I read on the FlashReport today an article from the San Diego Union Tribune that was a bit troubling to stomach — apparently former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham is spending at least some of his time in federal prison being upset with the newspaper that ‘brought him down’ and thinking about others who are to blame for his situation. As a conservative who is engaged in the practice of politics, I get to see situations all of the time where the main stream media gets it wrong. But I simply don’t see how Cunningham can be mad at anyone in this situation besides himself. No one forced his hand and made him take millions of dollars in bribes in return for doling out federal goodies. No one asked him to betray all of us who walked precincts and helped him get elected. And no one can deny that in this case, the San Diego Union Tribune did America a favor when they exposed Cunningham’s… Read More

I certainly agree with Mike Der Manouel’s post below — which is that virtually no member of the public will be watching this one and only Gubernatorial debate between Phil Angelides and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

As a matter of fact, if the debate were not being sponsored by the California Broadcasters Association, I would suggest that it simply be videotaped, stuck up on the web, and the thousand or so people that would want to watch the whole debate can just surf on over to the CBA website and check it out — A few hundred reporters, a couple hundred campaign hacks, and other random assorted folks who are tuning in to see "The Terminator" make mincemeat out of "The Accountant."

As for me, I am sure I will not watch it live. After all, it IS on a Saturday night, which means that one would have to ruin a perfectly good weekend night out to see it. And with Schwarzenegger’s monumental double-digit lead in the polls, the only entertainment will be watching Angelides try multiple "Hail Mary" passes in an attempt to gain some traction.

If you are intent on watching the show, then I suggest you get out a… Read More

Today, October 7th, marks the three-year anniversary of the California Gubernatorial Recall that put Gray Davis into early political retirement, but none of California’s major papers have written about it. Instead, they’ve decided to focus on a probably meaningless and poorly watched debate between Governor Schwarzenegger and Tax Man Phil Angelides. I suspect they’re leaving Recall retrospectives to historians to sort through. So, that leaves the topic ripe for the stealing.

Three years ago, I was in undergraduate school starting my senior year, but the end of the preceding school year and summer had been packed full of political activities. I remember reading of Ted Costa and Howard Kaloogian’s filing of the petition on February 5th to start gathering signatures. I still have vivid images of the Sacramento CRP convention where talk was ratcheted up about a gubernatorial recall. I remember people strongly questioning its feasibility, an attractive criticism by the sceptics. I remember Darrell Issa’s May 6th announcement of an infusion of cash for signature gathering and his rendezvous at the Firestone ranch (I went to school at… Read More

Today, October 7th, marks the three-year anniversary of the California Gubernatorial Recall that put Gray Davis into early political retirement, but none of California’s major papers have written about it. Instead, they’ve decided to focus on a probably meaningless and poorly watched debate between Governor Schwarzenegger and Tax Man Phil Angelides. I suspect they’re leaving Recall retrospectives to historians to sort through. So, that leaves the topic ripe for the stealing.

Three years ago, I was in undergraduate school starting my senior year, but the end of the preceding school year and summer had been packed full of political activities. I remember reading of Ted Costa and Howard Kaloogian’s filing of the petition on February 5th to start gathering signatures. I still have vivid images of the Sacramento CRP convention where talk was ratcheted up about a gubernatorial recall. I remember people strongly questioning its feasibility, an attractive criticism by the sceptics. I remember Darrell Issa’s May 6th announcement of an infusion of cash for signature gathering and his rendezvous at the Firestone ranch (I went to school at… Read More

I heard something about a debate tonight so I thought I would check it out. As it turns out, right at 5:00 pm, the Cal – Oregon game starts, featuring two top 25 college football teams. Fresno State and Utah State are also on at 5:00 pm and I think there is a whopper of a program on the all new "Watching Paint Dry" channel, plus highlights of the 1983 World Series of Poker. Throw in the Dodger – Met game at 4:30 and you have a perfect storm – about 483 people in California will be watching tonights debate between Arnold and Phil.

I hope Arnold can handle the pressure of dealing with questions about the Iraq war – a central issue in all campaigns for Governor across the nation this year.

I’ve been asked to provide analysis tonight for one of the local TV stations. Can’t do it. Have to wash my hair.… Read More

When it was all said and done, there was no real surprise that the Escondido City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday night in support of an ordinance penalizing those who rent to illegals, thus becoming the first such city in California.Short of someone in the council majority of Marie Waldron, Ed Gallo, and Sam Abed buckling in the intense spotlight, this ordinance was going to pass. By all accounts, any such buckling was not going to happen.

There was also no surprise over the tenor of the debate, the huge turnout for the council meeting, the media attention, the ACLU sticking its nose in, the…should I go on?We’ve seen controversial social debates before.

What is somewhat of a surprise, although perhaps it shouldn’t be, is the vehemence with which so many people — not just in Escondido and National City, but everywhere — are willing to stand up and advocate for that which even they admit is illegal.… Read More

When it was all said and done, there was no real surprise that the Escondido City Council voted 3-2 Wednesday night in support of an ordinance penalizing those who rent to illegals, thus becoming the first such city in California.Short of someone in the council majority of Marie Waldron, Ed Gallo, and Sam Abed buckling in the intense spotlight, this ordinance was going to pass. By all accounts, any such buckling was not going to happen.

There was also no surprise over the tenor of the debate, the huge turnout for the council meeting, the media attention, the ACLU sticking its nose in, the…should I go on?We’ve seen controversial social debates before.

What is somewhat of a surprise, although perhaps it shouldn’t be, is the vehemence with which so many people — not just in Escondido and National City, but everywhere — are willing to stand up and advocate for that which even they admit is illegal.

Historically, even typically, these… Read More

Martin Wisckol, OC Register political reporter offered a quick schooling in press relations for candidates in a recent post to the Total Buzz blog on the paper’s site.

A candidate for Orange County Council is widely known to live in Newport Beach (several cities and miles from the city of Orange). Wisckol publishes an email from Rudat and then recounts a phone conversation with her where he explains what off the record is all about.

Those of us who deal with the press regularly have few problems with these rules and when we do have a problem with one reporter, we usually learn our lesson.

Wisckol explains:

The way it almost always works with us newspaper reporters is that everything someone tells us is considered "on the record" unless the reporter agrees to talk off the record. 99.9% of the time that’s the way it works. Sometimes, with everyday people who have no … Read More