Ron Paul has pulled his endorsement of L.A. Superior Court Candidate Bill Johnson. Johnson under another name advocated limiting U.S. citizenship to: “non-Hispanic white [persons] of the European race, in whom there is no ascertainable trace of Negro blood, nor more than one-eighth Mongolian, Asian, Asia Minor, Middle Eastern, Semitic, Near Eastern, American Indian, Malay or other non-European or non-white blood, provided that Hispanic whites, defined as anyone with an Hispanic ancestor, may be citizens if, in addition to meeting the aforesaid ascertainable trace and percentage tests, they are in appearance indistinguishable from Americans whose ancestral home is in the British Isles or Northwestern Europe.” Apparently, the endorsement process was flawed. You think!… Read More

Yesterday evening Senator Tom McClintock and former congressman Doug Ose engaged in another major debate before the June 3rd primary election. William Jessup University hosted a first-class event, complete with a live radio broadcast on local radio talk show station KTKZ. All of the candidates for the 4th CD were invited to attend the event, including Republicans Ted Terbolizard and Suzanne Jones and Democrat Charlie Brown, although only Ose and McClintock participated in the debate. WJU’s Public Policy department put together the debate, with the Chair Sosamma Samuel-Burnett moderating. In addition to several students asking great questions of the candidates, three local reporters provided most of the questioning: Dana Howard of ABC News 10, Peter Hecht of the Sacramento Bee, and Deric Rothe of the Auburn Journal.

Although this debate covered many of the same topics as the last major debate, there were some new approaches to issues. Starting with their opening statements, each candidate attempted to frame the debate; McClintock once again described this race as a battle between the conservative and liberal wings of the Republican Party, while Ose touted his… Read More

I thought I’d update FR readers on the Janet-owes-Jimmy situation down here in OC that I posted about on Wednesday.

Late yesterday morning, I spoke with Jimmy, who had earlier been in conversations with Team Janet.

According to Jimmy, the matter has been resolved and Janet’s campaign will pay Jimmy the final $2,500 of his win bonus.

Janet consultant Dave Gilliard said, "It was a misunderstanding among friends that was easily worked out once we all compared notes."

Kudos to Janet for making this right and lancing an unnecessary boil.… Read More

This year, term limits causes the State Assembly to lose one of its most qualified legislators, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner. (I remember “back in the day” when I was running for State President of the California Republican Assembly and Sharon, and her husband, George, were heading up the mega-sized Antelope Valley Republican Assembly. Fortunately they supported me in my effort!) The primary election to replace her has presented one of the most important elections for Republicans in the state.

Generally, Republican primaries contain candidates with a mixture of similar values and similar backgrounds. The most viable candidates are usually very qualified Republicans pitted against each other despite similar ideologies. To many on the outside, no matter which candidate wins the primary, the votes will be the same and they will be reliable.

However, in the election to replace Sharon Runner, there is a candidate in the primary behind whom which virtually all Republican leaders are united. The other two candidates in the race are engaging in rather… Read More

This year, term limits causes the State Assembly to lose one of its most qualified legislators, Assemblywoman Sharon Runner. (I remember “back in the day” when I was running for State President of the California Republican Assembly and Sharon, and her husband, George, were heading up the mega-sized Antelope Valley Republican Assembly. Fortunately they supported me in my effort!) The primary election to replace her has presented one of the most important elections for Republicans in the state.

Generally, Republican primaries contain candidates with a mixture of similar values and similar backgrounds. The most viable candidates are usually very qualified Republicans pitted against each other despite similar ideologies. To many on the outside, no matter which candidate wins the primary, the votes will be the same and they will be reliable.

However, in the election to replace Sharon Runner, there is a candidate in the primary behind whom which virtually all Republican leaders are united. The other two candidates in the race are engaging in rather anemic campaigns,… Read More

OK – sometimes no matter what you could possibly come up with and write – youjust can’t top reality.

Now, I know I’m known for using this space every now and again for being sarcastic or for my feeble attempts at being witty (hey, at least I try!). But every now again you run across a news item that no matter what you could possible write just can’t be topped in it’s sheer wackiness.

I give you this masterpiece by Fox News:

Thursday, May 08, 2008

I’m aboard yet another Southwest Airlines flight to Sacramento, to make a presentation for a client for my consulting practice, and again my rule of always knowing someone on a flight to or from the Capitol City!

I’m sitting with Orange County GOP activist leader Jim Righeimer, and his business associate (and also loyal GOPer) Steve Menzinger. Also, somewhere on the flight is that cool guy I always run into who works in the County Registrar’s office, but whose name escapes me right now…

Maybe when I get to the Capitol I will stop by Don Perata’s office. I’m curious if he has a plan to reimburse the public for the costs associated with his now-aborted recall effort against Senator Jeff Denham.… Read More

Buried inside a DC policy journal called the "Daily Report for Executives" published by the Bureau of National Affairs was an interesting brief on a new scientific report released by the American Geophysical Union. I’ll quote from the brief:

"Computer modeling has overstated warming in Antarctica going back to 1880…. The study marks the first time that scientists have been able to compare more than 100 years of Antarctic climate observations with simulations run on computer models…. [the lead author said], "…over the past century, most of Antarctica has not undergone the fairly dramatic warming that has affected the rest of the globe. The challenges of studying climate in this remote environment make it difficult to say what the future holds for Antarctica’s climate."

The report went on to note that the "observed" temperatures on that continent rose by about .2 degree Celsius (.4 F). The climate models used by the UN-supported body many cite as the global standard, modeled an Antarctic temperature rise of… Read More