Every election victory or defeat is an opportunity to learn, adjust and to grow.

One of the complicating factors in conducting post-election analysis is the tendency for CYA to take precedence over objective analysis that involves criticism. Another tendency is to claim the strategy or tactic was correct, but just needed more resources in the form of time or money. These and other factors that can obscure the truth are why serious post-election analysis requires multiple viewpoints from informed sources with experience in the subject.

Given the relatively small margin of Mitt Romney’s loss, and the historical odds favoring an incumbent President, clearly many things were done right, and that fact should not be overlooked. That which was done well should not be discarded because it took place in the context of an overall loss.

Of the many contributors to the defeat, some were within the control of the Romney campaign, some were within the control of some entity of the Republican Party… Read More

November 6, 2012 will long be remembered by Republicans nationally as, well, a really bad election day. Governor Mitt Romney’s loss to Barack Obama, when the President was forced to run for re-election on the economy, in a bad economy, smarts. Losing a significant number of U.S. Senate races where polls and pundits had put the GOP in the hunt just added to the misery. Republicans did hold on the House of Representatives, which is very significant, of course. But because this was expected, it did little to ease the disappointment of this Republican.

Here in California, the shellacking was pretty thorough. After rejecting the last eight tax increases in a row to appear on the statewide ballot, voters approved Governor Brown’s massive income and sales tax hikes to the tune of $7 billion a year, as well as a separate measure to hike taxes on multi-state businesses by another… Read More

So where to get election night results?

The election night guide from yours truly is pretty simple:

I will be on Twitter tonight – if you aren’t following me, I am at @flashreport.

For California results, there is no place to go more comprehensive than Scott Lay’s Around The Capitol Election Results Page. On this page you can easily navigate to all of the info on California elections in real time — statewide initiatives and the hot House, State Senate and State Assembly races are at the top. But you can easily get to any California partisan race.

For national elections results, you can follow it easily at the Politico results page. If you are more wonky, Real Clear Politics isn’t as pretty but bristles with data. Of course, I’m watching Fox News all night long for the most comprehensive coverage (I may flip to MSNBC if they call it for Romney just long enough to watch Chris Matthews claw all of the skin… Read More

There are 230 bond, tax and fee increase proposals on the 2012 ballot in California. Gov. Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30 tax increase measure is the least of voters’ problems this election.

There are 100 school bond measures on the ballot throughout California. There are more than 30 sales tax increase initiatives, business tax increases, parcel taxes, utility taxes, and hotel taxes. There are even tax increase measures for sodas and abandoned-cars.

How many tax increases will “fix” California?

The answer is easy. None.

What’s really wrong California?

Local governments would have everyone in the state believe that they are struggling to make ends meet. But they grossly misuse the word “struggle.” The only downsizing done in local government has been to cut the lower paid employees who probably weren’t eligible for pensions anyway.

In Sacramento, the City Council is pushing hard to pass several ballot initiatives:

* Measure Q: Sacramento City Unified School District;

* Measure R: Sacramento City Unified School District;

* Measure T: Sacramento (City of) Mandates on Garden and Yard Refuse… Read More

Much has been written on this website about the horrific state budget deal of 2009, a deal that saw California taxpayers slammed with the largest single tax increase in state history – with increases in sales, income and car taxes, and a reduction in the child tax credit. For two years, roughly $14 billion each year was transferred from the private sector into the sink-hole that is state government. It’s worthy of note that mere months after that budget deal, California voters were asked whether to extend those tax increases for two more years, and rejected them by nearly a two-thirds vote.

What if Republicans had held the line that year? How much better off would state government be today had tough decisions about cuts in state spending been made three years ago? But that’s not what happened. Five of the six Republican legislators who voted to hike those taxes were elected to office after pledging that they would never do that – that they would not raise taxes.

This year three of those five pledge-breakers… Read More

This Saturday, the action was right here at 30th and Euclid in downtown Cleveland.

Crowds were lined up at the Board of Elections despite gray skies and 40 degree weather, or what Californians might consider perfect ski weather. The weekend before Election Day, hundreds not thousands of voters were being processing

… Read More

The following are FlashReport.org’s recommendations on the eleven measures that will appear on the November ballot measures. These positions were arrived at through discussion by the members of our editorial board.

PROPOSITION 30: NO This proposition is a $50 billion sales and income tax increase on all Californians. This will further weaken an already fragile California economy and destroy more jobs in the Golden State. The Governor is trying to blackmail California’s taxpayers by holding education hostage and extorting these taxes despite the fact that the proposition does not guarantee net new funding for education. These taxes are simply not necessary as California has a spending problem and not a revenue problem. Rejecting this proposition will force Sacramento politicians to realign their priorities and successfully fund education. We strongly recommend a… Read More

Comparing headquarters in Cleveland, Ohio, it is clear that Republicans have the edge.

Fully Staffed Romney-Ryan Headquarters: There are three fully staffed Romney Victory Headquarters in Cuyahoga County–east, south and west of downtown Cleveland. On Saturday, I visited the city of Independence headquarters, an appropriately named town for a major Romney-Ryan command post.

There are many Republicans in Cuyahoga County; they just don’t live downtown. The bigquestionon Tuesday:will Republicans turn out in greater numbers to make up for the… Read More