It didn’t take long this morning before an inquisitive FR reader asked about my endorsement of Marco Rubio for U.S. Senate in Florida, and whether I am obliged to stay neutral in his showdown against liberal GOPer and Florida Governor Charlie Crist.

I checked in with the California Republican Party’s legal counsel on this very point. Bell assured me that the bylaws of the State GOP prohibit elected CRP Officers from endorsing in contested partisan primaries here in the Golden State — but do not keep us from endorsing Republicans in primaries outside of California.

Good to know!… Read More

[Cross-posted from RedCounty.com]

I’ve learned that Anaheim Councilwoman Lucille Kring visited the OCRegistrar of Voters office earlier this afternoon and pulled papers to run against Democratic incumbent Sen. Lou Correa in the 34th Senate District.

This is bad news for the vulnerable Correa, who was getting tantalizingly close to avoiding a real opponent in what promises to be the worst year for Democrats in a long, long time.

You can read the rest of the post here.… Read More

The race for California Governor "officially" now has a candidate – Steve Poizner. This morning the Insurance Commissioner filed his papers making his candidacy official. Courtesy of his campaign, here is some local MSM news television coverage of his filing…

… Read More

The speculation has lasted for several months whether appointed incumbent San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/Clerk David Butler would seek election in his own right.

Appointed by the Board of Supervisors last year after 25-year office holder Greg Smith resigned in late 2008, Butler offficially announced today he will run for the seat. Very officially. After all, what better way to get the word out than by letting County employees know through use of the publicly-owned email system?

His first campaign missive has established Butler’s efficiency! Why develop your own campaign distribution list, when the taxpayers’ system is already in place?

Okay, some might say that the message below from Butler doesn’t actually say anything akin to "Vote for me," or direct anyone to a campaign website. It could be construed aspertinent information for the office. Yet, it does include items for which he is taking credit, while titling them "Critical Long Term Projects," the implication clearly being they are important enough that Butler needs to continue to serve.

After the recent Walt Ekard flap over his email… Read More

One of the funny things in running for statewide office in California is that if you want to take advantage of the 250 word ballot statement that comes with accepting the expenditure limits under Prop 34 you have to do it prior to the filing deadline.

So if you still are planning to run for statewide office or Board of Equalization and you did not file your ballot statement with the Secretary of State by February 17th then you missed an opportunity to pay $25 a word to get your message out to every member of your own party in the state. It also makes me wonder what happens if you place the ballot statement and then don’t actually file for office.

If you are interested in reading the statements they are available for public review until March 15th. Read them here.

After looking at these a couple things jump out.

1) Senator Barbara Boxer claims to be helping small businesses thrive. That is just crazy.

2) Ted Costa paid $25 to have a one word ballot statement get sent out in his campaign for State Controller —- www.tedcosta.com.… Read More

One of the most anticipated races in the county this year (if not the most) is for San Diego County Sheriff, due to the "open seat" status resulting from the early departure of Sheriff Bill Kolender and the subsequent appointment of Bill Gore to the position by the Board of Supervisors.

At this point the race is being defined by the money trail, through December 31 of last year, focusing on the all important cash-on-hand category:

Jim Duffy, former Sheriff Department lieutenant and former chief of staff to Supervisor Ron Roberts-Raised (July-Dec 2009): $34,225 -Cash on Hand: $47,421 -Debt: 0

Bill Gore, appointed San Diego County Sheriff-Raised (July-Dec 2009): $103,488 -Cash on Hand: $111,981 -Debt: $35,886 (no personal loans)

Jay La Suer, former Department Undersheriff and retired 77th District Assemblyman-Raised (July-Dec 2009): $30,363 -Cash on Hand: $10,337 -Debt: 0

Bruce Ruff, retired Sheriff Department sergeant and three-time prior Sheriff candidate -Raised (July-Dec 2009): $5,300 -Cash on Hand: $942 -Debt: $8,000 (all personal… Read More

The soon-to-close winter Olympics have been fun to watch, though CPAC diverted my attention for a few days. I saw today that a Polish female skier won that nation’s first cross-country gold. It got me thinking……..

When I was a kid, it was fairly common for the grown-ups, especially when speaking to emigre in-laws, to refer to Europe as "the Old Country." This thinking was pervasive enough that it was not uncommon to see restaurants named "Old Europe." I think there was even a small chain with this name with a couple places in West L.A. I recall the great pea soup….

My grandfather was an emigre to California. He was born in Grodno, Poland, two centuries ago, when it was under Russian control. (It still is, though it has been tossed back-and-forth like Alsace-Lorraine). A Russian speaking, Russian citizen of ethnic Polish blood, and a Catholic, he moved to the Siberian maritime province when he was a teenager with his family, at a time in Russia when making that move was akin to "Go West, Young Man," in the U.S. He went to college at a Jesuit school in Shanghai, China. Then… Read More

The JP Morgan Chief warns in the UK Telegraph that California’s credit situation could be riskier that the disaster we are seeing in Greece. This of course is under the "leadership" of our great GOP Governor and the six consecutive horrendous budgets crafted by his crack finance team and agreed to by the Democrat leadership and stunningly compliant -and duped Republican leaders.

As the GOP heads into the State convention in a couple of weeks, I wonder how much the Party will have to say about the miserable performance of the Governor and Legislative leaders past.

Does anyone even remember the sales tax increase last Spring? The celebration of a budget that was a farce and a disaster from day 1 last year?

Voter registration numbers and fund raising are a key indicator of how State residents think about both political parties. We seem to be all too ready to celebrate failures of Obama / Pelosi and Reid without thinking of how those failures will actually translate into… Read More