Last year Michael Steele upset the Republican establishment as the first outsider in a generation to win election as Chairman of the Republican National Committee. Massive forces were aligned against Steele, but the harsh lessons of wholesale Republican repudiations of 2006 and 2008 helped propel Michael’s message.

The message from Steele? That for Republicans to win again, they must embrace and act conservative. We have valuable lessons to learn from the Tea Party movement. Depending on the Republican bulls in Congress could be fatal. Over the years, many RNC vendors grew rich over no-bid contracts. In fact, there still remains an RNC member who was paid over $1,000,000 from the RNC — who was a fierce opponent to Steele’s election. Chairman

Steele promised reforms. No more no-bid contracts. Old favored vendors would have to compete. The Establishment would have to move over and and re-invent themselves.… Read More

I still have not reviewed carefully all 185 pages, but the US Supreme Court issued the decision in Citizens United today by a 5-4 conservative majority vote and a lenthy dissent by John Paul Stevens. That means one thing: freedom and the First Anendment won! It appears corporations will no longer be banned from involvement in federal elections. More later……… 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

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

The surprise decision by Assemblyman Adams not to seek re-election to the 59th Assembly District has set off a scramble for the sprawling Los Angeles and San Bernardino County seat. The 59th District contains all or parts of the Eastern Los Angeles County communities of. Los Angeles County communities of Claremont, La Verne, Glendora, San Dimas, Sierra Madre, Monrovia, Bradbury, Arcadia and La Crescenta then suddenly goes north through the Angeles Forest and East into San Bernardino to take in the San Bernardino County communities of Apple Valley, Hesperia, Lake Arrowhead, Crestline, San Bernardino, Highland and Mentone. It is a district that makes the case for redistricting reform As a result the two sections really don’t have much in common. Except that many in the SB County portions grew up in the San Gabriel Valley. The first draft of this district in the 2000 reapportionment had it running along the 210 freeway into Upland to Rancho Cucamonga. The story goes that someone wanted to run for Assembly in those areas and didn’t want to challenge the incumbent Dennis Mountjoy. Next draft solved that problem and opened up a new 63rd… Read More

Word comes this morning that yesterday Meg Whitman's mother passed away. Our heart-felt prayers go out to the entire Whitman family during this time of loss.

Meg Whitman's mother, Margaret resided in Massachusetts, and was 89 years old.… Read More

In what was a not-so-great election year for Republicans in 2008, the election of Danny Gilmore to the Assembly in the Central Valley stuck out as a big win — a Republican pickup in a seat where Democrat Assemblywoman Nicole Parra had "termed out" after serving six years.

In what is perhaps the least unexpected announcement possible, as this has been "going around" the Capitol for some time now — after serving only one term, Gilmore will be retiring from office?

It goes without saying that this is not great news for Republicans, who would undoubtedly be in a stronger position "defending" this seat as opposed to what will now be a competition for an "open" seat.

Below is a release put out by Gilmore this morning, that also includes him endorsing a replacement for his seat.

Assemblyman Gilmore Announces Retirement… Read More