From today’s Wall Street Journal Political Diary E-mail:

A Long Wait for Absentee California

Don’t expect to get results from California’s crucial primary anytime tonight. In fact, if the GOP or Democratic race is close, it may be well into tomorrow before results are known and shape conventional wisdom about who "won" Super Tuesday.

The reason for the delay is twofold: absentee voting and paper ballots. Something like 45% of Californians now vote absentee and many will wait to drop off their mail-in ballots at their polling places today. Each mail-in ballot must be opened by hand, the signature compared with the signature on file, and then tabulated manually. That takes time.… Read More

Tomorrow is a big day, as the mice-uber-alles crowd swarms tomorrow’s California Coastal Commission meeting, where the Commission will vote on whether the proposed 241 completion route complies with the California Coastal Act.

The enviros will be all over the hearing, which will be held at the Del Mar fairground in San Diego County, falsely claiming completing the 241 will ruin Trestles beach, wipe out a mouse no one has been able to catch and a trout no one has seen, and "destroy" San Onofre State Beach.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies encourages those who are interested in standing up for traffic relief and common sense over hysteria to attend the commission meeting. TCA can arrange transportation, etc — so those interested should click here for more information.… Read More

Speaking for the Republican side of things, I found this chart in today’s Sacramento Bee on the delegate selection process to be accurate and informative. So if you are confused about how it works, check it out.

While I thought our GOP system was a tad confusing, wait until you see how the Dems do things…

I do note that the "D" in Democrat Party must not be a small "d" — as nearly 20% of Democrat delegates to their convention are "Super Delegates" who are delegates by virtue of a position they hold, and are not bound by the vote of the primary. Less than 2% of California’s Republican delegates are "Super Delegates" — by comparison.… Read More

For our political junkie readers: 4 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Georgia primaries. 5 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee primaries. 5:30 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Arkansas primaries. 6 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Kansas Democratic caucuses and the New Mexico Democratic primary, as well as the Colorado caucuses for both parties and the primaries for both parties in Arizona, Minnesota, and New York. … Read More

Going into Super Tuesday, everyone (including our own analyst, John Lewis), hadWest Virginia favoring Mitt Romney. I knew that McCain had a strong force there, but not quite at Romney’s level. So I just about came out of my chair when I read that Mike Huckabee won the state’s delegates.

Get this – it’s a "convention" state, so the GOP delegates are elected in a very political environment. On the first ballot, Romney fell shy of what he needed to clinch the delegates. Behind him. But not too far, was McCain. Huckabee got only a handful of votes.

So what happened? Apparenlty, in order to deprive Romney of an eventual win, the McCain folks through their support, en masse, to the Huckster.

Now THAT is hardball politics.… Read More

Just in from Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman on a very important issue…

Completion of the Orange County Toll-Road — a Statewide Benefit that Needs to Move Forward Now

By Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman (R-Tustin)

With the State in a Fiscal Emergency, California Can Lead by Taking Advantage of this Public-Private Partnership California faces a golden opportunity. With worn down roads, congested traffic and a $14 billion budget deficit, we need alternatives to fund critical infrastructure projects. Our golden opportunity? We can take advantage of a public private partnership by supporting the completion of State Route 241 and Orange County’s system of Toll Roads. The Transportation Corridors Agencies are offering California two smart solutions to our statewide challenges of relieving traffic congestion and building costly infrastructure. They would build State Route 241 at no cost to California taxpayers, and give $100 million to improve California State Parks. This equals one-fourth of the State Parks Department annual operating budget, and given the State Parks… Read More

I’ll be attending the national Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Feb. 7-9 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel as a member of the Board of Directors of the sponsoring organization, American Conservative Union, and look forward to reporting developments on this blog. This year’s CPAC will kick-off just two days after Super Tuesday, and should include a great deal of debate about the status of the Presidential election. The conference organizers are preparing 5,000 registration packets for attendees and the event has been sold out for a couple weeks. This year’s conference will include for the first time during this Administration, appearances by both President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. And just about every national conservative leader.… Read More

If your name has been submitted by the Romney for President Campaign or the McCain for President Campaign as a prospective delegate for this summer’s Republican National Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul, you may have a long night and early morning ahead. Over the past few days, we have seen several public opinion polls attempting to gauge who will win the GOP primary here in the Golden State. Some of these surveys show Senator Mccain ahead, others show Governor Romney ahead. Others show that it is neck and neck. The reality is probably somewhere in this range – it will be a tight race. For those who are frustrated about the disparagy of some of the polling results, I would take heed in something my friend and fellow blogger Adam Probolsky (a public opinion pollster by profession) likes to say, "The results of a survey of voters is only as accurate as your ability to try and predict who is likely to actually vote." There are predictions for a record turn out by California voters today. This isn’t surprising since on both sides of the political spectrum, Golden State voters will be actually making a… Read More