From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail… OUCH.

No Message, But Please Accept this Toy

My sources at the Republican National Committee say they are stunned by the dropoff in contributions this election cycle, but a big part of the problem is an absence of an agenda. It’s getting harder and harder to finish this sentence: "Vote for Republicans in November because…" The Republican campaign committees are getting more angry mail than checks as a result of failing to stop earmarked spending and the GOP’s recent failure to support President Bush’s veto of the inexcusable $300 billion farm bill.

So instead of a message this fall, the GOP is trying to promote donations with a new stuffed… Read More

It’s financial disclosure time–and you thought FPPC Form 700 season was tough! The Washington Post and Politico have coverage of the statements, outlining members worth and liabilities, here, here and here. California member Doolittle is mentioned in both because the form shows contributions to his legal defense fund.

The digging has begun, and members of the House are answering questions about their mortgages, noted in today’s Roll Call (sadly, despite a site re-vamp, subscription still required). In a related note, House conservative Rep Jeb Hensarling has called for hearings to determine the impact of discounted rates given to Representatives and Senators on mortgages from Countrywide. Here and here.

Politico looks at the politics of immigration and also at the "budgets" of key members,… Read More

It’s easy for political pundits and campaign operatives to Wednesday morning quarterback a campaign’s effort. More often than not, this evaluation process means unfair praise for the winners and excessive blame for the losers. That’s why I wanted to take a moment- to recognize the stand-out campaign manager of the cycle. The best campaign manager doesn’t mean the best campaign. It doesn’t even mean that you won the race. The best campaign manager means the person who best executed the X’s and O’s of a ground campaign. The 2008 Primary’s Campaign Manager of the Cycle is Barrett Tetlow. Barrett is an experienced campaign operative, who arguably managed the primary’s best ground effort. The Larry Dick campaign was always walking precincts and calling voters. They walked every house several times over in an “unwalkable” district and chased them with a phone call. … Read More

In my write up of last Friday’s big Orange County GOP fundraising dinner, I mentioned that Orange County Register columnist Frank Mickadeit would undoubtedly follow with some thoughts on the dinner. You can read them all here, though below I have excerpted the part of his column where he gives a stinging assessment of the performance of Florida Governor Charlie Crist.

Crist. Oy. Brought in as the keynote speaker because he’s on the short list of potential McCain running mates, his performance Friday night truly did help his party. By showing unequivocally he would be a complete disaster for the GOP – the worst running mate since Dan Quayle.

Mr. Crist looks great: – silver hair, ragged shirt, baggy pa— … wait, that’s Mr. Bojangles; let’s try again: silver hair, warm smile, great tan, perfectly tailored suit of clothes, decent teeth. It’s when he uses his… Read More

Just off the transom — from State Senator Bob Dutton, the Vice Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee…

Today California Congressman Kevin McCarthy rang the opening bell for the stock market.

You can see the video here.… Read More

There can’t possibly be anything more frustrating than being one of the two Republicans who serve on the State Budget Conference Committee. The reason for this is that even though California voters long ago placed a two-thirds vote requirement to pass a state budget, this important clause intended to prevent a tyranny of the majority is ignored during the process where legislators actually go through the budget proposals. Or, to put it more simply, legislative Democrats in the Senate and in the Assembly use a majority-vote threshold in their Budget Subcommittee meetings, and in the case of the Budget Conference Committee, the Committee itself is stacked with a 2-1 advantage of Democrats to Republicans (which does not mirror the makeup of either house where Republicans have more than 1/3 of the seats). The result, predictably, is that Republicans are pretty much left out of the process at this stage, able to vocalize concerns about overspending, but lacking the votes on the Conference Committee to do anything about it.

Needless to say, this means that in terms of… Read More

There can’t possibly be anything more frustrating than being one of the two Republicans who serve on the State Budget Conference Committee. The reason for this is that even though California voters long ago placed a two-thirds vote requirement to pass a state budget, this important clause intended to prevent a tyranny of the majority is ignored during the process where legislators actually go through the budget proposals. Or, to put it more simply, legislative Democrats in the Senate and in the Assembly use a majority-vote threshold in their Budget Subcommittee meetings, and in the case of the Budget Conference Committee, the Committee itself is stacked with a 2-1 advantage of Democrats to Republicans (which does not mirror the makeup of either house where Republicans have more than 1/3 of the seats). The result, predictably, is that Republicans are pretty much left out of the process at this stage, able to vocalize concerns about overspending, but lacking the votes on the Conference Committee to do anything about it.

Needless to say, this means that in terms of Democrat and Republican… Read More