My apologies — as FR readers know, I am loathe to post up press releases verbatim. That said, I am out the door and I wanted to pass this along right away. A longtime friend of mine Eric Linder, who has been a grassroots leader in conservative and Republican politics for a long time now (he’s the Vice Chairman of the County GOP), has decided to run for a seat in the state legislature (apparently newspaper articles about the dysfunction that prevails in our State Capitol have not dissuaded him. Eric is a great guy, and he’s going to be running in the 60th Assembly seat that is being left by Jeff Miller as he seeks a seat in the State Senate. The two GOP candidates who have been running have been very lackluster in their fundraising — and neither of them have any kind of track record in partisan politics that is as sterling and impressive as Eric’s. Below is Eric’s inaugural press release. He’s going to be a strong candidate — keep your eye on him. His website is ericlinder.com.

CORONA BUSINESS OWNER ERIC… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

Jerry Brown’s Medicaid Blues Democratic Governor Jerry Brown of California may finally understand how frustrated Republicans feel when they try to negotiate in good faith with President Obama.

Strapped with a $13 billion deficit last year, Mr. Brown sought to squeeze $1.6 billion of savings out of the state’s Medicaid program. Since more than half of the state’s Medicaid dollars come from the federal government, Mr. Brown had to request waivers from Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to implement many of his cost-saving solutions. While Ms. Sebelius last year signed off on a 10% rate cut to providers, which was projected to save the state about $600 million, she drew a line in the sand on the governor’s request to charge Medicaid recipients a co-pay for drugs ($3) and doctor visits ($5).

The co-pays would save the state more than $300 million a year, but the Obama administration reasoned that they would deter recipients from seeking treatment and thus restrict health-care… Read More

March 1, 2012 will go down in history as one of the least productive days of my life. I woke up this morning to an e-mail alert from Politico proclaiming that Andrew Breitbart, age 43, had passed away from natural causes. I stared at this alert in disbelief. I didn’t want to believe it. I quickly went to one of the Breitbart websites — Big Government, I think. And there was a post from Larry Solov, Andrew’s everything guy, confirming that this totally unique persona in American politics had left us. Even seeing it up on Andrew’s site, I still didn’t want to believe it. I emailed Larry, hoping that perhaps someone had hacked the site, and Politico got their story from that. Nope, Larry confirmed it. I had lost a friend, a mentor, a colleague. The country had lost what was without a doubt it’s most impactful warrior in the fight against a left-wing culture in America that threatens our very existence. To say that one was friends with Andrew would be to be one of many — an incredibly warm, affable if somewhat intense fellow, he was easy to befriend and I can tell you that the more you invested that relationship, the… Read More

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com… Read More

Former Assemblyman George Plescia (R) today took out papers to seek the 39th Senate District seat, setting up what could be a classic matchup against Assemblyman Marty Block (D). I have a call into Plescia for a comment.

Here is some San Diego Rostra coverage of the seat and its registration numbers by Jim Sills.… Read More

From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail…

And Dreier Makes Seven The California redistricting carnage goes on, with the latest casualty being Republican Rep. David Dreier. The chairman of the House Rules committee, who was first elected in 1980, announced his resignation on the floor Wednesday, bowing to the reality of a newly redrawn district that is overwhelmingly Democratic.

Mr. Dreier becomes the seventh member to retire from the California delegation this election cycle, following Republicans Jerry Lewis, Elton Gallegly and Wally Herger, and Democrats Lynn Woolsey, Dennis Cardoza and Bob Filner. California members are known for their longevity, the result of intense gerrymandering, and most of these retiring members are relatively senior. Yet the protection of incumbency all changed with a recent law that created an independent commission to redraw the state’s 53 congressional districts, a process that has upended many of the state’s safest areas.

Mr. Dreier’s own 26th congressional district, which was north and east of Los Angeles, was redrawn… Read More

Early this morning Andrew Breitbart, a culture warrior on the right and longtime friend of mine and of the FlashReport, passed away from natural causes. He was only 43 years old, and leaves behind a beautiful family (Susie and the four young kids) and an unfinished fight. I will have more to say about his passing and the impact that this great man and friend had on me. But for now, we simply pray for his family at this time. Such a senseless, tragic loss.… Read More

The Club for Growth, the nation’s leading free-market advocacy organization, announced that from California, three members of the 53 person delegation had received their coveted Defender of Economic Freedom Award — Reps. Tom McClintock, Ed Royce and John Campbell. The award honors Members of Congress who have a strong, consistent voting record on economic growth issues. 11 U.S. Senators and 34 U.S. Congressmen received the award this year.

“The Club for Growth values Members of Congress who vote based on principle for pro-growth policies that will restore America. The people of the 48th congressional district of California are lucky to have him fighting for them in Congress,” said Club for Growth President Chris Chocola.

To see how all Members of Congress did in the Club’s 2011 Scorecard, visit www.ClubforGrowth.org/projects.

Club for Growth publishes an annual scorecard so Club members and the public can monitor the actions and the voting behavior of Members of Congress on economic growth issues. The Club conducted a comprehensive examination of each lawmaker’s record on… Read More