The FlashReport’s Beltway Correspondent, Congressman John Campbell, has just endorsed Congressman Mike Pence for House Republican Leader. We will follow his lead as a publication, and I want to announce that the FlashReport endorses Mike Pence for Republican Leader of the House of Representatives.

We have been following, and applauding the conservative moxie of Pence for a couple of years now, since he took over the reigns of the Republican Study Committee, the conservative caucus within the entire GOP conference.

When Republicans take the kind of drubbing they took last Tuesday, the honorable thing to do is for the existing leadership TEAM (yes, all of them, not some of them) to step aside and let new leaders emerge to try and win policy and political battles in the next session and election. Unfortunately we have a couple of leaders in the House — John Boehner and Roy Blunt — who are suffering from a classic case of "it wasn’t me" syndrome. I have news for both of… Read More

I thought the readers of the Flash Report would be interested in reading the following letter. It is a letter I sent a couple minutes agoto my fellow Republican House members endorsing Mike Pence for the position of House Minority Leader:

Dear Republican Colleague: I would like to ask you to join me in supporting Mike Pence for Minority Leader. My support of Mike is not due to any real or perceived shortcomings of either of his opponents. They are both fine men with excellent records, but I believe Mike will bring a new voice to leadership that can lead us back into the majority.

An axiom in politics is to win by securing your base then extending from it. Arguably, we did neither in this past election. First and foremost, we must show the country and our base that we have gotten their message and understand that change is necessary. By putting a fresh face in leadership who is dedicated to the core principals of our party and can skillfully articulate these principals, we can restore the country’s confidence in the Republican Party. Mike Pence… Read More

Was Victory ’06 a success? After over 20 million dollars spent that is an open question for me. I have my doubts. The Governor was on the way to victory long before the GOTV operation was needed. Maybe Poizner benefited. Although he really benifited from Bustamante.

First, I want to point out that I know something on this scale has not been tried before. I know many Victory ’06 staffers. Many of them are great operatives. People can work hard and effectively in campaigns and still not achieve objectives. To be successful in the future requires us to take a hard look at some of these things.

I admit to only knowing a few things. Turnout in GOP areas was lower than four years ago. Imagine that. A "GOP" Governor is winning by 17% and turnout is worse than when we lose by 5%. What gives?

There are definitely someoutside factors at work. The National GOP collapse didn’t help. The Governor’s refusal to appear with or speak kindly about down ticket candidates was a factor. His message of a bigger bond debt and more nanny statism appealed to Dems, but not GOP voters.… Read More

I can think of a lot of reasons why Rep. Dan Lungren doesn’t deserve a leadership post in the the new minority GOP House.

1) He ran a poor campaign for governor when he was the Republican nominee.

2) He left the California Republican Party over a million dollars in debt but then kept nearly as much in his own campaign account. Even after repeated attempts by outgoing chairman Mike Schroeder and incoming chairman John McGraw to collect on Lungren’s debt, he refused.

**There is more – click the link**

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I can think of a lot of reasons why Rep. Dan Lungren doesn’t deserve a leadership post in the the new minority GOP House.

1) He ran a poor campaign for governor when he was the Republican nominee.

2) He left the California Republican Party over a million dollars in debt but then kept nearly as much in his own campaign account. Even after repeated attempts by outgoing chairman Mike Schroeder and incoming chairman John McGraw to collect on Lungren’s debt, he refused.

3) He doesn’t listen to anyone. If we are going to take back the majority any time soon, we need leaders who are engaged and inclusive and able to relate to the voters. Lungren brings none of that to the table.

Care to add additional reasons of your own?

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

When the GOP lost control of Congress last week, there was much talk about Nancy Pelosi bringing San Francisco values to the nation’s capitol. Today, local officials in San Francisco take on two issues that show how remarkably out of touch San Francisco is with the rest of the country.

The San Francisco‘s Board of Education is expected to vote to eliminate the JROTC program from San Francisco public schools today. In typical San Francisco style, supporters of cutting the program say that the military has no place in public schools and that the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy is in conflict with the school… Read More

I hope FR readers aren’t tired of elections. In LA County filing just opened for numerous locals offices. One name will be familiar. Former Redondo Beach mayor and Councilman Greg Hill will file for City Treasurer. Greg was the GOP candidate in the 53rd Assembly District.. After spending a million dollars on his name ID etc., the geniuses in the Assembly Caucusfound another candidate to run when a special was called a short time after that election in the 53rd.

The incumbent Ernie O’Dell is a Republican as well. We will see who files.… Read More

The first group of appointments are now out from Governor Schwarzenegger’s office since his re-election to a new term. This seems like a good time to start up the new FlashReport "Appointment Watch" Partisan Tally. We’ll do this for Judges, too. We are giving the Governor a clean slate — we’ll reset the appointment counters to zero!

Oh yes, I always like to emphasize that there are qualified individuals of all political parties to serve in positions of public trust. That having been said, how someone chooses to register gives you a quick idea of their general philosophy about politics and government.

So, here we go: On the Appointments today, there were five Republicans and four Democrats. Today’s Appointees: The Governor has appointed two to the Committee on Dental Auxiliaries for the Board of Dental Examiners. Rochelle Bache of Encino, a Democrat,… Read More