The rush to judgment on the Kaloogian photo is so absurd, it’s laughable. So, let’s laugh. Forwarded by Jack Orr, on the supposed Howard "controversy"….

"I received the following forwarded message today from Tom Hanscom,obviously a person of wit and good humor. Finally, a truly funnymoment in an otherwise deadly serious campaign":

I’m assuming (since you’re giving the 50th race so much attention)that you’ll probably address the Kaloogian-photo-of-Baghdad"controversy."

Before you give Howard too hard a time, please consider that he hascorrected the mistake, replacing the photo from Istanbul with a realone from the Iraqi capitol. As you’ll note in the verified photo, the streets are packed with unworried, unhurriedIraqis. The sidewalks are lined with flowers (probably sprouted fromthe bouquets thrown at our soldiers three years ago); Americanpresence is strong (note the U.S.-held building at left); andbuildings are hardly the bombed-out shells we see exclusively on TVnews reports (note one of Saddam’s palaces, intact, in… Read More

Kevan Otto, the Republican President of a Police Union has withdrawn from the race for the GOP nomination for the 59th Assembly District. He endorsed Chris Lancaster. While Otto’s name will be on the ballot, the Union supported anti- Prop 75 vote among Republicans won’t be as diluted. Lancaster has significant union support. This leaves Lancaster as the only active candidate from the San Gabriel Valley part of this sprawling district. A definite plus. See the attached Press Release. See past posts on this race starting here.… Read More

While there is always lots of interesting political goings on in the Bay Area, I can’t help to read the daily stories on the Polk murder trial. While it doesn’t have the celebrity status of the OJ trial, the Polk trial is the most interesting legal drama in the country today. I’m sure that the writers for "Law and Order" and other TV legal shows have already got copy-cat scripts in the works.

The courtroom happenings are fascinating. For example, this week, the defendant—on trial for murdering her husband and who is acting as her own attorney—objected to something the prosecution said on the grounds of….hyperbole.

First, for some background. For those of you not familiar with the East Bay, Orinda is a small, affluent town on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel from North Oakland. For many “crunchy” Berkeley/Oakland residents, they simply cannot stand to… Read More

I couldn’t help but think of this Kenny Rogers song and fellow Flashreport contributor Joe Justin when I saw the overnight contributions to Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez.

It seems the speaker was playing some poker yesterday with the card clubs and casinos and walked away with some sizeable contributions or should I say chips.

Normandie Club — $3,300 California Commerce Club — $3,300 Hollywood Park Casino — $5,000 Hustler Casino — $6,600 Oceans Eleven Casino — $5,000 The Bicycle Casino — $5,000

The Gambler is one of those songs that drives you crazy. Once you hear the lyrics, your stuck humming it the rest of the day:

"You got to know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, Know when to walk away and know when to run. You never count your money… Read More

I’m in LA today and have seen the Governor’s first ads, all positive, and very well done.

It’s a good start.

These are easy ads to produce, and its an appropriate time of the year to run them.

The real test will be how to respond to the union onslaught.

We will then see how much political talent there is in the shop.… Read More

It’s pretty much a given among politicos that even though the average person says they hate negative campaigning — and actually do — they are also influenced by it.

Similar with surveys. Most of us say polls means very little, but go off the deep end when they don’t reflect our candidates in a good light, and — alternatively — immediately crank out a press release when they do.

Datamar’s latest survey in the 50th C.D. has been the target of much criticism and comments the last few days. I’ll leave it for you to decide the merits of both the survey methods and the resulting arguments.

The SDPolitics Blog has been awash with commentary. Check it out here.

Perhaps the most succinct criticism of the Datamar survey, I received from GOP activist Warene Wall (in support of Bill Morrow):

Those who have been in grassroots politics for a long time have learned that polls can… Read More

Another fun day at the office…and it ended even funnier. And before I spill…I want to offer a disclaimer that I refuse to post anything of true value about the inner machinations about the jungle primary in the 50th CD….To be sure I felt compelled to point out fatal flaws to an automated poll (push 5 for candidate x)…with a sample that was half 60+ of age, 4% undecided,… Read More

It seems to be a Howard Kaloogian kind o’ day, so I decided to pen my mini-memoir of my four-month stint with then-Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian during the summer of 1995 — the Summer of the Doris Allen Recall:

This post isn’t directly related to the Assembly Republican majority of 1996, but it does directly relate to that seminal event that made it possible: the recall of Doris Allen. It also relates to Howard Kaloogian.

Now, there are enough former Kaloogian staffers around that we probably could form Kaloogian Anonymous:

Hi, my name is Matt and I worked for Howard Kaloogian. [Hi Matt!]

This is my story.

Following my surreal stint on the Mike Huffington for U.S. Senate campaign, I bounced around professionally for a few months. Then-CRP Executive Director John Peschong had wanted to bring me aboard as CRP Communications Director, but my hiring was blackballed by Gov. Wilson’s political guy, Jeff Randle. The new CRP Chairman, John Herrington, had already had to fight Randle and the Wilson people for keep Peschong on board and just wasn’t ready for