In speeches across the region this year I’ve been talking about the misery index in politics this year – but building a head of steam since the 2004 Presidential election. At the heart of the misery is this: Conservatives are miserable over record federal spending, the immigration debacle and the failure of the Congress and President to lead on domestic issues. GOP moderates are miserable because they hated the appointment of two pro life Supreme Court Justices, Democrat moderates are miserable because they have to look at the three stooges – Pelosi, Reid and Dean as the standard bearers of their Party. Democrat liberals are miserable because they HATE, I mean HATE, the President. Peggy Noonan writes more about this phenomenon here. As you see the dismal turnout across the State tomorrow ask yourself this question: who INSPIRES YOU?… Read More

….Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip its been.

Like the comments Duaneheard going door to door and reported in his post…I’m pretty fed up with the so called revolutionaries who have moved up to first class. If it wasn’t alreadybad enough, now comes this. Part of me says we need to lose the majority to find ourselves again. But don’t take my word for it, check out what Brenden Miniter said in… Read More

The Orange County Registrar of Voter‘s office used to be a statewide embarrassment. Every Election Night, eager politicos waited for the excruciatingly slow county election bureaucracy to tabulate the results. It wasn‘t unusual to wait until lat at night just to get the first round of absentee voters. It was like the tabulating was being done in "bullet time" — which is cool in The Matrix but not cool when waiting on the outcome of elections.

All that began changing rapidly with the accession of Neal Kelley as first Acting OC Registrar, and now as the permanent OC Registrar of Voters. Kelley is busily bringing his office into the 21st Century.

You can watch ballot boxes bring brought into the OC Registrar‘s on the… Read More

Predictions are always fun the day before the election. Here are mine for a few races that I am following. Theses are NOT my endorsements, just my predictions.

Tony Strickland by 2 points for Controller

Keith Richman by 3 points for Treasurer

Ray Haynes by 3 points Board of Equalization

Steve will beat Phil by 2 points for Democratic nomination. (Never pave over the wetlands and try to be the Democratic Nominee)

Martin Garrick 74th Assembly

Kevin Jeffries 66th Assembly

Brenda Salas 65th Assembly

Brian Bilbray by 4 points. Thank you Mrs. Busby for speaking the Democrat line about illegal voting in public. Bilbray will also win the Primary for the seat in November– Sorry Mr. Editor.

Elton Gallegly by 35 points

Bruce Thompson beats Bill Horn by less then 500 votes for San Diego County Supervisor

Prop. 81 No

Prop. 82 No

… Read More

“What would you do for a Klondike Bar?” You know the jingle. Sing along. “What would you do for a Klondike Bar?”

Perhaps the mere thought of the rich, creamy vanilla ice cream covered in a thin layer of chocolate makes you admit, “Anything! I’ll do whatever it takes for a Klondike Bar.” Mmmmm….. Klondike Bar.

How about this for a jingle, “What would you do to win re-election?” It’s not quite as catchy, but sing along with me regardless. “What would you do to win re-election?” This must be the jingle that Gov. Schwarzenegger had going through his head when he told the Wall Street Journal, “Whatever it takes [to win], I will do.” (WSJ, 6/3/06)

Here’s the quote in context: “Sitting in an overstuffed wicker chair in his ‘smoking tent,’ set in the courtyard of the state capitol, Mr.… Read More

Jim Ledford won’t reveal his donors. No agency has a single copy of his campaign finance report. He claims He has nothing to hide. (Exceptpossibly union money. See here.)

Assemblywoman Runner has asked him to show us the money! See article here.He won’t do it.

Memo to Ledford: Any candidate that truly had filed and reported everything caught up in this mess would have posted his reports on the web.… Read More

On Thursday, my job was all but done. The mail was written, printed, and dropped. The radio buys were running. The paid calls were recorded and scheduled. So, like most every election, I decided to spend the last few days walking precincts so I could get a first hand feel of what the electorate was thinking.

Over the weekend I walked two large precincts – one in Vista and one in Carlsbad – in North County San Diego. The targets were GOP and Decline to State Primary voters. Probably close to a total of 250 households, of which I spoke to around 85… maybe more.

The temperature the first day (Vista) was a boiling 95 and I drew a hilly precinct in an inland upper middle-class community called Shadowridge. This precinct is not in the hotly contested CD50. It is represented by Congressman Darrell Issa, and amusingly I actually ended up walking his precinct and knocking on his door (he wasn’t home). The second day, mercifully, the weather was in the 70’s and I was fairly near the coast in another upper middle-class community. In the second precinct, I was in the middle of the Bilbray-Busby brawl. These are both very, very Republican and… Read More

The Schwarzenegger campaign insists they have no preference on which Democratic candidate for govenor ends up as their opponent. In truth, they’ll probably be able to run pretty much the same campaign against either Phil Angelides or Steve Westly.

But running against Angelides would be so much more fun.

Today’s Sacramento Bee reports on the anti-Arnold’s visit to an African-American congregation in East Oakland, where he promised the attendees that "wants to create a California ‘where the governor stands side by side with people like Barbara Lee, whether it’s the genocide in Darfur or the horrible war in Iraq."

Putting aside for a moment the lack of foreign policy decision-making in a governor’s portfolio, Angelides just promised the people of the state that he "stands side by side" with the only member of the House of Representatives who, on September 15, 2001, voted against authorizing the use of military force against those responsible for the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon four days earlier.

I don’t know of anyone who’s in favor… Read More