UPDATE: Harman leads by 439 votes now…TRENDING HARKEY.

UPDATE: Harman leads by 612 votes now…

Harman leads by less than 1% or 672 votes.

There are about 5000 absentee ballots, that were MAILED IN yesterday and today, still to be counted and probably won’t be counted until tomorrow.

More results at about 10:30pm. Click here to see them come in live.… Read More

All you hear about are the special elections in San Diego and Orange County. Big Deal. LA County has elections too you know.

Several cities are holding elections Arcadia, the scandal ridden Vernon election. You’ll see that in the paper tomorrow. And the Big one is theLong Beach Primary. Beverly O’Neil the three time Mayor (once by write in) is retiring and the race to replace includes a cop that got beat up by a park ranger (see it here). The frontrunner by most accounts is Bob Foster formerly of Southern California Edision. He is endorsed by everybody and has over 500K in the bank.

His competition comes from teo Republicans 3rd District Councilman Frank Colonna and the councilman he replaced Doug Drummond. Both are GOPers with Drummond a little more conservative than Colonna.

There are a couple hot council seats as well. I’ll report on them after the hoopla down south is over.… Read More

When the Governor gave his "I say build it" State of the State address, at least one legislator in that chamber apparently took those words to heart.

Senator George Runner (R-Lancaster), by introducing Senate Bill 1812, proposes to streamline the planning and environmental review process for Highways like State Route 138, which runs through San Bernardino County’s High Desert communities of Phelan and Pinon Hills and on into Palmdale in Los Angeles County. That particular highway is among Southern California’s most picturesque and unfortunately dangerous routes for everyone from skiers to truckers. Read about it here and here.

The fact that SB 1812 has moved out of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee is big news for the hundreds of thousands of motorists who routinely brave the blind curves, dips and scarce passing lanes that characterize one of the state’s… Read More

If you live in the 50th Congressional District in San Diego County, or the 35th State Senate District in Orange County – today is your day to vote. Special elections are taking place today in both of these districts! Remember that the FlashReport recommends any Republican BUT Bilbray in CD 50, and a vote for Diane Harkey in SD 35. There is also a race underway for Mayor in the city of Long Beach — look for a special FR look at how that race goes in tomorrow issue, or maybe Thursday. The Governor today in unveiling a greenhouse-gas emission reduction plan in, of course, San Francisco. The FlashReport will spend much more time focusing on this proposal, but just on the face of it, given that the cornerstone of the plan involves regulation of business that will be quite costly, you have to ask yourself how one state out of 50 can engage in such an aggressive program unilaterally, and not expect… Read More

If you live in the 50th Congressional District in San Diego County, or the 35th State Senate District in Orange County – today is your day to vote. Special elections are taking place today in both of these districts! Remember that the FlashReport recommends any Republican BUT Bilbray in CD 50, and a vote for Diane Harkey in SD 35. There is also a race underway for Mayor in the city of Long Beach — look for a special FR look at how that race goes in tomorrow issue, or maybe Thursday. The Governor today in unveiling a greenhouse-gas emission reduction plan in, of course, San Francisco. The FlashReport will spend much more time focusing on this proposal, but just on the face of it, given that the cornerstone of the plan involves regulation of business that will be quite costly, you have to ask yourself how one state out of 50 can engage in such an aggressive program unilaterally, and not expect… Read More

1:30 am UPDATE: 100% in,Bilbray by 880 votes. Approximately 10,000 left to count, but Roach would need to get approximately 20% of those versus 10% on Bilbray’s part to change this…ain’t gonna happen. The FlashReport calls it for Brian. Congratulations!

Oh yeah, a run off against Busby in June. Will the conservatives coalesce behind Bilbray, since the primary for the next term is on the same ballot? There will be tremendous pressure to do so. Anyone taking a bite out of Brian on "the other part of the ballot" will also be helping Busby in her effort to win the remainder of the Cunningham term. A big risk for anyone wanting totake that chance.

Based on the number of GOP votes cast for all candidates, especially when many said low turnout and Republican disenchantment could drive a Busby outright victory, I say she’s cooked in June. Make that November too.

FRANCINE BUSBY 56147 43.92% … Read More

For those who want to follow election returns tonight, you can follow the links below: SAN DIEGO COUNTY REGISTRAR – 50TH CD LIVE RETURNS ORANGE COUNTY REGISTRAR – 35TH SD LIVE RETURNS Look for early returns on absentee ballot results, and a longer wait for the rest.… Read More

UPDATE 8:10 pm: SurveyUSA poll…Thanks, Brandon Powers, for alerting us:

Busby 47 Roach 14 Bilbray 13 Kaloogian 9 Morrow 5 Uke 3

These numbers are tantalizingly close to Datamar’s, except for Busby, shown here within striking distance of the magic 50%. The reason is the sample. Here is the SurveyUSA explanation:

Datamar is relying on past voting history to determine who is a likely voter, including in its survey only voters who voted in both 2004 and 2002. SurveyUSA is relying on the stated intention and the stated passion of poll respondents to determine who is a likely voter. SurveyUSA’s likely voter model detects more enthusiasm among Democrats than among Republicans in CA 50. That is reflected in SurveyUSA’s voter-turnout model, and in the data we present here. Datamar shows 54% of likely voters to be Republican. SurveyUSA shows 45% of likely voters to be Republican. Datamar shows 32% of likely voters to be Democrat. SurveyUSA shows 37% of likely voters to be Democrat. Datamar shows 49% of likely voters to be male. SurveyUSA shows 51% of likely voters to be… Read More