Today I am pleased to announce a new addition to the FlashReport Team — Nicholas Romero! For those of you who don’t know Nick (pictured to the right) , he is currently a Field Representative for Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, and has been a leader in youth politics – most notably with Young Americans for Freedom (I am an alumni of YAF myself, having served as State Chairman from 1990-93 and on YAF’s National Board from 1992-95). Nick is a fine conservative — and a smart guy with a keen eye! Recently I reached out to Nick to ask him if, from time to time, he would like to serve as the FlashReport’s first Guest Editor! I am happy to say that Nick not only said yes, but was quite enthusiastic! Now, "What is a… Read More

Associated Press is reporting that longtime conservative Reagan confidant Lyn Nofziger has passed away. Lyn has been a friend to me these past almost 20 years, and I will miss him dearly.

Here is the AP Report:

WASHINGTON — Franklyn "Lyn" Nofziger, the rumpled and irreverent conservative who served President Reagan as press secretary and political adviser, died of cancer Monday. He was 81. Nofziger died at his home in Falls Church, Va., said Eldin Girdner, a family friend. … Read More

As some can imagine, I received several emails and calls from folks upset the CRA “hit” Bilbray is his race to replace convicted Congressman Cunningham. Many have suggested that we are not allowed to speak ill of a GOP candidate and cite Ronald Reagan’s “11th Commandment” Historically, I’m glad Reagan challenged the powers to be and ran against an incumbent Republican in 1976. Principle is always more important than being “nice” CRA hit Bilbray for one reason. His nomination jeopardizes Republicans keeping the seat. I know many say it is impossible to lose this seat. History tells us differently. Democrats lost a safe seat when the Powerful Dan Rostenkowski had ethics problems. Congressman from both parties has been upset when corruption is on the table. The 50th district is one of the most … Read More

Click here to see Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first commercial of the season.

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Sorry kids…no time for goofy songs today….but I’ve definitely got some comments on the hubub surrounding this Datamar survey that has tongues wagging….even Jack Orr sent me an email….and I’m sure he doesn’t even know who I am.

The best way to objectively look at this automated poll begins with a read of William Finn Bennett’s piece Saturday whose headline read Pollster frets over 50th District survey.Bennettquotes the pollster who conducted the polls as saying, ""By the time we get halfway through (the list) the calls will start dropping off," company president and chief operating officer Raul Furlong said in a Tuesday phone interview.

Now on to some objective flaws. According to the DataMar survey, Scott Orren finishes fourth. Yet, he has spent next to nothing on his campaign and had little name ID headed into the race. Could his relatively high showing be attributable to his incorrect ballot designation or to the fact that he was listed first on every single… Read More

Over in Capitol Weekly newspaper, FR friend Anthony York has penned a quick piece looking at Governor Schwarzenegger’s new media team. I’ve reprinted an excerpt below, but you can read the whole piece here.

The real question is whether of not, in bringing together this team, the Governor has used his gravitas to corral these media consultant into flat-rate contracts where they are making a reasonable amount of money, but not so much that the precious money donated to help the Governor get reelected is instead diverted to vacation homes and lavish trips. For example, I’ve been told that media buyers might take as much as 15% of the buy as a "commission" for booking the airtime. I guess this would mean that for every million dollars of airtime purchase, $150,000 is going to a consultant. In the world of politics, that is an outrage.

Anyways, my editorial whim now being satisfied, here is the excerpt:… Read More

This morning’s Sacramento Bee "Buzz" column notes that the latest ad from the Angelides gubernatorial campaign plays up the fact that one of the candidate’s three daughters attends UC-Davis. The campaign believes that little nugget of information is vital, the paper speculates, to sell Angelides’ public education proposals.

My reaction: Steve Westly’s stock just went up a few points.

Here’s why Angelides’ ploy doesn’t work:

1) As the Bee points out, all three of the Angelides girls attended a private school in Sacramento before heading off to college. One wonders how the CTA feels about that.

2) Do voters really care about a "taught in California" label? The last California governor to attend a UC school was Jerry Brown (Berkeley). George Deumejian attended college back east. Pete Wilson went to Yale. Gray Davis did his undergraduate work at Stanford.

3) Which do you think makes for a more compelling pitch to voters? The candidate whose daughter goes to a UC school, or the… Read More

The 50th Congressional District Two weeks from tomorrow, there will be Congressional special election taking place in California. Actually, with absentee voting being such a large percentage of votes cast in special election, it would almost be more accurate to say that is a special election "underway" right now. The race has captured the national political spotlight because it is the race to fill out the unexpired term of former GOP Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham who is now one of the most infamous criminals in the annals of Congress. The millions of dollars that he took in exchange for directing government contracts into the hands of his ‘benefactors’ has sent Duke to jail for many years, and now voters on San Diego’s "Gold Coast" need to choose a new representative. There are a ton of Republicans running for the seat — thus making the amount of votes necessary to clintch the GOP nomination… Read More