All morning long there has been a lot of drama over speculation of McCain’s pick for VEEP. Politico.com, a respected source, has declared that McCain has in-fact selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running more. Look for the latest at Politico.com.

Today’s announcement highlights the strategic advantage of having your convention be the latter one. For those who are curious, the tradition is that the party that currently holds the White House gets to have their convention last.… Read More

I am not always right on my predictions, but when I am, I drink a Dos XX. I predicted here more than six months ago that Mitt Romney’s best offer in a McCain Administration would be Secretary of Commerce. Keep thirsty my friends!… Read More

Yesterday I had an opportunity to spend 30 minute on the John and Ken program on KFI radio. If you get some time, I encourage you to listen to the audio of our segment, which you can access on their website here (6/28, 3 p.m. segment), or by clicking the attachment below. We spent our time lamenting the about-face of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, whom we all helped in both of his election campaigns, bolstered and motivated by his fierce campaign rhetoric opposing any tax increases. Of course, the Governor is now touting a multi-billion dollar sales tax increase as a responsible solution for our state’s overspending problems. Or to put it another way, the Governor feels that taxpayers should increase the amount of money that is fleeced from California taxpayers to continue to feed the massive spending that has been largely driven by the liberal Democrats who control the state legislature. That position is irresponsible.

The Governor is on the road, on his… Read More

I am sitting in the airport, waiting to return to the Philippines, where I hope to earn enough money to become a profit center for the state instead of a cost of doing business. On my way to the airport, I heard the Governor slam the Republican borrowing plan really hard, calling it "bad" and "how the state got into this trouble in the first place." First, he is wrong on how the state got into this trouble. This Governor got into this mess the same way the last Governor did, by refusing to stand up to a spendthrift majority in the Legislature. What is worse, he was warned, by me and by others, who saw this doom coming, and whom he dismissed as irrelevant. While it is true that we were irrelevant in those negotiations, it was only because he refused to listen to the prophets forecasting his impending doom. He now wants to shoot the messengers (to mix the metaphors), and cover up his failures and his lack of discipline by punishing the taxpayers of the state of California, instead of the tax receivers. Big government bureaucrats and government unions live off the taxpayer. They pushed the majority to enact the out-of-control spending over the… Read More

While a number of names are floating around out there as potential GOP candidates for California Governor in 2010, including former HP CEO Carly Fiorina, former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, former Congressman Tom Campbell and Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy, there has only been one individual who is taking the actions that demonstrate his interest has moved well beyond that of punditry. Not too long ago, we broke the news on this blog that Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner was actively in dialogue with top-flight GOP consultant Mike Murphy to play a lead strategy role in a run for Governor.

Well, this afternoon we have confirmed that Team Poizner has now brought on board the GOP powerhouse firm of Meridian Pacific to aide in these beginning stages of Poizner’s run.… Read More

Multiple people have told me that former Speaker Fabian Nunez is having to step in and take a leadership role in the budget negotiations because Speaker Bass and her staff don’t seem capable of making it happen.

I never thought I would actually want to see Nunez as Speaker again.

It is a strange day.… Read More

As a Jewish Republican, it’s kind of novel to be singled out by Governor Schwarzenegger in Yiddish, which is what happened a couple of days ago when the Governor participated in a video-conference interview with the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune. But I must admit to being honored to have two outstanding called-out ”colleagues" – KFI radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou – great Americans. Longtime FR friend Chris Reed is a member of the U-T’s Editorial Board and blogged about a quip made by the Governor:

BONUS TIDBIT: The governor made clear he’s paying close attention to the media in the budget battle, and not just mainstream heavyweights like the Sac Bee and the L.A. Times. He said he hoped his recently aggressive push to sell his compromise budget as a "way out of the problem, solving it once and for all" would make Republican lawmakers more comfortable with his plan. If he gets them aboard, "then maybe there’s only out there John & Ken… Read More

As a Jewish Republican, it’s kind of novel to be singled out by Governor Schwarzenegger in Yiddish, which is what happened a couple of days ago when the Governor participated in a video-conference interview with the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune. But I must admit to being honored to have two outstanding called-out ”colleagues" – KFI radio talk show hosts John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou – great Americans. Longtime FR friend Chris Reed is a member of the U-T’s Editorial Board and blogged about a quip made by the Governor:

BONUS TIDBIT: The governor made clear he’s paying close attention to the media in the budget battle, and not just mainstream heavyweights like the Sac Bee and the L.A. Times. He said he hoped his recently aggressive push to sell his compromise budget as a "way out of the problem, solving it once and for all" would make Republican lawmakers more comfortable with his plan. If he gets them aboard, "then maybe there’s only out there John & Ken… Read More