Yesterday afternoon, I had an opportunity to sit down with Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney. For about seven and a half minutes, I spoke with the Governor about some major issues facing California — illegal immigration and the economy. I also had a chance to ask the Governor about his recent statewide television buy here in California, and his stategy on how to win here in the Golden State.

Governor Romney was very quick in this interview to make it clear that it is a two person race here in California, and that if Republicans in California want a conservative nominee for President, then he is our man.

I caught up to Governor Romney at the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine, just after he had finished up a major fundraising event. Before that, he held a large rally elsewhere in Orange County. After our interview, he traveled down to San Diego… Read More

Our publisher asked me, as a Rudy Giuliani supporter, if I intended to post on my thoughts on the election now that Giuliani is out of the race. I decided to take him up on the question. Here goes.

Some readers know I am a conservative Republican with a pedigree. I was a Reagan delegate at the 1976 Republican National Convention, served as State and National Chairman of YAF, was an original director of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, worked as a senior executive in the Reagan Administration, and am a national Board member of the American Conservative Union. Next week I will be attending the ACU Board meeting at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. where Board members will be discussing this same subject. Our Chairman, David Keene, is a prominent Romney supporter.

My wife and I originally supported Rudy for a combination of reasons. We strongly feel that national security is theissue that matters most for our country, and that Rudy was best suited to lead our country on that issue. We liked his tax cutting positions. I was willing to hold my nose on some of the other issues because of the leadership qualities… Read More

Last disclosure Auday Arabo showed 297k on hand… an amount that observers far and wide found very impressive. So all the talk over the past few weeks has been assuming Auday had the capability of raising even more.A lot more.

Last night at the ‘Back to Session Bash’ I discussed the 78th Assembly District endlessly with lobbyists and assorted political types. The general impression was that, while Auday Arabo was in serious trouble now that Maxine Sherrard was back in the race, he would show at least 250k more raised and at least 400k on hand, and that given Auday’s various past affiliations he would need every penny of it to even have a shot.

But upon reading Arabo’s report as it came over the wire just now, I was as surprised as anyone else to discover old Arabo had raised a total of 55k and ended with a cash balance of 299k. No movement. No momentum.… Read More

Cities throughout California are facing deficits similar to the state’s problems.Naturally, government-program saturated San Francisco has not been spared from ominous budget problems, and Mayor Gavin Newsom is taking drastic measures – at least that’s what he’s leading the public to believe.And, to reward himself, his staff is getting an extreme makeover. According to The San Francisco Chronicle (January 18, 2008), Newsom’s calls for fiscal conservation were contradicted with self-serving, expensive “improvements.” “After eliminating jobs and ordering departments to make drastic cuts to brace for a $229 million budget deficit, [the mayor] went on a spending spree to create an office at City Hall for his newly recruited team of aides.” … Read More

SOME THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE

Much has been written about last night’s debate, which you can find on our blog, on the main news page, and elsewhere around the internet. I will just make a few observations, take them for what they are worth: CNN should have dropped the pretenses of inviting Ron Paul to the debate as an equal candidate — I’ve never seen a serious politician with millions of supporters around the country treated with less respect. Anyone ever heard of equal time? Mitt Romney needed to keep John McCain and his positions on issues at the center of this debate — and he didn’t. John McCain, as the presumptive front-runner needed to keep his cool, and except for the Reagan question at the end, did just that. Mike Huckabee continued to demonstrate a level of charm that continues to make him popular enough to be a real pain to Romney. Ron Paul’s reference to the gold standard immediately made everyone think, "Nicholas Cage in National Treasure." The seemingly endless McCain-Romney … Read More

SOME THOUGHTS ON LAST NIGHT’S DEBATE

Much has been written about last night’s debate, which you can find on our blog, on the main news page, and elsewhere around the internet. I will just make a few observations, take them for what they are worth: CNN should have dropped the pretenses of inviting Ron Paul to the debate as an equal candidate — I’ve never seen a serious politician with millions of supporters around the country treated with less respect. Anyone ever heard of equal time? Mitt Romney needed to keep John McCain and his positions on issues at the center of this debate — and he didn’t. John McCain, as the presumptive front-runner needed to keep his cool, and except for the Reagan question at the end, did just that. Mike Huckabee continued to demonstrate a level of charm that continues to make him popular enough to be a real pain to Romney. Ron Paul’s reference to the gold standard immediately made everyone think, "Nicholas Cage in National Treasure." The seemingly endless McCain-Romney … Read More

The San Francisco Chronicle might get a Pulitzer. No kidding, last weekend after several decades of missing the boat, brave reporters Matthai Kuruvila, Kevin Fagan and Jaxon Van Derbeken finally exposed the entrenched link between a local terrorist Muslim organization and key Democrat Bay area leaders.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?term=your+black+muslim+bakery&Submit=S&sa=Search&st=s&Go.x=25&Go.y=7

… Read More

FR Publisher Jon Fleischman and FR Managing Editor Emeritus Nicholas Romero took a trip to the Reagan Library to take in the Presidential debate, and experience life in the "spin room" with all of the media…

Check out some photos from our trip here.… Read More