As Presidential politics heads up nationally, of course it means that all of the candidates will be looking to California as they put together their national plans — especially on the financial side of things. For the Republican candidates especially, California has traditionally been considered an "ATM Stop" as there is a lot of fertile ground here for raising political funds — that they are traditionally spend in other states. FR Los Angeles County Correspondent Shawn Steel already posted about how some of the fundraising consultants are lining up in the GOP primary, but it is also notable to see that three California major finance players are taking the lead roles in the fundraising operations of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain. Who are they? Stepping up early for retiring Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s California efforts is highly… Read More

In case you missed it, Time magazine’s annual "Person of the Year" was bestowed on YOU, "citizens of the new digital democracy." According to the Associated Press, "the winners this year were anyone using or creating content on the World Wide Web."

Of all the YOUs in this fair land, I can’t think of anyone better thanJon Fleischman and FR, the stable of bloggers and the many readers…the onesinstrumental in the last year for using and creating content on the WWW that helped drive the digital democracy in California.

Congratulations to all of YOU, but especially to Jon and the FlashReport. Next stop for FR….the cover of The Nation and Mother Jones. That’s when we’ll know we’ve really gone legit.

In the meantime, directly from AP online:

NEW YORK (AP)… Read More

That is, if it is ok with everybody who might be offended, know somebody who might be offended, know or should know of somebody who might be offended, don’t know or shouldn’t know of somebody who might be offended…and so forth and so on, ad nausium. I was going to ignore this most ridiculous item that occurred in Riverside a couple of days ago, but I google news’d it today and found it had been picked up by over 104 news outlets worldwide.I chose the one from New Zealand to share with you.

Christmas carols flap stuns half-Jewish skater LOS ANGELES: Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen was "stunned" to learn that a US high school choir had been ordered to stop singing Christmas carols at a holiday show because she is half-Jewish, her mother has said.

A city official accompanied by a police officer caused a stir by silencing the carols on Tuesday night as Cohen signed autographs after a performance in Riverside, California.… Read More

It looks like our own California Republican National Committeeman Tim Morgan is going to be elected Treasurer of the Republican National Committee!

The primary governing body of the national Republican Party is the Republican National Committee. This body is made up of around 170 or so people — three from each state and also representation from some United States territories. Each state has on the RNC its Chairman, as well as a Committeeman and a Committeewoman. Each individual state decides how it elects these important offices. In California, since a change in the Party Rules that was in effect in 1996, the State Republican Party Central Committee has elected our Committeeman and Committeewoman, Tim Morgan and Barbara Alby, respectively. Of course the same CRP delegates elect our Chairman, currently Duf Sundheim and come February, Ron Nehring (Ron is unopposed in his ascendancy into the Chairmanship – he is currently Vice Chairman of the State GOP). As you can tell, the RNC is a… Read More

It looks like our own California Republican National Committeeman Tim Morgan is going to be elected Treasurer of the Republican National Committee!

The primary governing body of the national Republican Party is the Republican National Committee. This body is made up of around 170 or so people — three from each state and also representation from some United States territories. Each state has on the RNC its Chairman, as well as a Committeeman and a Committeewoman. Each individual state decides how it elects these important offices. In California, since a change in the Party Rules that was in effect in 1996, the State Republican Party Central Committee has elected our Committeeman and Committeewoman, Tim Morgan and Barbara Alby, respectively. Of course the same CRP delegates elect our Chairman, currently Duf Sundheim and come February, Ron Nehring (Ron is unopposed in his ascendancy into the Chairmanship – he is currently Vice Chairman of the State GOP). As you can tell, the RNC is a… Read More

Republican Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard has been fostering an ongoing discussion about the California Republican Party’s Victory Program (Get-Out-The-Vote). He posts over on his blog here, but gives me leave to post his stuff over here, too. So his latest thoughts are below, and a few blog posts down, Brandon Powers has posted a memo from the CRP Board of Directors on some of these issues… FROM BILL LEONARD In my November 20th newsletter I asked for a financial and performance audit of the California Republican Party’s 2006 campaign effort. While I have learned a lot since then thanks to conversations with key party and Schwarzenegger campaign officials, it is still important that we look at what happened, what worked, and what did not work and why. … Read More

Assemblyman Villines has so far done a great job in leading the Assembly Caucus. This announcement of the makeup of the Assembly GOP Leadership Team seems to be another solid step in the right direction.

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICAN LEADER MIKE VILLINES ANNOUNCES LEADERSHIP TEAM AND VICE-CHAIRS SACRAMENTO – Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines, of Clovis, today named a dynamic group of Assembly Republicans to serve as members of his leadership team and as committee vice-chairs for the 2007-08 legislative session. The new members of his leadership team represent a diverse array of backgrounds and communities. “I am honored that such a respected group of Republican leaders from across California have agreed to serve our party as members of my leadership team,” Villines said. “I look forward to working with them as we set our legislative priorities and work to build a stronger California.” The Republican Caucus Chair is the second-highest ranking Republican in the State Assembly, assisting the Leader in advancing the Republican policy agenda and achieving the Caucus’ political… Read More

Based, at least in part, on questions raised on this blog about the performance of the CRP’s Victory Program, the CRP sent out the following email today. I anxiously await the thoughts of Mike Spence and the otherswho’ve joined in questioning the Victory program.

TO: Republican Activists and Donors

FR: California Republican Party Board of Directors

RE: California Republican Party Board of Directors Meeting:

December 8, 2006

Some people, through comments and other communications, have raised questions of the California Republican Party (CRP) Board of Directors they wanted addressed at our December Board Meeting. The Board of Directors met on December 8, 2006 to discuss… Read More