Moxie is defined in the dictionary as, "Aggressive energy; initiative."

Moxie is a word that I would use to describe the Schwarzenegger Campaign. In their latest television advertisement, the Governor’s Campaign charges straight into the anemic gun-barrel of Phil Angelides.

You can see the ad here as long as it is on the front of the Join Arnold website. The Angelides Campaign, has completely failed to define their own candidate at all. After having their candidate defined by Team Arnold as the man who wants to tax anything that moves to the tune of $18 billion, Angelides has been trying to shrink Schwarzenegger’s popular support by trying him to the currently-unpopular President George W. Bush. "Where does Phil Angelides live? All he talks about is President Bush…" opens the ad. It goes on to talk about how the… Read More

Over on the new Democrat site, two of the contributors are Gale Kaufman and Alan Arkatov. I probably would have been prepared to proclaim Kaufman to be the bigger union-hack of the two, just because she has a much higher profile, and has been so engaged on the front-side of pro-union causes. But I have now got some actual empirical evidence that officially gives the "Tip of the Cesar Chavez Grape Basket" to Kaufman…

Yesterday at the big lefty website kickoff event, I spoke with both Gale and Alan, and they both gave me their business cards… Only Gale’s was printed with the official union bug. Alan, does this mean you are ready to embrace paycheck protection? Maybe even become a GOPer?… Read More

Here are some thoughts, in no particular order, on the passing scene…

– At the CA Majority Report kickoff event, I was surprised how many Democrats I was meeting for the first time were quite candid in their expectation that Phil Angelides would lose. Some were senior Dem strategists.

– I know Ben Lopez. Ben Lopez is a friend of mine. Ben Lopez is not Lou Sheldon.

– I got irked that someone from the Governor’s Team tried to console me on the minimum wage increase by saying that at least we didn’t get stuck with indexing the minimum wage to inflation. Given that there zero GOP votes in the legislature to override a veto of ANY hike in the wage mandate, it wasn’t too much comfort.

– The most surreal moment of my week came when I saw the words “Flash Report” come out of the mouth of Gray Davis.

– The big education bond measure on the ballot should be called the “Blue County Bond” – a local school district has to put up matching funds to get the bond funds, but only liberal areas will pass local tax increases to create the matching funds.

– The OC Board… Read More

If there was ever an argument for hiring a political consultant, the really sorry excuses for ballot statements that pop up every election is one of them.

I will hight light several glaring examples of how candidates do the unthinkable…feel free to send me your own examples.

In today’s example, my favorite so far this year, Mr. Che Hill, in the FIRST LINE of his ballot statement, proclaims: "My name is Che Hill. I was named after the Cuban Revolutionary Che Guevara." [See the full ballot statement attached below.]

I prefer Guevara’s Bolivian work myself but something tells me the people of Perris where Che was planning on running for city council would not have appreciated the distinction.

Luckily they won’t have to. You see Che did not qualify for the ballot. I am not sure why and I am unclear as to whether he paid for the ballot statement anyway, but I am too embarrassed for him to even ask.

More from the ballot statements of… Read More

For a number of years now the San Diego Republicans and the Orange Republicans have argued good-naturedly which organization was most capable of doing the basic jobs of a county party: registering voters, recruiting candidates, turning out the vote, and raising money. The record has been back and forth, with surges in activity from either county that thinks it’s visibly slipping.

So as a San Diego partisan who lived and worked in Orange for a couple years in the Fuentes era, I was interested in an email that come through the pipes today describing what sounds like a little competition between the two counties. I like competition. Competition is usually pretty good in determining winners and losers. Looks like Orange County Young Republicans and San Diego Young Republicans have a little wager over which club can recruit the most volunteers for the Republican Party during the dog days of summer. I hear the winner gets bragging rights and BBQ – and that the losers are humiliated in a manner not befitting description for the gentle readers of this blog.

I also hear the Orange County Young Republicans are getting lapped like I did when I ran the Three… Read More

I will be hosting for Fresno based Ray Appleton today from 12:00 – 2:00 pm on Newstalk 580. Topics will include the Governor’s race, Political Misery and more. Tune in.

Also, I had the following letter published in the Wall Street Journal today:

LETTERS The Lamont Wing Is a Threat to Security

Gen. Wesley Clark could not be more mistaken in his argument that "The truth is that Democrats are as patriotic as Republicans, want a strong and secure America, and like every other American, want to trust the president and his team on national security issues" ("A Judgment on Iraq," editorial page, Aug. 10). The result wasn’t a judgment on Iraq. I have seen absolutely no evidence that the left wing of the Democratic Party remotely approaches anything patriotic, or that it wants a secure America, or that it will trust the president on national security issues. The left, seething with hatred, is breathtakingly weak on national security matters and hides behind feckless organizations like the U.N. at every turn. Leftists openly root for our defeat in international affairs and mockingly criticize our… Read More

Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. I came home on Sunday from the State GOP Convention all pumped up for the Fall elections. The Governor’s speech was great, and really fired me up. The Governor asked the audience, "What do we say to more government control?" The audience answered with a resounding "NO!" Well, by agreeing to hike the mandated wage that California businesses, large and small, must pay employees, the Governor has said a resounding "YES" to more government control. And that is exactly what has happenned – as Arnold Scharzenegger, without the support of our GOP legislative caucuses, has cut a deal with legislative Democrats to impose more government control on all California employers. His support for hiking the minimum wage (to the highest in the nation) strikes right at the heart of those who believe that the size and scope and regulatory authority of government is too vast, and that at risk is the liberty of all Californians. This… Read More

Talk about taking the wind out of my sails. I came home on Sunday from the State GOP Convention all pumped up for the Fall elections. The Governor’s speech was great, and really fired me up. The Governor asked the audience, "What do we say to more government control?" The audience answered with a resounding "NO!" Well, by agreeing to hike the mandated wage that California businesses, large and small, must pay employees, the Governor has said a resounding "YES" to more government control. And that is exactly what has happenned – as Arnold Scharzenegger, without the support of our GOP legislative caucuses, has cut a deal with legislative Democrats to impose more government control on all California employers. His support for hiking the minimum wage (to the highest in the nation) strikes right at the heart of those who believe that the size and scope and regulatory authority of government is too vast, and that at risk is the liberty of all Californians. This… Read More