For 11 years I never missed a CRP Convention, but when I termed out as the Treasurer of the Party in 2001 I began attending only sporadically. I came down to LA this weekend to fulfill my duties as a member of the Executive and Rules Committees and to see my good friend, and your humble publisher, Jon Fleischman. I also wanted to attend the Lincoln Clubs Breakfast which just concluded and say hello to good friends there.

In general, not much of substance takes place at these gatherings. They are primarily social affairs, and it is great fun to see old friends and political staffers, consultants, etc. There is the usual inside baseball activity in Initiatives and other committees, but this convention is very light on all the usual machinations. At this convention, all the action is in the initiatives committee, where the Governor’s bond issues will be debated.

The Friday Executive Committee luncheon was keynoted by former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore, and while is speech was peppered with the usual, albeit long ago forgotten, Reaganesque principles, after about the fourth "we must do this, and we must do that" I came to my senses and… Read More

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Your trusty FlashReport Publisher has been to every State GOP Convention since 1988 and I can tell you that as far as these events go, this one is perhaps one of the most sparsely attended gatherings to which I have ever been. Why is the attendance so low? First and foremost, it is a weekend in August, which traditionally is vacation time for many people. That has been a factor with a number of people who told me ahead of time that they would not be here. But the "I’m on vacation" cases do feed into a bigger set of folks who are not here. Those people, and I have spoken to a lot of them, just did not feel like making participation in this convention a priority. This is not an indicator of support or lack of support for the Governor or the GOP ticket — but, it is an indicator of depth and intensity of support. Understand that the people to whom I am referring are not average Republican voters, but rather these are among the 1400 members of the Republican State Central Committee — leaders within the party. Our Party Chairman Duf Sundheim and other GOP big wheels such Californians for Schwarzenegger Campaign Manager Steve… Read More

Your trusty FlashReport Publisher has been to every State GOP Convention since 1988 and I can tell you that as far as these events go, this one is perhaps one of the most sparsely attended gatherings to which I have ever been. Why is the attendance so low? First and foremost, it is a weekend in August, which traditionally is vacation time for many people. That has been a factor with a number of people who told me ahead of time that they would not be here. But the "I’m on vacation" cases do feed into a bigger set of folks who are not here. Those people, and I have spoken to a lot of them, just did not feel like making participation in this convention a priority. This is not an indicator of support or lack of support for the Governor or the GOP ticket — but, it is an indicator of depth and intensity of support. Understand that the people to whom I am referring are not average Republican voters, but rather these are among the 1400 members of the Republican State Central Committee — leaders within the party. Our Party Chairman Duf Sundheim and other GOP big wheels such Californians for Schwarzenegger Campaign Manager Steve… Read More

Last night Mass Gov. Mitt Romney a likely WH contender wowed the crowd of 900 at the St. Regis resort in Dana Point.

The event included a vip reception, a free reception and an intimate dinner.

No other prez hopeful could replicate this, all the party factions were represented at the event.

I will have more on this soon but want to make sure the FlashReport readers got a different perspective from FR Managing Editor Nick Romero’s previous post. UPDATE: See Martin Wisckol’s post on OC Register’s Total Buzz blog here.… Read More

AN IMPORTANCE ANNOUNCEMENT!

Dear FR Reader,

This weekend many FlashReport readers will be attending the California Republican Party Convention in Los Angeles. It is an important convention for a lot of reasons, the most significant of which is that it is a great opportunity for grassroots GOP leaders from around the state to come together in support of our great Republican ticket as we are less than a hundred days from the general election. I know that I have already put in a lot of hours on behalf of GOP candidates for statewide and local office this year, and will invest a lot more between now and election day!

Of course Republican Party conventions are also a key opportunity to take some time to discuss the future of our party, where we are going over the coming weeks, months and years. This convention will be the last time that CRP delegates will come together until the… Read More

From the Capitol Morning Report today (subscribe here): Jason Kinney of California Strategies reports plans to launch a political website and blog for Democrats called The California Majority Report. The tag line on Kinney’s announcement reads, "THE political website for California Democrats who don’t play politics – they live it." It’s being published by three insiders of the former Gov. Gray Davis… Read More

REDISTRICTING NOT DOA? WE’LL SEE Just when we thought that redistricting reform was completely dead, yesterday Senate President Don Perata injected one last chance for an opportunity for voters to be able to shift the process away from a self-interested legislature to a non-elected panel. While I am not too hopeful that the Assembly will follow suit under the iron-hand of Fabian Nunez, we can certainly encourage him to do so. Today, State Senator Roy Ashburn, the Republican co-author (along with Democrat Alan Lowethal) of the bi-partisan redistricting reform bill has penned a great column for the FlashReport, and it leads the news on the main page. ANGELIDES ENTERS "DESPERATION MODE" In what is his latest attempt in an unsuccessful series of attempts to ‘reinvent’ himself, Democrat Gubernatorial nominee Phil Angelides released a ‘new plan’ yesterday that calls for billions of dollars in increases… Read More