Setting last nights unpleasantness aside for a moment, ithad beenexpected the Guv will announce a special session on our crumbling budget and call for that today, with the likelihood that the Assembly and Senate will convene that session Thursdayand immediately recess it. The caucuses meet anyway on Thursday to elect their caucus leaders so everyone will be in town anyway, the termed out and the newbies.Conveningit allows the special session budget committees to be formed and perhaps hammer out some fixes to the massive budget revenue shortfall..or not.

Republicans remain firm that no new tax, sales tax, tax onbusiness, whatever,will help fix thisslumped over economyor subsequently, state revenues.Instead removing dumb mandates like AB 32 could help kickstart some investor confidence, along with our position of tax credit incentives to employ people and invest in this state, not Nevada. We’ll see. It would figure that we only have til November 25 with this session as Thanksgiving is 2 days later and the true end of the term is November 30 at midnight. The new crop will be sworn in the… Read More

I have gotten a lot of e-mails and a few phone calls this morning lamenting the "loss" of Tony Strickland’s bid for State Senate in the 19th District. Currently, he is down around 100 votes to Hannah Beth "Taxin’" Jackson.

That said, the race is FAR FROM OVER. In the Ventura County Star, it is being reported that "tens of thousands" of late absentee and provision ballots remain to be counted. You can be sure that similar large numbers of late votes remain to be cast in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles County portions of this sprawling district.

I have no doubt that Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans have dispatched their top operatives and attorneys to the three Registrar offices, as this kind of thing turns into quite a production.

It actually reminds me of a similar situation not too long ago. Jeff Denham was down over 300 votes on election night in his first bid for the State Senate in 2002. He went on to win by over 1800 votes. Like Strickland, Denham was called "too conservative" for… Read More

We’ll put out a Winners & Losers column for this General Election. Who should make the list? Who were the movers in front of the ballot measures? How about behind the scenes? Architects of legislative wins or defeats? How about some big local races? IE’s that worked? Didn’t work? Send in your suggestions, and we’ll try to see if we can’t inflate the egos of some winners — and dump on the losers (politely, in most cases).

Send in your suggestions here, or comment below.… Read More

The elves all had other plans this morning, so I am busy trying to compile the main news page. Look for it around 9am. After that, I will start tackling the 15 or so short analysis pieces that I would rather be writing right now! But, first things first…… Read More

And so it goes.

There’s a saying in PR, lobbying and public affairs: "What’s bad for business, is good for business." Business and labor seem to see some bad on the horizon, at least according to this report over at The Hill.

In the House, Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R-Fl.) plans to step down. Good for him: not because he should leave, but because too few Republicans don’t think it’s time for them to leave. Rep. Putnam has a long future ahead in conservative politics. Here is how the Politico plays it.

CQ Politics also takes a look at House Republican leadership options, here.

And here is how RedState plays sees it.

Over at Human Events, Rowan Scarborough writes on the role he sees (fears?) for George Soros in an Obama administration.

Pat Buchanan writes on Bush, here, over at… Read More

The 2nd District, Wally Herger’s, came thru strong, with nearly 57%. Dan Lungren did OK, too, in the 3rd with 49 to 44% in a 4 way race. I’m at McClintock HQ right now in Roseville, where the numbers are very close…much closer than this district should be but it’s obviously a wacky year. Right now it sits at a 500 vote lead for Tom with a bunch left to count in Nevada County, where they have quit counting for the night. The McClintock crew is on top of it, monitoring thecounty officeswhereneeded overnight and early tomorrow morning.Thisseat has no business falling into the wrong hands and should be ours at the end of it, as Tom feels good about how the numbers will break to him. What a night.… Read More

Back in the early 1990’s all I heard about was how the Republican Party needed to be a “big tent.” The idea was to embrace anyone who wanted to be a Republican regardless of what that person stood for.

Of course that is how we get tax raising Governors like the one here in California. But what you also get are politicians that will put a bullet in your back as soon as the going gets tough.

Let’s look at John McCain. John McCain is no conservative. There are many issues where he went “maverick” rather than the generally excepted conservative position. Joe Lieberman reminded us of all those things during the RNC Convention.

So who stabbed him inthe back? Was it conservatives?

Collin Powell. This guy was made by Ronald Reagan and then the Bushes (not conservatives either). An enormous amount of Republican resources were spent promoting the General. Unfortunately, he isn’t the only one.

Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, and Sen. Charles Mathias Jr. , Former Congressmen Jim Leach, Cong. Wayne Gilchrest and Former Mass. Governor Bill Weld all joined the team. How much did the Republican Party spend on behalf of these guys?… Read More

The entire Congressional delegation will be re-elected. There was some media reports that caused concern over Rohrabacher and Calvert.

No surprises in the legislative races.

Supervisor Janet Nguyen’s chief of staff, Andrew Do is on top for election to the Garden Grove city council, but late mail could have an impact.

Assemblyman Bob Huff’s district director, Tim Shaw is the top vote getter among absentees for the La Habra city council.

Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido is set to win another term, it will be his seventh term. Terms are two years.

It does not look like Orange County will have a 35th city. Rossmoor cityhood is failing 73% to 28%.

See OC Registrar results updated here.… Read More