[Today’s Daily Commentary has been penned by Barry Jantz, one of the FlashReport’s San Diego County Correspondents, and is his take on last Tuesday’s Special Election in the 50th Congressional District.]

When it was all said and done, the only thing that may have really mattered was the only thing that had at the start. No amount of pontification, money, mudslinging, Duke Cunningham fallout, or national attention was going to change the fact that California’s 50th Congressional District is home to significantly more registered Republicans than Democrats. To be exact, 44 to 30 percent, with a slew of independents.

The 50th is a Republican district, pure and simple. The political term is a safe seat. The district was drawn that way, whether one detests the reapportionment process or not. The common wisdom is that Democrats don’t… Read More

All in all, it was a pretty good election night. In California, we held the threatened Congressional seat. Both big spending initiatives lost and moderates beat liberals in a number of Democratic primaries around the state. Turnout was exceptionally low in spite of millions spent by statewide Democrats in contentious primaries. Seven other states also held primaries on Tuesday and in all cases the predictions of Republican demise were premature.

So, what happened? We Republicans have been worried about our base and with good reason. But it appears that the Democratic base did not turn out on Tuesday. That is also with good reason. They can’t figure out what their party stands for anymore. Neither can I.

In Washington, we in the majority still have to deliver more spending and border control because it’s the right thing to do and togive the voters what they expect from us. But let’s remember that the other side has a challenge too. Being the party of "no" and the party for nothing is not going to motivate their voters any more than it would motivate ours.

Are they really for nothing or are they for higher taxes, open borders,… Read More

As mentioned earlier, in San Bernardino County’s four-way race for Assessor Tuesday, challenger Bill Postmus, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, captured more than 46 percent of the vote in his first countywide bid. The incumbent, Don Williamson, ran a distant second finishing nearly 13 points behind. As I’ve also said, a key factor in this result was the presence of two other candidates in the primary, who combined to take about 20 percent of the vote.

It’s important to again emphasize the significance of Postmus’ accomplishment in this race, and how strongly he is positioned for November:

1. Roughly two-thirds of the votes cast for Assessor were for someone other than the incumbent.

2. No incumbent who placed second in a San Bernardino County primary has ever won the runoff. As a general rule, in runoff elections more of the remaining votes against the incumbent tend to go to the remaining challenger.

3. Even Williamson’s razor-thin re-election margin four years ago illustrated his weakness. In the… Read More

In a press release, which characterizes an NBC report which aired Wednesdayas "false," Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands) issued the following statement in response to the report:

"I have never recommended a lobbyist to any constituent, contractor or anyone seeking federal funds. I have absolutely never told anyone to provide ‘stock options’ or any other sort of compensation to someone who is their advisor or lobbyist. To do so would be extremely unethical, and it goes entirely against all of my principles of good governing.

"It is outrageous and false to suggest that I might have supported a program in order to provide some illicit benefit for a friend. This technology was primarily supported by the two Congressmen who represented the area, and had been endorsed by top members of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee – including the Democratic chairman. Although I was a junior minority member of the subcommittee at the time, I felt it was worthwhile to join in that support because the technology appeared to have promise.

"All of this information was provided to NBC in detail, and I am… Read More

There were several elections in LA on Tuesday. See here.Lee Baca was easily re-elected Sheriff despite a litany of failures. See here.

In Torrance Dan Walker was easily defeated as anti-development fever siezed control. Unfortunately Good Guy Rod Guyton fell victim as well. See news article here.

Long Beach went Demo with the win of SCE former Exec Bob Foster. See article here

Also John "Lower Taxes" Loew only got about 22% of the vote for Assesor.

As I wrote a while back about "Foreign" sounding names. (See here)Sitting judge Dzintra Janavs was upset by an unqualified rated Bagel Shop owner Lynn Olsen.

CRA Endorsed Glenn Forsch… Read More

Since we don’t have a central coast blogger right now, I’m going to pick up the slack and report on Ventura County’s hotly contested Supervisorial race. The district includes the cities of Simi Valley and Moorepark. Republican Judy Mikels was the three term incumbant in this GOP dominant district. Mikels, who challanged Tom McClintock unsuccessfully in 2000 for State Senate, was seen as somewhat vulnerable because of her ties to unpopular local development projects and an ongoing rumor that she actually lived out of state. Populist Democrat Jim Dantona declared against her nearly a year ago and was rrunning a well funded aggresive campaign but the general feeling among many insiders was that party registration alone would probably save Mikels. Enter conservative Republican Peter Foy, who literally decided to run and filed on the deadline. Local media reported Foy as a ‘spoiler’ set up to run by local conservatives who disliked Mikels in order to make sure Dantona came in first in the run-off against Mikels. Most of the coverage treated him as a secondary candidate, with the big show being the increasingly bitter and savage Dantona… Read More

I can’t offer anymore then my fellow BLOGER Brad did on the 65th outcome. I have heard from my sources that you can credit some of the Paul Cook victory with some outstanding and hard hitting mail done as an IE by fellow BLOGER Duane Dichiara. High 5’s to Duane and his partner Jen Jacobs. I don’t think most of us, including myself saw this upset in the making. I hope Mr. Cook makes his way down to Riverside County soon to meet some of us.

It was also a nice night in Riverside County for my good friend Tim Clark in the 66th Assembly Seat. His client, Kevin Jeffries, steamrolled over his four challengers, including former liberal Democrat attorney Dan Branstine. Congrats to Kevin who served Riverside County well as the County Party Chairman for many many years. He is going to do a great job in Sacramento.… Read More

I think it’s worth noting that all the analysis leading into yesterday’s election between Brian Bilbray and Francine Busby for Duke Cunningham’s seat in San Diego said that the election would be a bell-weather for the congressional races around the country this Fall.

But I haven’t read any analysis today suggesting that Busby’s loss indicates that Nancy Pelosi’s strategy of defeating Republicans on the “culture of corruption” theme turned out to be an utter failure and is in fact a bell-weather of a failed strategy for future congressional Democratic elections.

Pelosi better come up with some policy proposals to run on if she wants to win seats in November.

… Read More