Last evening, I had the opportunity to attend the annual dinner gala honoring the memory of Sir Winston Churchill at which the Claremont Institute presents its coveted Henry Salvatori Prize in the American Founding. This year’s honoree was Ambassador John Bolton.

In accepting the prize, John Bolton opened his remarks by commenting on the stark contrast America is facing relative to choices for the Presidency. He talked about how the greatest threat facing our new President will be the growing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction around the world.

Bolton expressed a word of warning about a Presidential candidate who expresses his willingness to sit down, without preconditions, with leaders of hostile countries — but fails to tell the American people what it is he would say to those… Read More

It’s that time. THE San Diego General Election Contest. Read below and take a stab. Pretty straightforward this time, no “name the top two” type questions. San Diego area only, no presidential or statewide issues. Every correct answer is worth one point.

Question #1: A Taxing Question – Does Prop A, the Countywide Parcel Tax for Fire Protection, win or lose?

Question #2: San Diego City Attorney – Will Jan Goldsmith garner more or less than 55 percent of the vote?

Question #3: 78th Assembly – Block or McCann?

Question #4: Oceanside – Will Esther Sanchez retain her City Council seat, yes or no?

Question #5: Chula Vista – Will Steve Castaneda retain his City Council seat, yes or no?

Question #6: 50th Congressional – Will Brian Bilbray garner more or less than 60 percent of the vote?

Question #7: 52nd Congressional – Will Duncan D. Hunter garner more or less than 60 percent of the vote?

Question #8: District 1 SD City… Read More

Last evening, I had the opportunity to attend the annual dinner gala honoring the memory of Sir Winston Churchill at which the Claremont Institute presents its coveted Henry Salvatori Prize in the American Founding. This year’s honoree was Ambassador John Bolton.

In accepting the prize, John Bolton opened his remarks by commenting on the stark contrast America is facing relative to choices for the Presidency. He talked about how the greatest threat facing our new President will be the growing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction around the world.

Bolton expressed a word of warning about a Presidential candidate who expresses his willingness to sit down, without preconditions, with leaders of hostile countries — but fails to tell the American people what it is he would say to those… Read More

To get a perspective of the reliability of prior presidential polls we can see (click attachment below) that in 2004, every single major national poll underestimated Bush’s ultimate percentage win. However, only Marist and Fox News were completely wrong.

In 2000 the pollsters were generally more accurate. Most predicted Bush would win, but underestimated Gore ultimate percentage and exaggerated Bush’s final percentage.

Based on prior elections, it appears the most reliable national pollsters are TIPP [Investors Business Daily] and PEW Research for 2004. In the Bush vs. Gore 2000 race, Zogby, Gallop and PEW again were closest.… Read More

The election campaign is still not over but the use of the popular word "rebranding" of the Republican Party is becoming as recurrent as the word "Obama" in my private discussions with conservatives. Conservative leader and fundraiser Richard Viguerie is holding a well known "secret" meeting of Beltway conservative organizations next Thursday to assess the results of the election and what must be done to make the GOP a dominant force again. One of my prominent conservative clients is holding his own set of meetings before and after the election. In a conversation I had yesterday with a New York City-based lawyer/GOP activist, the major point of the discussion was, "I don’t see how Duncan can stay on as the Chairman of the Party." There is a palpable tendency this weekend among the people I talk with to not look at what is going to happen on Tuesday, but beyond.

To be honest, we have been here before. I took a quick look through my files this morning and found a copy of the Orange County Register’s "Orange County Voices," published on Sunday, March 14, 1993, a full… Read More

Joe Baca, a Democrat Member of Congress from the Inland Empire has drawn the wrath of citizens and local elected officials from within his district. These days, when you see negative advertisements on television or cable, they are typically either paid for by some Beltway interest, or funding by the campaign of a candidate’s opponent. Not so in this case, where local elected officials have come together to fund the two ads below blasting “Working” Joe Baca.

… Read More

I’ve previously posted on this site about the endorsements that have been made in legislative races by current City Managers. It is my belief that it violates the spirit of the code of ethics of the International City Managers Association.

Certainly city managers are individuals with first amendment rights like anyone else. However, most reasonable local government types would conclude that a truly professional city manager would want to avoid directly being involved with political campaigns for candidates in their jurisdiction.

So what about a City Attorney? I think most people would also conclude that a City Attorney would not want to be making contributions to candidates or independent expenditures that would shape the elected body that they serve as legal counsel.

As the hit pieces keep coming in the Victorville City Council race I started to get curious about the Committee Against Corruption. They have been attacking candidate Ryan McEachron, the top challenger to the three incumbents up for re-election on Tuesday.

So after doing a little digging on line I found that one of the contributors to the Committee Against Corruption was… Read More

The African-American community overwhelmingly supports Proposition, the Restore Marriage Initiative.

So it stands to reason that the venerable NAACP — the nation’s oldest African-American organization — would also be supportive of Proposition 8.

You’d think…

…but NAACP President Alice Huffman has come out against Proposition 8.

Now why would she go completely counter to the strong sentiment of the community whose interest she purports to advance?

Perhaps the answer is here. Alice Huffman’s public affairs consulting firm, AC Public Affairs, has recieved $198,000 by the No on * campaign.

Huffman has, in the past, accepted huge consulting fees to assist ballot measures that the NAACP has endorsed.

But for the NAACP president to take money to work against an initiative that is overwhelmingly supported by the very community for whom she holds herself out as a spokesperson?… Read More