So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night I hate to go and leave this pretty site

Blogging on the FlashReport has been great fun the past few months and has provided a useful forum for my political observations, passions and general rantings.

Jon Fleischman has really established an impressive conservative website that carries a great deal of political influence in California. The Democrats have yet to measure up to the standard he set or provide an ideological alternative that is as current or newsworthy.

That said, I’m passing the baton to the growing list of new bloggers Jon has brought on board in order to begin a new project with the ABC affiliate in Sacramento at News10.net.

The new blog I’m writing for is called “Behind the Ballot” and features myself and Robin Swanson, a Democratic strategist who, like me, appears regularly on the Fox News Channel. I encourage you to check our new venturewhich will go live later tonight. Tomorrow morning, Robin and I will appear on News 10’s morning show (at the ghastly hour of 6 AM) to promo… Read More

San Bernardino County Republican Party Chairman Bill Postmus today announced the Republican Central Committee’s endorsements for 62 candidates and measures on the November 7 ballot.

Click here to see the list.

"We received requests from more than 80 candidates, an unprecedented number," Postmus said. "Every year our party is getting more and more successful at helping Republicans get elected to local office, and the demand for our support has grown every election."

Those candidates endorsed by the county party are included in its voter contact programs, including direct mail, telephone calls, and precinct walks. Since 2000, 85% of GOP-endorsed candidates have won their respective races. Thanks in part to the GOP’s voter contact programs and heavy Get-Out-The-Vote efforts, cities such as Fontana and Ontario, traditionally Democrat strongholds, have been swung to the Republican column.… Read More

Democrat elected officials and candidates just slay me sometimes. They consider themselves intellectually and morally superior than all of society, yet their political strategies are just idiotic. Now Phil Angelides, probably the worst Statewide candidate ever fielded by the Democrats, has finally found his issue – the Iraq war! Yes! That will do it! What genius!

Memo to Democrats: you ran on the Iraq war in 2004 and lost. You are running on the Iraq war in 2006 and aregoing to lose again.

The President’s poll numbers, in my judgment, are not about any one issue. His 9-11 tribute speeches, falling gas prices, and hysterical rhetoric from the left are all important, but not the main reason his approval ratings are up. Here’s the reason:

He’s on OFFENSE. Republicans are so desperate to see their elected officials on offense, rather than the usual backpedaling, that the base gets very fired up when we go on the attack. If we stay on offense through election day, the election cycle will go well.

GOP prospects across the country rise and fall beginning with what is… Read More

According to the Department of Insurance’s website, since 2002, when Garamendi was re-elected, the average insurance premium for homeowners has risen thirty-two percent. Today, California’s homeowners are paying nearly a $1000 ($919), when in 2002 they paid an average of $698. Meanwhile, the number of homes insured has increased by 200,000 every year. This isn’t due to Garamendi, it’s due to the burgeoning economy, particularly the growth in the housing market. But that’s not the whole story. Since 2002, more than fifty homeowners insurance companies have been driven out of the California market (from 166 in 2002 to 113 today).

The fact is John Garamendi has reigned over an inflexible market that is burdened by regulatory abuse. According to an Orange County Register editorial and Garamendi’s own website, he says he’s had “insurance companies in the crosshairs.” Yet, privately, Garamendi’s acted as insurance companies’… Read More

According to the Department of Insurance’s website, since 2002, when Garamendi was re-elected, the average insurance premium for homeowners has risen thirty-two percent. Today, California’s homeowners are paying nearly a $1000 ($919), when in 2002 they paid an average of $698. Meanwhile, the number of homes insured has increased by 200,000 every year. This isn’t due to Garamendi, it’s due to the burgeoning economy, particularly the growth in the housing market. But that’s not the whole story. Since 2002, more than fifty homeowners insurance companies have been driven out of the California market (from 166 in 2002 to 113 today). I have attached a .pdf file at the bottom that provides statistics.

The fact is John Garamendi has reigned over an inflexible market that is burdened by regulatory abuse. According to an Orange County Register editorial and Garamendi’s own website, he says he’s had “insurance companies in the… Read More

I usually don’t read Bill Bradley, and frankly neither of us could pick each other out of a line-up. Up until the last 10 minutes or so, I had no idea what his background was.

But I happened to check in on www.rtumble.com and noticed Bradley’s comments about the decline of partisan registration and partisanship in general. In short, he states the real fact that Decline to State Voters have increased in number, and then attributes to them a series of ideological beliefs.

Here is the problem: it’s actually much, much more complicated than that.

Here’s what I’ve gathered from my polling and voter identification of DTS and American Independent voters (they don’t think George Wallace… they think they are ‘independent voters’): there are distinct subgroups you can’t ‘average’ together unless you want to screw up voter contact.

In short, and I’m looking at data (both polling and voter ID and this is average) from 5 Assembly Districts, a Congressional District, and several cities, about 1/3 of this Independent bloc are closet Republicans who pretty much vote the ticket.… Read More

I received my afternoon update from the Sacramento Bee, in it they have their profile on Democrat Insurance Commissioner Cruz Bustamante.

There is an audio segment titled, "Bustamante says opponent Steve Poizner doesn’t understand how a bureaucracy works." I can’t listen to the file for some reason, but I don’t need too, the label says it all.

Is Cruz trying to move ahead of Phil Angelides for the worst campaign in 2006?

If this is Bustamante’s attack on Steve Poizner, Poizner should pay to put it onto television for him. Come on, what voter wants to elect a politician that defends bureaucracy.… Read More

The new PPIC poll shows Governor Schwarzenegger up 48 – 31 over Phil Angelides.

Angelides is leading among Democrats by 57-21.

Schwarzenegger is up among Republicans, 82-4.

Among independents, it’s Schwarzenegger by 42-27.

Among men: 54-27.

Among women: 41-24.

Schwarzenegger is even getting 30 percent among Latinos.

The question is, will this produce coattails for McClintock, Poochigian, Strickland and the rest of the downticket?

And, in the face of these numbers, will the unions really spend $25 million?… Read More