I just got an email from Team Arnold and watched his first TV ads at my computer. The ads are simple, and excellent. Both are good and present a positive message about Arnold’s achievements. The second ad, called "bird" is a great contract piece with the liberal Democrat nominee. You can watch it here.

Bottom line. Arnold won’t have any trouble with positive messaging. How he handles the union onslaught is EVERYTHING during this campaign season. More on that later.… Read More

Last night, former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay officially retired after 22 years of service in the House of Representatives. He delivered an eloquent farewell speech that reminded all of us still serving in the House why we are here; he defined what in means to be conservative or liberal (the description on which clearly made many liberals uncomfortable); he defended partisanship as being central to the foundations of our republic; and he gave one final plea for action on the issue most important to him – the protection of foster children. I was impressed and so were many of my colleagues, even a few on the other side of the aisle. Here are a few excerpts of his remarks…

Mr. Speaker, Political careers tend to end in one of three ways: defeat, death, or retirement. And despite the fervent and mostly noble exertions of my adversaries over the years, I rise today to bid farewell to this House under the happiest of the available options.

All in all, it was a pretty good election night. In California, we held the threatened Congressional seat. Both big spending initiatives lost and moderates beat liberals in a number of Democratic primaries around the state. Turnout was exceptionally low in spite of millions spent by statewide Democrats in contentious primaries. Seven other states also held primaries on Tuesday and in all cases the predictions of Republican demise were premature.

So, what happened? We Republicans have been worried about our base and with good reason. But it appears that the Democratic base did not turn out on Tuesday. That is also with good reason. They can’t figure out what their party stands for anymore. Neither can I.

In Washington, we in the majority still have to deliver more spending and border control because it’s the right thing to do and togive the voters what they expect from us. But let’s remember that the other side has a challenge too. Being the party of "no" and the party for nothing is not going to motivate their voters any more than it would motivate ours.

Are they really for nothing or are they for higher taxes, open borders,… Read More

There’s only one unsettled race left in Orange County after Tuesday’s primary election: the 5th Supervisor District, which goes to a November run-off between Pat Bates and Cassie DeYoung. Pat took 44.3% on Tuesday to DeYoung’s 36.7%.

Both campaigns say transportation will be a central issue of the campaign, meaning much Cassie DeYoung Chicken Little-ism over the Terrible Tunnel. During the primary campaign, DeYoung attempt to make an issue out of Cong. Ken Calvert’s support for studying a possible tunnel underneath the Santa Ana Mountains connecting Orange and Riverside counties. Pat Bates supports studying whether a tunnel is even technically feasible before making a decision whether or not to build it.

I’ve blogged elsewhere of my free-floating anxiety about the collateral impact DeYoung’s demonization of the tunnel project might have on the resolve of other politicians who favor building, or at least studying, a mutli-use tunnel through the Santa Ana Mountains.

Take, for example, this Los Angeles Times… Read More

[Today’s Daily Commentary has been penned by Barry Jantz, one of the FlashReport’s San Diego County Correspondents, and is his take on last Tuesday’s Special Election in the 50th Congressional District.]

When it was all said and done, the only thing that may have really mattered was the only thing that had at the start. No amount of pontification, money, mudslinging, Duke Cunningham fallout, or national attention was going to change the fact that California’s 50th Congressional District is home to significantly more registered Republicans than Democrats. To be exact, 44 to 30 percent, with a slew of independents.

The 50th is a Republican district, pure and simple. The political term is a safe seat. The district was drawn that way, whether one detests the reapportionment process or not. The common wisdom is that Democrats don’t… Read More

When it was all said and done, the only thing that may have really mattered was the only thing that had at the start. No amount of pontification, money, mudslinging, Duke Cunningham fallout, or national attention was going to change the fact that California’s 50th Congressional District is home to significantly more registered Republicans than Democrats. To be exact, 44 to 30 percent, with a slew of independents.

The 50th is a Republican district, pure and simple. The political term is a safe seat. The district was drawn that way, whether one detests the reapportionment process or not. The common wisdom is that Democrats don’t win seats like this, as in “it will never happen.” No more of a chance than a Republican ever taking a seat like Bob Filner’s nearby 51st district, a long-term haven for any Democrat winning the Party primary.

That is the cold, perhaps ugly reality of politically-motivated gerrymandering. As we know, the Constitution mandates the occasional redrawing of political lines… Read More

I written a few pieces on Jim Leford, the Mayor of palmdale that challenged Sharon Runner. He hid his donors. See here. He supports Deomcrats for office. See here .He supported tripling the car tax. See here. He attacked Sharon , the co-author of Jessica’s Law of being soft on sex offenders See here. The Good news he he lost and even lost Palmdale. See article here.Just wait until 2008.… Read More

Fellow FR contributor Adam Probolsky and I will be looking to see if there is extra protection on our Southwest Airlines flight home from Sacramento to “The OC” – some ‘people of interest’ who obviously rushed to the airport to be on our flight include Assemblymembers Lynn Daucher,Todd Spitzer, Van Tran, and Tom Umberg. Also State Senator Dave Cox and his wife. The “retired legislator caucus” is represented by former Senators Marian Berguson and Ross Johnson, as well as former Assemblyman Tom Mays.

Johnson, Berguson and Mays went to the back of the plane with Umberg. Probably letting him know the membership fees for the retired legislators club, which he will join later this year.… Read More