As we go into the final five days of the 2006 election cycle, there is one thing that is clear — there is a lot that will come down to the wire in this California election… Of course, the big prize has already been won — Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is not just going to be re-elected on Tuesday, he is going to be swept into a second term with what appears to be record levels of support. His opponent, Democrat Phil Angelides, was never able to convince his own party members, let alone centrist voters, that he could credibly run California’s large and complex government. He was defined by his policies and the acumen of Arnold’s team, as a taxer. No one is going to go far when their apparent solution for all of woes of the world is to increase the size and scope of government. At least not in America. I would first and foremost like to draw all FR readers to the feature column that we are running today penned by Ron Nehring. Ron is the Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party, but is also the Chairman of the San Diego County GOP. In today’s column, Ron makes a very convincing case for why the… Read More

There’s a relatively new taxpayers group in San Diego, and they’re playing in this election…statewide.

The TaxpayersAdvocate.org PAC has raised about $190,000 and sent out over 400,000 pieces to swing voter households, saying "John Garamendi Wants to Raise Your Taxes." Tim Clark at Johnson/Clark was the project’s consultant. See the piece here.

TaxpayersAdvocate.org (check out the website) is headed by Scott Barnett, former Del Mar City Councilmanwho served seven years as executive director of theSan Diego County Taxpayers Association.

If you take a look at TA’s statewide ballot recommendations, you’ll actually see a hard position against tax increases. Since this is a taxpayers group, we understand the no position on parental consent and Jessica’s law, but the rest of the list reflects exactly what the State GOP’s recommendations SHOULD look like.

Attached… Read More

Yesterday morning I opined that the Democrats strategy was to hide, hide, hide. Apparently, I was way out front of Drudge on this.… Read More

This slate mailer arrived at Casa Cunningham earlier this week:

It’s paid for by the Democrats, and it urges a straight Democratic ticket vote for all the state constitutional offices.

My only question is why did it come to our house? It was addressed to my wife, who was Deputy Chair of the Republican Party of Orange County 2004-2005. And our household has three voters — all Republicans.

Personally, I hope the Democrat-funded slate hit lots and lots and lots of similarly GOP households. That would be a satisfying waste of money.… Read More

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver were on hand at the Reagan Library earlier this week to recognize the anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s first election as Governor of California. Earlier in the week we featured the streaming video of the event, and now (courtesy of an e-mail from the Governor’s Office) I am attaching a transcript of the Governor’s remarks. As long as you hurry through the small part of his speech where he somehow tries to evoke bipartisanism in the name of Reagan (the Gipper would most certainly have NOT approved of ‘bipartisanship’ to place four massive bond measures on the November ballot), the remarks are pretty good. The photo shown is the Governor and Mrs. Shriver with Nancy Reagan at the Library.

My favorite line in his remarks:

Whilea bunchinvite-only VIPs will be partying with the Governor on Election Night at the Beverly Hilton and because of that CRP has no plans, Doug and Linda Boyd (and the LA County Party) are organizing a Election Night event for grassroots volunteers.

The Tower – Beverly Hills The Rooftop VIP Party Room – “Suite 360” 1224 S. Beverwil Drive (corner of Pico Blvd.) Beverly Hills, CA 90035

Tuesday, November 7, 2006 8 p.m. to midnight

It’ll be a great place to come watch the returns come in.

[Publisher’s Note: Please take to heart the part of Brandon’s post that suggests that there should be a place for all hard working Republicans to go and watch returns. Then if you are among the vast majority of FR readers that do not reside anywhere near Beverly Hills, you should contact your local Party HQ to find out where Republicans are gathering.]… Read More

Republicans around the country are under seige by Democrats as the party of Hillary Clinton strives to install Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In California, there are three districts where Democrats are trying to pick up seats, one of them is the East Bay/Central Valley seat held by FR friend Richard Pombo. Pombo is a target by left wing groups from the east coast for his strong convictions in favor of a limited federal government in Washngton, D.C.

Democrat Jerry McNerney’s credibility dropped another couple of notches today when the influential Roll Call newspaper demanded that his campaign stop using the Roll Call masthead and a made-up headline attacking opponent Richard Pombo.

In a sharply worded letter to the McNerney campaign, Roll Call Deputy Editor Lou Jacobson says “Because of the misleading nature of this ad — and of any similar ads — we demand that the McNerney campaign stop airing or mailing any ads with this text.” Jacobson noted that the paper had… Read More

Brandon Powers recently posted a link up on this site over to the evil, hated and reviled (LOL) California Majority Report website, where they have reported that there is a leadership challenge in the making to Assembly Republican Leader George Plescia (this is true, by the way).

Karen Hanretty, our famous FR alumnus, posted a comment to Brandon’s post that is worth some attention, so I am reprinting it below: