Carla Marinucci complains in the San Francisco Chronicle that the Whitman campaign is charging reporters $2,000 to travel with the candidate. Heck, if that is the cost, Meg ought to charge Marinucci twice as much, $4,000, for the privilege. This is justified, firstly, by the fact that campaigns exist to reach out to voters, not Jerry Brown-flunky newspaper writers. (Notice I said “newspaper writers”. To be called a journalist one needs to have demonstrated ethical standards, well published by the Columbia University School of Journalism.) Traveling news media are a drag and a distraction on a candidate’s ability to communicate directly with voters in the final days of an election. They should pay their own freight, and not look to the people who make the political contributions to support them, instead, let the news media’s advertisers do that! Secondly, Marinucci should be charged extra to make up for printing all the garbage Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford, “The Liar” has spoon feed her. Now that would be fair!… Read More

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My worst nightmare is Assemblywoman Diane Harkey knocking on my door next week. That would be very scary. My second worst nightmare is Jerry Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford, “The Liar,” knocking on my door. My German Shepherd would go into attack mode. I am glad, though, that I live in an Orange County gated community.… Read More

I know, I’ve provided input on this issue before, yet it never ceases to amaze me, even with a week to go, how much time is spent on campaign signage. A lot of candidates could be — at one week out — raising dollars to get one last mail piece in the hands of actual voters next weekend, yet they’d rather spend time making sure all their defaced and stolen signs have been replaced.

But, just to prove I am open to another side of this issue, here’s an amazing story out of Indiana about how a campaign sign truly looks like it is impacting the outcome of a race…

Yard Sign With Candidate’s Name On It Electrifies Congressional Race

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All of Barry’s enlightening advice…and other posts._… Read More

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

Orange County politicos tend to look through issues of OC Weekly when they arrive on newsstands (Republicans won’t admit it) — looking for political news and gossip (Democrats, of course, check out all of the ads for lingerie, sex toys and dating services). Anyways, the cover story of their most recent issue, which you can read here, comes with quite the cover. Yes, that is Loretta Sanchez and Van Tran lying in bed, with bong and pussycat…… Read More

This just in from the Mayors of three Central Valley cities…

Dan Schnur, the current Chairman of the California Fair Political Practices Commission, is a Republican appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger. He is well-suited for the job because he has a political campaign background and understands the dynamics of campaigns. He has a great pedigree as Chairman of the Unruh School of Politics at USC. I wish he was more "pro First Amendment" in his job, but I think he is an improvement on his predecessor Ross Johnson, and he has a reputation for being a fair person. If Meg Whitman is elected Governor, I think Schnur will stay at the Commission.

But what will happen if Jerry Brown is elected Governor? Well, Schnur will surely not keep his current job. Political observers are starting to throw some names around and the group is interesting. One name I have heard is Professor Dan Lowenstein, recently retired for most duties at UCLA Law School. Dan was the very first Chairman of the FPPC under Governor Jerry Brown, and must be the most knowledgeable election law scholar in our state. However, I have it on good… Read More