I was looking through the Federal Election Commission disclosures and noted that Republican Congressman Gary Miller, who recently won his re-nomination (congratulations) has already spent out of his political committee close to $2,000 this election cycle on — flowers. I wanted to review Miller’s reports to try to learn the secret of success in a heated Congressional election. Its’ flowers. And one sure can’t argue with success.

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Orange County consultant Brandon Powers heads to DC today to be a part of Politics Magazine’s (formerly Campaigns& Elections) "Rising Stars of Politics." Each election cycle, the trade publication for political professionals identifies up-and-comers of all parties and Brandon joins that list for 2010. Occassionally, they make bad choices…like me in 2002.

See this year’s Republican list here.… Read More

The combined Republican primary vote in the 47th Congressional District exceeded liberal Democrat incumbent Loretta Sanchez’s vote in the Democrat primary by 2,000 votes. Time to get on the Van Tran bandwagon.… Read More

A ‘source’ slipped us a copy of this internal, super-secret memo…

Memorandum Date: 6/10/10 To: Asm. Mike Gatto From: Spkr. John Perez RE: Welcome To The Capitol Dear Mike, First and foremost, let me congratulate you on your election to the State… Read More

Overmy next few posts,in no particular order, will be a bunch of miscellaneous facts or observations from yours truly on various aspects of the state of things in Washington, D.C. today. Unlike some of my ramblings, these will all be short. I’m not sure that this is accurate to say, since this stuff emanates from the seat of the nation’s enormously bloated government, but I’ll say it anyway – Enjoy!

Apparently, Congress will not take up or pass a budget this year. The Budget Act requiring an annual budget was passed in 1974. The House has never failed to produce and pass a budget since then…until this year. The person responsible for producing that budget, Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) famously remarked in 2006 "if you can’t budget, you can’t govern." I guess the Democrat majority can’t govern. Can you say dysfunctional? The so-called Financial Reform Bill has now passed both the House and the Senate. But the versions are quite different from one another,so a conference committee is currently resolving those multiple differences and it will have to pass both chambers again in … Read More

As her campaign re-tools for the general election, GOP Gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman has re-launched her website (check it out) and has launched a new ad…

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I am fond of telling people that you have to have a minimum amount of money to get your message out. You don’t have to have all the money, but enough. That amount needed has dropped dramatically. As of now pending the results of provisional ballots, Tim Donnelly leads Chris Lancaster by 40 votes in the 59th. Lancaster had the most money, endorsements and mail. He had the most baggage having been recalled for raising taxes in the early 90’s as councilman. Claremont City Councilman Corey Calaycay followed him in the balloting. And Hesperia School Board member Anthony Riley who had the endorsement of the Adams recall committee and much of the San Bernardino political establishment came in fourth. Came in fourth doesn’t quite explain it. Riley was supposed to win in the San Bernardino County portion of the district; there he came if fifth. He did better on the LA side of the hill. (Lancaster came in second … Read More

I’ve been waiting until after the election to post this special little picture I took with my iPhone on May 2 in San Francisco’s Chinatown at a shop on Grant Avenue. The shop had the usual collection of Chinese vases, furniture, silks and artifacts, but I noticed in a corner of the store a whole little section devoted to Chairman Mao and the Chinese Communist party. Being a political junkie, I gravitated to the pile there of "Little Red Books" of Mao’s communist sayings, Mao pins, a couple of Mao statues, propaganda magazines, etc., and, low- and-behold, spotted two stacks of refrigerator magnets with U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama’s picture on them. You can see them in this picture, being marketed right next to the Chairman Mao pins. I wonder if the local Democrats in San Francisco pressured the store owners to give Obama equal time?

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