From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail, our ‘virtual’ FR Correspondent John Fund:

Daddy Warbucks

Why did Senator Dianne Feinstein of California suddenly resign as chair of a powerful military appropriations subcommittee last week? That’s the question much of Washington is asking, and liberal government watchdog groups are apparently not going to give her a pass on the issue. They believe her withdrawal is linked to her subcommittee’s allocation of millions of dollars in defense contracts to companies partly owned by her husband.

The story began two months ago when Metro Newspapers, a group of alternative weeklies in northern California,… Read More

The race for the 60th Assembly District has plenty of intrigue. The current Assemblyman Bob Huff does not have an ordained successor. No one on his staff is running. The district has parts of three counties in it. You can see my previous post on this race here. Yesterday I met with one of the candidates running for this seat, Chino Hills Mayor Curt Hagman. I have to admit when I heard he was bail bondsman, I was wondering who gets into that kind of business. Turns out he started as a Private Investigator. … Read More

Today there is a lot of news to cover… GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a… Read More

Today there is a lot of news to cover… GOP PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS The big story is that GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t just ‘win’ the contest for fundraising over his main rivals Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, he clobbered them. This was an important first step for Romney, who needs to show that he is a viable national candidate. But the big test lies ahead — which is whether Romney can spend his campaign money as effectively as he can raise it. We’ll be looking closely at what Romney does here in California over the coming months. Giuliani and McCain enjoy much more name identification among California GOP voters… I was actually surprised at McCain’s showing on the fundraising front. All three campaigns tried to downplay expectations before the big announcements. Romney hit the home run, of course. Giuliani scored a… Read More

This morning, the dominant headlines in California concerning Presidential politics are the results of a Field Poll that show, among Democrats, Al Gore is the most popular candidate – and he’s not even running. In the absence of the Academy Award winner, Hillary Clinton holds a commanding lead.

Also big in the news are all of the fundraising numbers from the Presidential campaigns, which I will touch on in my commentary in about an hour.

In the midst of all of this news, the McCain for President campaign shot out a news release about three minutes ago (see the attachment below) sharing with us that former California legislator JIm Brulte is now onboard with the Arizona Senator’s campaign for the White House. Brulte served as Senate Republican Leader before term-limits brought his legislative career to an end. The Senator is known as a politically savvy pol, and his endorsement is a feather in the cap of McCain’s California campaign.… Read More

With over 312,000 registered Republicans in San Bernardino County, you know it just had to happen. As of midnight April 3, 2007, Red County San Bernardino went online. Read the press release here.

Like its sister internet sites in Orange, Riverside and San Diego Counties, Red County San Bernardino will offer breaking news and commentary on all things political that occur in California’s Inland Empire and High Desert regions. The inaugural blogpen features ten distinguished authors of whom many of you are familiar, plus yours truly serving as editor, for now.

I invite those who have an interest in San Bernardino County political developments to keep an eye on this website. And watch for our blogpen to expand soon to include… Read More

I used to believe there was a difference between Senators Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein. Boxer was (and is) always the shrill airhead attack dog, while Feinstein carried herself in a statesmanlike manner. As a result, the GOP was always far more interested in giving Boxer a spirited challenge while recognizing that Feinstein, while not ideologically dissimilar to Boxer, was at least perceived as an adult.

No longer.

Today the senior Senator was in the Central Valley touting freeze relief for citrus farmers. Surrounded by all the usual suspects – Republicans sucking up to the power, Feinstein lamented the plight of the poor farmer. After all, the freeze relief is attached to the Iraq war funding bill, which the President has promised to veto due to its unique "planned surrender" feature.

Feinstein actually defended the relief funds being placed in the middle of a war supplemental bill. With her comments, she moves into the phony leftist shill column with her sister Boxer and others of their ilk, such as Ted Kennedy. It was hard to decide who looked more foolish. Feinstein or the Republican farmers standing behind her as she… Read More

Paul Hegyi, who’s worn many hats over the past few years – Campaign Manager to Tony Strickland, Chief of Staff (and before that, Campaign Manager) to Van Tran, Campaign Manager to Shirley Horton, before that, time with Mark Wyland, etc – is tossing his hat in the ring to run for Assemblyman Nakanishi’s termed out seat next year.

Paul, who grew up in the district – going to high school and college in the area – and who now owns a home there, has been putting the pieces together to mount a strong campaign. No stranger to the campaign world, Paul assuredly will have a first-rate grassroots effort behind him. He’s been a part of some of the toughest races in California over the past few years, notably as Campaign Manager to Shirley Horton.

In addition, having been a part of campaigns in so many regions of the state, Paul is unique among would-be campaign/legislative staff-turned-politicians. Unlike some who’ve spent their whole careers pigeonholed in one spot, Paul has worked with the donor communities in San Diego, in Orange… Read More