People all across California (and America) are anxious for information about the McClintock/Brown race. Today, Tom’s lead increased to 889 votes.

I spent the entire day at the Placer County Registrar of Voters, observing the ballot counting. It’s a slow, tedious process and can certainly be boring. But I will say that I’ve never been prouder of my local election officials. They take every precaution to ensure every vote is counted. Even in races that aren’t closely contested, each vote is considered extremely important. Until today, I had no idea that every absentee signature is scrutinized, the integrity of the ballots makes them untouchable by anyone other than a select few, and voter intent is paramount. Some voters are actually called if their signature is slightly off, or if there is any suspicion of fraud.

While I’m proud of my local elections officials, there are some in other areas that have been less impressive. I’ve heard some horror stories from other areas in the 4th CD—and in a close election like this one, tensions are high. As Assemblyman LaMalfa mentioned last night, the Democrat lawyers have descended upon the 4th CD and they are… Read More

The following is a Guest Commentary just received from Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform…

Your Governor can beat up Sarah Palin, but Sarah Palin is smarter than your Governor By Grover Norquist

Only 6 months into the new fiscal year, the Democrats in the California State legislature have spent $11 billion more next year than they had planned to take from taxpayers. This, Governor Schwarzenegger explains is our problem. We have failed to pony up the $11 billion.

In fact, this is the state legislature’s own problem. They are spending too… Read More

I know that this blog is generally supposed to focus on California politics but I wanted to pass along a column by John Kass, the right-of-center columnist for the Chicago Tribune. My mother grew up in Chicago and, for a time, I lived in Illinois and covered the statehouse for the Springfield Journal-Register. Chicago is my favorite city in the country, but there is no question that it is one of the most corrupt cities in the nation (althoughI won’t deny that it is cleaner, prettier and more pleasant to visit thanmost CA cities).Kass is constantly shining a light on the questionable ethics of Mayor Richard Daley, his family and other Chicago politicos. Here’s Kass’ take on President-elect Obama’s pick of Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff: Emanuel pick shows change is a state of mind.

… Read More

Last Tuesday’s election was a terrible one for the Republican Party nationally. By a wide electoral vote margin, and a sizable chunk of the popular vote, liberal Democrat Barack Obama was elected President. In the U.S. Senate, Republicans lost at least five seats. House Republicans saw their number shrink by 20 seats. Clearly the message being delivered by Obama and Democrats across the country is resonating with a majority of American voters. And it is equally clear that the message of Republicans is clearly not attracting enough votes to translate to electoral victories.

As of today, the Grand Old Party stands at a crossroads. Why is the GOP losing “market share” amongst voters? Have we lost our way? What do we do now? What must the GOP do to once again be the majority party?

These are all critical questions, and must be the central theme for a serious discussion about where the GOP needs to go from… Read More

[Cross-posted from Red County/National Politics]

What is the difference between rats deserting a sinking ship, and anonymous McCain campaign leakers?

Rats can’t talk.

And another factor in the rats’ favor is they don’t point fingers and shift blame — they just bug out without a word.

The anonymous McCain staffers trying to blame their campaign’s failure on Sarah Palin could learn a thing or two from the rats.

The McCain campaign has no one to blame but itself, and the anonymous shanking of Gov. Palin dishonors Sen. McCain.

These leakers are behaving more like Daily Kos bloggers, not professionals, and they to face a few facts:

1) From the perspective of the Republican rank-and-file, the choice of Sarah Palin turned a funeral march into a real campaign. The grass roots were energized in a way they hadn’t been in years. Here in Orange County — the GOP heartland — volunteer headquarters were… Read More

Last Tuesday’s election was a terrible one for the Republican Party nationally. By a wide electoral vote margin, and a sizable chunk of the popular vote, liberal Democrat Barack Obama was elected President. In the U.S. Senate, Republicans lost at least five seats. House Republicans saw their number shrink by 20 seats. Clearly the message being delivered by Obama and Democrats across the country is resonating with a majority of American voters. And it is equally clear that the message of Republicans is clearly not attracting enough votes to translate to electoral victories.

As of today, the Grand Old Party stands at a crossroads. Why is the GOP losing “market share” amongst voters? Have we lost our way? What do we do now? What must the GOP do to once again be the majority party?

These are all critical questions, and must be the central theme for a serious discussion about where the GOP needs to go from… Read More

Two days after the election, and the vote counting continues here in the 4th CD. As of today, Tom McClintock is up 709 votes over Charlie Brown. There are still several thousand absentee and provisional ballots to count and it’s going slowly—election officials want to make sure they count accurately. I’ll post more updates on the vote count as the numbers come in…… Read More

Over lunch today, the "incoming" Assembly Republican class (which will apparently number 30) will gather over lunch to hold their biennial organizational meeting. Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines will be re-elected to lead his caucus — a strong statement from the GOPers that their resolve against raising taxes in Californians is still strong. In fact, according to our sources, Villines has made a rock-solid opposition to new taxes a cornerstone to his re-election pitch to his colleagues.

So the biggest question that may be resolved at lunchtime today will not be who will lead Assembly Republicans — but rather who will be Villines’ top Lieutenant going into the new legislative session. Since Villines ascended to his perch, his Caucus Chairman was Bob Huff, who has now been elected to the State Senate.

Unlike the post of Leader, which is elected by the caucus, the position of Caucus Chairman is "named" by the Leader. Who will Villines pick? Well, we here at the FlashReport have a pretty good idea… But, we make it a point, whenever possible, to NOT mettle into the specifics of intra-caucus politics.… Read More