Many say the turning point in Jerry Sanders’ recent re-election victory over Steve Francis’ multi-million dollar caustic attack against himwas the moment the mayor could take it no longer, thus flinging a four-letter epithet in response to his opponent’s outstretched attempt at a handshake.

That the mayor would have very likely pulled off a victory without the "Moment" is largely irrelevant.Local political historians for years to come will claim that the Sanders campaign was moribund and without focus, only to have the emotional utterance turn things around, creating a defining instant with which the average San Diegan could identify.As if the people were saying, "Sanders may be a nice-guy politician,but he’s also a real person, and I’d probably be frustrated and lose my cool too with someone spending a fortune to attack me.Plus, that Francis guy probably deserved it."

The respective immediate responses from the two campaigns only served to fuel that feeling.Sanders openly admitted his name-calling, even clarifying that he had in fact said, "F*** you, Steve," not "F*** you,… Read More

Around 900 Republicans gathered last evening at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine for the 9th Annual Flag Day Fundraising Gala Dinner of the Orange County Republican Party. Every year, this event is a who’s who of the OC political community, with most every prominent Republican official or activist being present. This year was no exception as popular County Party Chairman and former Assembly Republican Leader Scott Baugh presided over a packed house of GOPers who gathered to hear addresses from Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who everyone knows is on the “short list” for McCain’s VP considerations, and GOP Gubernatorial hopeful Dino Rossi, who famously won the Washington State Governor’s race in 2006 only to literally have the race stolen away from him in a third recount. Rossi is running again, and looks to be the favorite as his popularity has grown while the incumbent’s has shrunk.

The tradition of this dinner is that it is impossible to move two feet without running into yet another county leader, and last night was no exception.… Read More

Around 900 Republicans gathered last evening at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine for the 9th Annual Flag Day Fundraising Gala Dinner of the Orange County Republican Party. Every year, this event is a who’s who of the OC political community, with most every prominent Republican official or activist being present. This year was no exception as popular County Party Chairman and former Assembly Republican Leader Scott Baugh presided over a packed house of GOPers who gathered to hear addresses from Florida Governor Charlie Crist, who everyone knows is on the “short list” for McCain’s VP considerations, and GOP Gubernatorial hopeful Dino Rossi, who famously won the Washington State Governor’s race in 2006 only to literally have the race stolen away from him in a third recount. Rossi is running again, and looks to be the favorite as his popularity has grown while the incumbent’s has shrunk.

The tradition of this dinner is that it is impossible to move two feet without running into yet another county leader, and last night was no exception. I will refrain… Read More

The Protect Marriage Act will be the “star attraction” on the November ballot.

It will truly be “ground zero” as the eyes of the nation focus in on whether the people of California will step up and, in essence, overturn the activist ruling by the California Supreme Court and place into the State Constitution that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman (as opposed to what we will have starting on Monday at 5 p.m., which is more or less that marriage shall be between “Party A” and “Party B”).

Needless to say, some critical decisions will be made by both the proponents and opponents to the Protect Marriage Act – but one of the early decisions will be who to bring on as consultants to drive your public relations and outreach efforts – huge for an issue that comes with so much earned media opportunity, and the spotlight of attention.

Andy Pugno from the Protect Marriage Campaign reached out to me today to let me know the their campaign has retained the four-star GOP team at… Read More

UC students denied the right to hear from Clinton, Henry Waxman, Gen. Wesley Clark and Fabian Nunez . What calamity could cause this educational crisis? It’s the government unions. Union boss Lakesha Harrison , of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, demanded that prominent democrats to cancel commencement speeches because she wants a 25% pay raise.

UCLA no democrat speakers.

Of course, Harrison wants only a 25% increase given that California budget is nearly 20 billion in the red.… Read More

Earlier this week I was alerted to the fact that the CTA was promoting a “community call-in day” to pressure lawmakers to not cut education spending. The CTA provided a toll-free number for their members to call legislators and tell them to raise taxes to fix the budget crisis. So we at CRI decided to help out the CTA with their plan to disperse the toll-free number far and wide. After we sent out our email last night to our supporters, the Sac Bee picked up the story… (h/t to Steve Frank)

Conservative jiu-jitsu

The Capitol Resource Institute, which lobbies Sacramento on conservative social policies, has blasted an e-mail to its statewide network of supporters urging them to call their local legislator — on their opponent’s dime.

"Use Teacher Union’s Money to Call Legislators!" blared the subject line of the e-mail.

Today is a "community call-in" day for members of the California Teachers Association.

Here’s the CRI’s not-so-secret plan:… Read More

First and foremost, my apologies for the little lull here on the FR blog. It’s a busy season for most, but for me I have been swamped helping to prepare for the Orange County Republican Party’s big Flag Day fundraising Gala, with special guest Florida Governor Charlie Crist. The event will have nearly a thousand attendees and will raise a huge amount of the funds that this county needs to maintain its operations and fund some of our GOTV efforts.

That said, I was sad to read about the sudden passing of NBC’s Tim Russert, who had a heart attack.

As I was contemplating what I would say about it, I got this statement from John McCain in my inbox:

Yesterday Senate President Don Perata introduced a budget plan on behalf of State Senate Democrats that would propose foisting another $11.5 billion in new taxes on Californians.

I think that Senate Republican Leader Dave Cogdill should hold a press conference, and call for $11.5 billion in tax relief for Californians.

Then we can get past the unrealistic press events and focus on balancing our state budget by reducing overspending. Punishing tax-paying Californians for obscene overspending is ludicrous.

Earth to the Sacramento political community: Republicans are not going to raise taxes. This includes not being drawn into some sort of faux-compromise between not raising taxes and imposing billions in new taxes.

California does not, I repeat does not have an income problem. State government is suffering from an overspending problem. End of story.… Read More