Commentary from Paradise: Day 2 on the Big Island (note photo!)

One of my favorite columnists to read is former Reagan speechwriter, Peggy Noonan. She has a regularly featured column in the Wall Street Journal each Thursday (which you can always access under the ‘Columns’ menu at the top of the FlashReport).

In her column, entitled "To Boldly Go…A peppery peep at the postelection players," Noonan references California’s elections (as part of a very lengthy column):

In the spirit of Jon Fleischman, our illustrious FRFL (Flash Report Fearless Leader), here’s my election list of San Diego’s Winners and Losers:

Mayor-Elect Jerry Sanders – THE BIG WINNER

Duh. A no brainer. Not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination, yet over several weeks Sanders went from the guy who didn’t even request the County Party endorsement in the primary, to the anything-is-better-than-Donna-Frye Party-endorsed candidate a few days later, all the way to apparent GOP darling and ultimate winner. That had much more to do with the local Party closing ranks than Jerry making strides toward a strong GOP philosophy. Sanders proves that nice guys can win. Interestingly enough, former Mayor Dick Murphy was viewed as too nice. Sanders effectively cast aside any comparisons with Murphy by combining decisiveness and effectiveness with a nice-guy image.

Tax Increases – LOSER… Read More

Yesterday, Iwas attending a meeting in Sacramento. While there, Eric Hogue, atalk show host in Sacramento was lamenting the lack of turnout in conservative parts of California. You can read his blog here.

Below are some hints at motivating conservatives. Feel free to pass the on to whatever consultants the Governor is still listening too. It is clear to me they and others don’t know how to motivate conservatives.

Before I start, CRA and myself were committed to the four initiatives. I went out an debated 74, 76 wherever I could. That said. Here is the primer:

1. Fight. Conservatives love to fight. They will follow people who fight. Conservatives supported big spending, amnesty wanting Bush in 2004 because he was fighting the left.

The Gov. didn’t start fighting for these Propositions until September. Months after the war had begun. Nothing demoralizes conservatives than seeing someone get beat up and not willing to fight.

Another strain of this thought is that conservatives don’t like talk of compromise or negotiations.… Read More

Now that the special election is over, we should begin to focus on the next one just seven short months away. Has anyone noticed that the Republican Party is lacking a U.S. Senate candidate to run against Diane Feinstein?

The conventional wisdom is that Di Fi is unbeatable. Right now I share that belief. If I thought we could win, I would encourage my boss, Congressman Issa to throw his hat in the ring. With that being said, we need to have someone of stature at least put their name on the ballot. It would be embarrassing to have perennial GOP candidate (and Riverside County resident) Danny Ball be our nominee.… Read More

Funny how not standing for anything in particular until your consultant tells you what to stand for comes back to bite you–sooner than later.

Cassie DeYoung, a councilwoman in Laguna Niguel is running against former Assemblywoman Pat Bates for Orange County’s 5th Sup. Dist. Presumably at the urging of her consultants, she is pushing an anti-tunnel agenda. A tunnel proposal would link Orange County with the Inland Empire, reducing traffic and pollution on the 91 Freeway and spur economic opportunities between these growing communities.

What is funny and the reason I suggest hers is a consultant driven life, is that it turns out our handy local editorial writer for the Orange County Register, Steve Greenhut discovered that DeYoung voted FOR the tunnel, before she voted against it.

Greenhut writes yesterday in the Orange Punch Blog:

Cassie DeYoung voted to support tunnel in 2003… Read More

Aloha from the Big Island here in Hawaii. As I take an opportunity to surf the web, while looking at the surf, I am reading various post-mortem thoughts on yesterday’s election results. FR friend, radio host and columnist Hugh Hewitt has an outstanding analysis that is laid out in the form of a letter to the Governor. I will excerpt the beginning here, and give you the link to the whole thing on his excellent website, below.

There is no such thing as a fusion candidate, no such thing as a bipartisan campaign or a non-partisan issue, and come election night, there are just two parties, one at the GOP HQ and one at the Dem HQ. There’s a winners’ party and a losers’ party. Last night you were speaking to the losers’ party.

I… Read More

My friend Mike Spence is exactly right: a ballot measure that addressed policy reform in the area of illegal immigration could have been of huge help to the governor’s effort. But I should clarify a point on which we may have disagreed. I wasn’t simply arguing for photo opportunities with children, but rather finding a way to reassure swing voters that Schwarzenegger’s conservative principles are laced with centrist tendencies on some issues. That may not be necessary for either Mike or myself, but it’s the difference between 44 percent and 51 percent of the vote on Election Day.

Arnold was elected because he combined a commitment on conservative principles, which appealed to many Republicans, with more moderate stances on social and environmental issues, which attracted support from independents and moderate Democrats. We all knew during the recall campaign what type of governor we’d be getting: my point is not that Schwarzenegger should abandon his core conservative beliefs on economic, public safety, and immigration policy, not in the slightest. He should not attempt to “move to the center” in order to regain… Read More

San Diego City Republican Mayoral Jerry Sanders firmly defeated Democrat Donna Frye last night, beating her 53.87 to 46.13 (a 7.74 point spread). At this point in the game, Frye’s loss is not a huge surprise. None of the several citywide polls I had access to ever showed that Frye could expand beyond the mid 40’s. And the reality is if she had stayed the same "liberal surfer Democrat" Frye that had originally been elected to City Council she probably would never have hit the high 30’s in what is still a center right city.

Instead, Frye spent the last two years playing the part of the "outside reformer" tapping the discontent and disgust that voters of all stripes have with a government they view is venal, corrupt, incompetent, and tied to shadowy lobbyists and special interests. This allowed her to vastly increase her numbers among voters who were disgusted with city government and who might not otherwise have considered voting for a Democrat candidate. And as long as she stayed the course and ran… Read More