Air Force jet fly him the bill in Indonesia to sign.

The Senate: We metyesterday morning with our Republican Senate Colleagues. They made it clear that they have 18 “points of order” that they can and will raise if a reconciliation bill makes it to the Senate. This will not enable them to kill the bill (it will pass with only 50 votes plus the Vice President) but they will significantly change it. So, any House Democrat cannot be… Read More

Welcome to the "spin room" as it were. The latest Rasmussen and Field Poll numbers are in (they are some of the many statewide surveys that are taken, showing snapshots of voter opinion at a given moment), and below is a memo sent from Meg Whitman’s public opinion consultants, John McLaughlin and David Hill, to one of her general consultants, Mike Murphy, outlining why they see the Field numbers as being great news for Whitman, terrible news for Steve Poizner, and very disturbing for Jerry Brown….

Memo To: Mike Murphy From: John McLaughlin and David Hill Date: March 18, 2010… Read More

It is the primary season in a year of Republican ascendancy. Conservatives have figured out that their fratricide of the last several years handed power over to the Democrats, and they have united (to a certain extent). That means that candidates have "seen the light," they have experienced their election year conversions, and all Republicans candidates are conservatives. They run commercials this time of year touting how conservative they are, how their opponents are not, and how they are going to implement [insert conservative agenda item here] when they get elected.

This year they will be elected. Whether they are running for Governor, Senator, Member of Congress, Legislator or other, they will be elected. As in 1994, they will suddenly have power.

However, for the last 16 years, many of these candidates have been sitting in their offices, their country clubs, their neighborhoods or in their homes, listening to the media, their friends, their office mates, or their business associates deride conservatives in office. They have been told how unreasonable conservatives are, how unrealistic they are, how important it is to work with liberals,… Read More

While House Democrats are plotting political gimmicks and backroom deals while vying for ‘yes’ votes on their health care bill, most Americans would be shocked and confused to learn that Democrats have included a plan – tied to the health care bill – to eliminate private-sector options for a government-managed direct student loan program.

In 1993, President Clinton expanded the government-operated direct loan program. While I didn’t support the move then, Republicans and Democrats aimed to strike a balance between government-controlled student loans and private loans. With this new super-Democrat majority, the days of negotiation have passed, and Democrats have made leaps towards a full government takeover of the student loan industry.

Not only are these two bills now being tied together in reconciliation, they also have eerily similar historic paths. Just as the Majority said they wanted to create a ‘government option’ for student loans, to only fully takeover the program years later; they are making the same claims about health care today. For Democrats, it starts with a call for a ‘government option,’ but make no mistake; the intent… Read More

At a campaign stop in Orange County on Wednesday, Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman unveiled a new policy document… Longtime FR friend Richard Costigan, who heads up the policy team for Whitman, fills in FR readers… Meg Whitman’s "Policy Agenda For Building A New California" By Richard Costigan Meg Whitman 2010 Deputy Campaign Manager, Director of Policy … Read More

Here’s an unbelievable story in the Sacramento Bee that looks at the various aspects of how government is trying to shake down Californians – even for 4 cents! And after they had already received a letter saying they were all good!

No wonder taxpayers are saying "enough is enough."… Read More

I strongly encourage FR readers to listen to this week’s California Republican Party podcast.

The first half of the podcast is devoted to discussing last weekend’s State GOP Convention. But the most important segment to discuss would be the second half of the show, where we talk about why Proposition 14, the "so called" Open Primary measure is very, very bad for all Californians.

CRP Chairman Ron Nehring hosts the program, and appearing with me as the other guest is Jennifer Jacobs.

You can listen to the podcast here. You can subscribe to the CRP’s weekly podcast on iTunes.… Read More

GOP Consultant/Strategist Marty Wilson (pictured) is driving things over at the Carly Fiorina for U.S. Senate Campaign. With the latest numbers out from the Field Poll, Wilson fired off an e-mail a few folks — one of whom sent a copy of it along to us. We thought, while protecting our source, we’d post it up for your perusal… From: Marty Wilson Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 To: XXXXXXXX… Read More