Flashreport Blog

Neither Mitt Romney nor Gary Johnson stand a chance of winning California. That doesn’t mean you should rush to the nearest swing state this GOTV weekend. There are plenty of competitive races right here in California, and San Diego tops the list of most important battlegrounds. Here are the top ten reasons you should spend GOTV weekend in the landof the Chargers, Padres and Ron Burgundy.

10. The Mayor’s Race is a Dead Heat: GOTV Will Decide the Election:According tothe latest SD METRO/Probolsky Research poll, the San Diego mayor’s race is a dead heat. The Probolsky Research poll showed “DeMaio favored by 41.3 percent of the voters and Filner with 40.5 percent, with 18.2 percent unsure or refused to answer.” I asked Adam Probolsky for his interpretation of the numbers. He said, “San Diego voters are struggling. They support President Obama, but they are fighting the urge to vote for a Democrat for mayor. That is why DeMaio maintains a… Read More

San Diego Politics & Media Mashup

Cross posted at San Diego Rostra

At a fundraiser for Carl DeMaio on Wednesday I heard the mayoral candidate make some points I hadn’t heard him make before.

Speaking to members of the San Diego County Apartment Association, for whom I am privileged to do some work, Councilman DeMaio said someday he would like to write a book about how he helped turn San Diego around, and the positive affect government reform has had on local neighborhoods. He said he wants to tour the world to discuss his book.

He said he would not have a Chief Operating Officer as mayor. Instead, he said, he would appoint a handful of deputy mayors. The Republican councilman and fiscal hawk also said there would be some Democrats at high levels in his administration.

The latest polling shows he and Congressman Bob Filner in a statistical dead heat, DeMaio said. It also shows, he said, that if he’s able to share his primary messages with… Read More

San Diego Politics & Media Mashup

I’m not sure what’s worse: suggesting the Republican Party is racist or calling someone a criminal while offering no evidence to support the claim.

Congressman Bob Filner, running for mayor in San Diego, did both of those things in a span of a few days.

Adding fuel to the fire was local labor Lorena Gonzalez. More on her in a minute. First, Filner.

At a mayoral debate Thursday, Filner played the race card while refuting a point by City Councilman and mayoral candidate Carl DeMaio.

“They (the Republican Party) are a party that does not believe that the people of color in this nation deserve an equal chance, they do not believe that Mexico is worthy of respect as a nation,” Filner said, according to KPBS.

Monday on KOGO, host LaDona Harvey noted that Filner basically accused her and a whole bunch of other people of being racist without offering any proof.

Within the hour, Filner was doing the same thing —… Read More

The rumors about Democrat Bob Filner signing Republican political consultant Tom Shepard to run his San Diego mayoral campaign became reality on Wednesday.

The U-T San Diego posted astoryabout the move last night. A blog post went up on San Diego Rostra about the same time. And there was Tony Krvaric’s email blast. The chair of local GOP didn’t mince words. His subject line: “BREAKING: Tom Shepard betrays our reform effort and signs on with Bob Filner!”

Krvaric closed by saying: “PS. The Republican Party of San Diego County will not do business with him ever again as long as I remain chairman. Elephants don’t forget – and principles matter.”

Shepard is a friend and a mentor. We’ve worked together. I admire and respect him. He took the loss in the June primary hard — he represented Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, who finished third behind DeMaio… Read More

San Diego Politics & Media Mashup

Republican Carl DeMaio has hired a Democrat and Democrat Bob Filner is on board with pension reform.

Who spiked the water in San Diego?

Relax. There’s no need to panic. The water is clean…I mean drinkable. So why are we seeing New Carl and New Bob popping up in stories?

Here’s the thing — election season is nearly in full swing and DeMaio and Filner, the two men running to become San Diego’s next mayor, have to figure out how to appeal to the middle in order to come out on top in November. In San Diego, 40 percent of registered voters are Democrats and 28 percent are registered Republican.

Math is leading both candidates to stray from their core philosophies and make decisions they never would have made leading up to the June… Read More

The Californian initiative process pains me.

Great idea on paper, but in reality – we’ve allowed idle lawmakers to relinquish responsibilities to the public, which supposedly hired them for the job.

Yet, even when voters “decide” (measure proponents love to say that), it’s rarely the end of the discussion.

Days, weeks or months later, a psuedo-lamaker legislates from the bench and we’re back where we started with just a dash more bitterness.

It’s a wonder voters show up at all anymore.

In good old San Diego, there’s an epic battle playing out over an initiative that’s got all the makings of a daytime drama.

The initiative proposes reforming the City’s guaranteed pension system and replacing it with a 401(k)-style plan for “most” new hires.

Basically, the so-called “comprehensive pension reform” eliminates pensions in favor of 401(k)s for all new hires but police officers (one of the proponents, Mayor Jerry Sanders, is a former police chief) and proposes a five-year hold on current employee salaries used to calculate future pensions.

A… Read More

City Councilman Carl DeMaio’s mayoral campaign picked up a major endorsement this weekend from the Republican Party of San Diego County. In advance of the vote, Voice of San Diego’s Andrew Donohuepredicted it would be “a big boost for the candidate who got it.”The endorsement is an important development for DeMaio’s campaign and will pave the way for financial and institutional support in the June primary.

Institutional and financial support from the Republican Party means a great deal in San Diego, where County GOP Chairman Tony Krvaric and Executive Director Barrett Tetlow have assembled one of the finest party operations in the country. Several hundred activists routinely attend the monthly central committee meeting and scores of volunteers turn out for “off-year” campaign activities.

On the financial side, the San Diego GOP will be able to provide DeMaio’s campaign with contributions above the city’s… Read More

Camp Carl DeMaio must be doing a jig.

Earlier this week, the councilman signed highly-respected pollster John Nienstedt of Competitive Edge Research & Communication.

So far, the polling for the San Diego mayoral race ain’t been what most of us race watchers would consider legit.

This move signifies a tipping point in the race that will no doubt lead to some substantive research providing supporters, donors and voters alike a clearer view of the field.

The most recent poll, conducted by SurveyUSA from Jan. 30 to Feb. 3 for KGTV, Channel 10, showed DeMaio in the top spot with 25 percent of the vote followed closely by long-time Democrat Congressman Bob Filner with 24 percent.

Trailing behind the pair were Republicans, District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis with 14 percent and state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher at 13 percent.

Respondents in the… Read More