8:30 am Update: Here is the Fox News take. See Jim Lacy’s blog post here on FR as well.

From the AP (click for the link)…

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that corporations may spend as freely as they like to support or oppose candidates for president and Congress, easing decades-old limits on business efforts to influence federal campaigns.

By a 5-4 vote, the court overturned a 20-year-old ruling that said companies can be prohibited from using money from their general treasuries to produce and run their own campaign ads. The decision, which almost certainly will also allow labor unions to participate more freely in campaigns, threatens similar limits imposed by 24 states.

It leaves in place a prohibition on direct contributions to candidates from corporations and unions.

Critics of the stricter limits have argued that they amount to an… Read More

For those with a chunk of time to watch what was an amazing speech, here is the video of Orange County Republican Party Chairman Scott Baugh giving his speech about the future of the GOP and of the nation, filmed last Monday night by yours truly… Big kudos to Rhonda Rohrabacher for getting it up online!

Chairman Scott Baugh from OCGOP on Vimeo.

From today’s WSJ Political Diary E-mail… … Read More

In just a few weeks, candidates who will appear on the ballot in the upcoming June, 2010 primary election in California will submit their paperwork to the various county elections officials across the state, officially declaring their candidacies, and they will submit their names and proposed ballot designations for the ballot. In some cases they may also be allowed to pay for a short "candidate statement" to appear in the advance ballot materials sent to all voters.

In California, a candidate is allowed to have their name, including a "nick-name," and up to three words describing the "principal" "profession, vocation, or occupation" printed on the ballot. Incumbents get additional words if they want, describing the official title they hold. There is sometimes litigation over whether the chosen "profession, vocation, or occupation" of the candidate is a "principal" endeavor, since the underlying requirement of the name and ballot designation is that it must not be misleading to the voter. Sometimes there is even litigation over whether the candidate’s name is misleading or not. The… Read More

UPDATE: 12:30PM — The transition from Assembly Republican Leader Blakeslee to Martin Garrick will take place in early February.

Just moments ago the Assembly Republican Caucus members gathered in the State Capitol and elected Assemblyman Martin Garrick (of San Diego County) to be their new leader.

Joining Garrick in leadership of the Assembly Republican Caucus will be Assemblywoman Connie Conway, who will serve as caucus Chairman.

As the story… Read More

After listening to a clip (thanks www.calcliptv.com ) of the hearing on Assemblyman Logue’s bill to suspend the state’s Anti-Global Warming Act (AB 32) until the economy is better, I am convinced that there is no more perfect issue for politicians than global warming. Strike that –than global climate change. Now strike that — than man-induced global climate change. Unlike early childhood education programs where you have to wait 13 years to measure if they worked or not, with the man-induced global climate change issue you will have to wait a century or two to know who was right. No politician voting today will ever be held accountable for being wrong on this issue.

It is really a faith-based issue. One side places their faith in the principle that man has caused a terrible problem that the planet is unable to accommodate, and that man must fix it. The other side places their faith in a planet that has absorbed planet-wide catastrophes in the past and will continue to do so in the future. Science is being used by both sides to justify conclusions, but in reality legislators’ positions are more… Read More

For the first time in three decades, Massachusetts has a Republican U.S. Senator. Awesome. A fine 'tribute' to scoundrel former Senator Ted Kennedy!… Read More

I caught up with Assemblyman and U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore as well as Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel in the heart of the State Capitol. DeVore had a lot to say about his experiences making GOTV calls for Scott Brown, the now U.S. Senator-Elect for Massachusetts…

… Read More