This is the kind of data that moves political giving. A win for Carly Fiorina over Barbara Boxer in California is not just a pickup of one seat in the United States Senate (possibly the win that gives a majority to the GOP) — but the symbolism of such a win, going into the 2012 elections, would be staggering. Especially when you consider that the Democrats have pulled out all of the stops for Boxer, including campaign events featuring both the President and Vice President.

If you have any doubt about the importance of a final and hard push for Fiorina in the closing days of this campaign season, read this memo from well respected pollster Dave Sackett of the Tarrance Group. Then recommit to doing as much as you can, whether through financial giving or grassroots activism… MEMORANDUM DATE: OCTOBER 20, 2010 TO: CARLY FOR… Read More

Read this story about a local candidate (where I once sat on the city council) who apparently got a bit overzealous in setting up a backdrop for her photo and video shoot…

La Mesa mayoral challenger talks trash Shades of the William Hurt character setting up a falsified shot inthe classic "Broadcast News" scene.

My advice today is simple. As a public official — or as a "public" candidate — anything you do outside the confines of your own home will be seen by someone.

Whether you do it…well, you might consider measuring that not by whether you think you can get away with it, but instead by if you want to see a story about it in the newspaper.

Actually, you know, you could also measure whether to do it by asking yourself if it’s right or wrong.

Just a thought.

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

The campaign website you have up…it looks great!

Just wondering, though. Why would you have a website, partly to show how accessible you are, but make it so difficult for people tocontact you through it?

There’s an online contact form, you say, where people can sign up to donate, endorse or volunteer.

Yep, there is.But, where is the phone number and email address? I’m not seeing it.

So, let me get this straight. If a reporter on deadline wants to make contact, you want them to fill out a form? The potential donor that has some questions and wants to talk to you directly first, same thing?Fill out the form?How about the voter that simply wants to call and talk to you? Did you include the online form indicating, "Make a request to talk to the candidate"?

I bet someone told you that you’d have so many people contacting the campaign, that it would be too burdensome to field all the phone calls and emails without a web form.

Maybe it’s really too burdensome to run for office.

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All of Barry’s … Read More

With unemployment in California at 12.4% and climbing, millions of Californians are looking for work. News reports on local job fairs describe thousands of people showing up in the hope they can find some type of employment from one of the few companies still able to hire. In essence, these job fairs have become no-jobs fairs, exposing the ugly truth that Californians are desperate for work. Drawing attention to the government policies contributing to decreasing employment opportunities, Americans for Prosperity California launched a “Save Our Jobs” Tour last week. Part of the tour includes a “No Jobs Fair” exhibit that shows exactly how regulations such as AB 32 are set to kill more than 1.1 million additional jobs in California.Each display at the "No Jobs Fair" showed an industry that has already lost jobs due to over-regulation, and is set to lose even more due to AB 32.

… Read More

A new poll released from my friends over at Wilson Research Strategies have both Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman up.

The survey, taken last week on the 13th and 14th of 800 Likely Voters, shows Carly over Boxer 46%-43%, and Whitman up over Brown 45%-44%.

As public polls get tossed around almost daily now, it is worth noting than an independent analysis earlier this year showed Wilson Research as the second most accurate polling firm in the country, and just a hair out of the top spot. So, as publicly available numbers go – these might be pretty good ones to pay attention to.… Read More

Thought I was done? Nahhh, just thought I’d give you the last 10 days to implement my previous advice. Your campaign should be humming along by now.

So, are you disappointed by the small turnout for your precinct walk over the weekend? I thought so. You know, it probably doesn’t help to be calling volunteers on Thursday and Friday to ask them to come out on Saturday. Poor advance planning on the part of the campaign doesn’t make your crisis a crisis for anyone else, especially when they’ve already made plans.

You (or, hopefully, your campaign staff) should be calling volunteers as much as two to three weeks in advance, then following up with them as it gets closer.The pitch should be about options, not an opportunity to say yes or no: "We’re walking this Saturday at 10 am and 2 pm, and next Saturday at both those times. Which is best for you?"

Two weekends left. Better start calling.

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

The ongoing legal saga regarding California Young Republicans has taken a significant legal turn. YR dissidents led by Andy Stanley and affiliated with Congressman Kevin McCarthy, lost in court yesterday. Jenniffer Rodriguez was elected President and Rohit Joy was elected as Secretary of the California Young Republicans at the February, 2010 California Young Republican Convention. Mr. Stanley’s group did not accept this result and appealed it first to the parent organization, the Young Republicans National Federation (YRNF). The YRNF rejected their election challenge. The dissidents then filed a second challenge, this time before the California Republican Party volunteer organization’s committee. The dissidents lost this hearing as well. The YR dissidents filed an arbitration action against Rodriguez and Joy, burdening both of them with potentially ruinous legal fees and arbitration costs.

The arbitration was scheduled to commence on Monday, October 18, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. The arbitrator already indicated that he was going to require the losing party to pay the arbitrator’s fees, which added up to… Read More

Every cycle there is a race or twothat confounds the “experts”. Last week in Sacramento I was telling people to watch the South Bay part of Los Angeles for such a race. In particular I would tell anyone that would listen to look at the 53rd Assembly District.

The 53rd assembly District is made of many of the Beach Cities including El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Marina del Rey, Redondo Beach, and Torrance. The seat is an open seat with term limits forcing out Assemblyman Ted Lieu.

The Democratic nominee after a bruising primary is trial attorney association fundraiser Betsy Butler. The GOP nominee is radar systems engineer and South Bay Tea Partyleader Nathan Mintz. Mintz has raised over a hundred grand and secured endorsements of former Mayor Richard Riordan, Supervisor Don Knabe and the Mayors of several cities in the District. He has a good ground operation well.

With all that comes some polling from Stephen Kinney and Public Opinion Strategies.

The survey was conducted of 300 likely voters in the 53rd Assembly District from October 16th through October 17th, 2010. The margin of error of this survey… Read More