The Riverside County Registrar website has turnout at 35.35%. It will probably be revised upwards when all the counting is done,but it certainly wasn’t good overall. It showed in the depressed win percentages of the "safe" seats. They usually garner in the low 60 percentile, most came in just below 60%.

Bonnie Garcia pulled it out 51% to 49%. Steve Clute’s handlers are challenging it. Stay tuned. Myprediction is Bonnie stays as winner. Steve Clute was an Assemblyman and since leaving office has run against Sonny Bono for Congress, Jim Battin for Assembly, and now Bonnie. He lost them all.Give it up, Steve.

All Republican Congressional and State Assembly Republicans won handily. Mary Bono’s race was proven to never have been close, despite the Coachella Valley press trying to sell papers by hyping it.

Lyn Daucher clings to a narrow margin over Lou Correa in the 34 SD, and Danny Gilmore lost a close one by 4 points to Nicole Parra in the 30th AD. That was significant ,since former Highway Patrol Commander Danny was recruited and mentored throughout the race by our Assemblyman John J. Benoit, himself a… Read More

Contesting an election that you have apparently lost by a handful of votes is one thing, but apparently former Assemblyman Steve Clute, who just lost his attempt to take out incumbent Republican Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia by a couple of percentage points, is apparently making the motions to start contesting the results of the election.

The outcome of this pouting-session is preordained — or is it? I have no clue about what the ‘politics’ are down at the Imperial County Registrar of Voters. Hopefully Secretary of State McPherson will dispatch some of his folks out to AD 80 to make sure that everything is handled on the up and up.… Read More

This morning, newly re-elected California Republican Congressman John Doolittle already sent out a press release announcing his candidacy for re-election to House Leadership, to the position of Conference Secretary.

John Doolittle’s release is long in terms of listing all kinds of administrative things he has done to make the life of Republican Members of Congress easier — but is completely silent in the area where it counts: an analysis of the GOP defeat, what the role of the House Leadership (of which is a part) was in that defeat (or conversely if he feels that the House Leadership was not to blame, then what was to blame).

In light of the drubbing that we just took in the last elections, John Doolittle (Californian or not) and every member of the House Leadership team that wants to keep their job need to articulate publicly what went wrong, and what they think needs to happen in the next Congress to regain the majority, and what they would do if they had it.

The launching of helpful… Read More

It is going to take some time to properly digest all of the results from yesterday’s elections and figure out what it all means. That having been said, I will share some general thoughts about the evening. Let’s see – on the the "good news" side of the ledger for the GOP: The healthy re-election of Governor Schwarzenegger, the election of Steve Poizner as Insurance Commissioner, and over on the State Legislative side of things, the fact GOP didn’t lose any seats, and looks poized to actually pick-up the 34th State Senate seat in Central Orange County with the election of Lynn Daucher. I suppose Republicans can take some satisfaction out of the defeat of the tax measure (86, 87, 88, 89) on the ballot, too. On the "bad news" side of things: the loss of Congress and the probable loss of the U.S. Senate, with the exception of Poizner the defeat of all down-ticket GOP candidates, the passage of 40 billion plus plus in ill-advised bond measures, and the defeat of Propositions 85 and 90. You’ll have to wait a day to get a more comprehensive analysis from me on what I think this all… Read More

It is going to take some time to properly digest all of the results from yesterday’s elections and figure out what it all means. That having been said, I will share some general thoughts about the evening. Let’s see – on the the "good news" side of the ledger for the GOP: The healthy re-election of Governor Schwarzenegger, the election of Steve Poizner as Insurance Commissioner, and over on the State Legislative side of things, the fact GOP didn’t lose any seats, and looks poized to actually pick-up the 34th State Senate seat in Central Orange County with the election of Lynn Daucher. I suppose Republicans can take some satisfaction out of the defeat of the tax measure (86, 87, 88, 89) on the ballot, too. On the "bad news" side of things: the loss of Congress and the probable loss of the U.S. Senate, with the exception of Poizner the defeat of all down-ticket GOP candidates, the passage of 40 billion plus plus in ill-advised bond measures, and the defeat of Propositions 85 and 90. You’ll have to wait a day to get a more comprehensive analysis from me on what I think this all… Read More

As quick as he declared his candidacy for re-election to the House Leadership as Conference Secretary, today Congressman John Doolittle (CA-04) pulled the plug.

House Republicans definately need to change out their top leadership who sailed them into stormy seas — as to whether ‘top leadership’ extends down to the minor leadership post held by Doolittle… I couldn’t say. But apparently the Congressman has made the decision about whether he deserves re-election to the spot moot.

His release:

Congressman John T. Doolittle (R-CA) made the following statement this afternoon:

"I’m very thankful for the opportunity to return to Congress and represent the fourth district of California. I’m grateful to the voters for sending me back to Washington, and I… Read More

In a virtually improbable turn of events, Republican Cal Minor appears to have lost the Fresno County Sheriff’s race to Democrat Margaret Mims. Despite having the endorsements of Congressman Radanovich and Nunes, Assemblyman Villines, the Lincoln Club, the Chamber of Commerce, the Deputy Sheriffs and Fresno Police Officers Association, Mims finished the evening with a slim 155 vote lead over Minor.

North Fresno precincts were a ghost town yesterday, with brutally low turnout fueled by: disgust with the Republican led Congress, last week’s Field Poll showing Chuck Poochigian losing by 21 points, and no real contested races for the Legislative seats. This low turnout is what evidently cost Cal Minor an election he should have won handily.

There will likely be a recount, but this one shouldn’t have been close. It appears Cal Minor has become yet another Republican election night casualty.… Read More

Ten years after California passed Prop. 209, the California Civil Rights Initaitive, it appears that Michigan is following in California’s footsteps (10 years later) and passing the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) tonight. Only 17 of Michigan’s 83 counties are reporting so far, so the numbers could change, but the early returns certainly make it seem that Ward Connerly, Jennifer Gratz and the proponents of MCRI are going to be victorious tonight.… Read More