This just in from longtime FR friend Jamie Fisfis over at Chariot Research, a respected public opinion research company from the Bay Area that actually does quite a bit of world all over the globe. They are just out of the field with some survey data on California issues, and I think that the results are definitely worth looking over in the context of the current debate in Sacramento over how to deal with the financial shortfalls due to chronic overspending.

From Fisfis:

Chariot LLC just completed another statewide omnibus survey and the budget debate was one of our main focuses. We have fresh budget debate numbers and they are pretty decisive on the issue of how Californians want the crisis solved. By a 63%-25% margin, Californians believe in spending cuts rather than tax increases to solve the budget crisis – even when education is mentioned specifically. … Read More

I love politics. Every once in a while you get these "say what?" moments, where you turn your head and actually say to the person next to you, "did you just see that?"

Earlier today, we reported that Tom Hudson had filed a complaint against Meg Whitman with the FPPC (you can see that a couple of blog posts down).

Just off of the transom is the press release below, sent out about an hour ago, announcing that Steve Poizner has endorsed Tom Hudson in his bid for party office.

That’s hardball politics.

POIZNER ENDORSES TOM HUDSON FOR NORTHERN VICE CHAIRMAN

Senator Dave Cox also Joins the Team

Insurance Commissioner and candidate for Governor Steve Poizner has added his full support to the growing campaign for Tom Hudson for Northern Vice Chairman of the California Republican Party. State Senator Dave Cox has endorsed Hudson as… Read More

It’s a busy day in the e-mail box today. No doubt to bolster up Steve Poizner supporters in response to the official announcement by Meg Whitman that she is officially a candidate for Governor, Poizner’s Campaign Chairman, retired State Senator Jim Brulte:

POIZNER FOR GOVERNOR From the desk of Jim Brulte

Dear Friend:

If you’re like me, you think California is headed in the wrong direction. Every day the news gets worse and our great state slips further and further behind.

But the good news is that strong, tested leadership can turn this around.… Read More

It’s a busy day in the e-mail box today. No doubt to bolster up Steve Poizner supporters in response to the official announcement by Meg Whitman that she is officially a candidate for Governor, Poizner’s Campaign Chairman, retired State Senator Jim Brulte, sent this out…

… Read More

Acting I am sure in his capacity as a private individual and not as Chairman of the Placer County Central Committee, Tom Hudson today filed a complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission where, if I can try to summarize the charges in one sentence, Hudson asserts that Whitman, prior to today, has been running (and spending money in support of) a de facto Gubernatorial campaign for which she did not report income or expenditures. It goes on from there. Here is Hudson’s press release, and attached are the documents filed with the FPPC.

Needless to say, the timing of the complaint is hardly coincidental.

It will be up to smarter people than me to look into the allegations and sort them out. I pass this along in the interests of passing along "news" that comes across my e-mail folder.

I will close by saying that it seems like whenever the FPPC acts, it is always way after the fact and a fine is… Read More

The Whitman for Governor Campaign has released the following list of campaign team members:

Meg Whitman for Governor 2010 Exploratory Committee Team Leadership Team

Jeff Randle – Senior Advisor Jeff Randle is one of California’s most respected political strategists. He has played a leadership role in each of the last four victorious California Republican gubernatorial campaigns, including both of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s victories and both of Governor Pete Wilson’s campaigns. Randle has been Meg’s top political advisor since the summer 2007 and helped build the Whitman team.… Read More

As I mentioned below, Meg Whitman has launched her campaign – and she has also launched MegWhitman.com (a URL that she does own). You can check it out – to answer everyone’s OBVIOUS first question – green is the campaign color with some orange thrown in. Below are two videos featured on the site – the first of which is an introduction by Whitman, and the second is that one is one of those videos that you could imagine being played to a Silicon Valley audience before Whitman makes her entrance – you see these kind of videos at major tech conference. Makes sense, right? I don’t know about you — but as a blogging commentator, I’m looking forward to this primary!

… Read More

Meg Whitman has opened an exploratory committee for Governor — no surprise. I just got word on my PDA – I’m out of the office. More to follow — though I can tell you her Campaign Chairman, as I reported earlier, is former Governor Pete Wilson. Some of her Co-Chairs include Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Congresswoman Mary Bono-Mack, State Senator Tony Strickland, and Assemblymembers Nathan Fletcher and Sharon Runner. More later if someone doesn’t beat me to it.… Read More