Special elections are fun because they take place ‘away’ from all of the other noise going on in the state. We have two of them going on right now — the 50th Congressional District race in San Diego County (the "Duke Cunningham" seat) and the 35th State Senate District in Orange County (the "John Campbell" seat).

It would be impossible, nor would we want to delve into much detail on every legislative race in the state. There are other folks that do that. But, on special elections, we try to get into more of the nitty gritty. With two candidates running in the "OC" Senate race, Assemblyman Tom Harmon and Councilwoman Diane Harkey, it shouldn’t be too complicated to follow this race. The Congressional donnybrook has about 2000 candidates, so that one will be a bit more complicated.

That said, Harkey, in the Senate race, has dropped her first mailer, which is attached below. The classic ‘intro’ piece.… Read More

The campaign for Assembly District 72 has been pretty tame. In the race to replace termed-out Lynn Daucher are Yorba Linda Councilman Mike Duvall–the front runner and Brea Councilman Marty Siminoff. Both are Republicans, Democrats don’t need to bother in this heavily GOP seat.

Duvall is a likable fellow with big voice and constant smile. Siminoff is somewhat more reserved but a smart policy maker and well respected. In terms of philosophy, Duvall is clearly more conservative.

The latest news is good for Duvall. Today he announced that Republican Senate Minority Leader Dick Ackerman has endorsed him.

For Siminoff the news is not so good. His fund raising consultant Jennifer Cowan of CL7 Communications (Jennifer was formerly district director for Rep. Ed Royce and a leader in promoting GOP women) is rumored to have dropped the councilman as a client.

San Francisco‘s top officials thumbed their noses at the federal drug enforcement officials yesterday as they endorsed a marijuana giveaway at a Civic Center rally. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi helped hand out bags of marijuana cigarettes and candy laced with the drug yesterday, while representatives of Mayor Gavin Newsom, Assemblyman Mark Leno, state Sen. Carole Migden, and District Attorney Kamala Harris read statements reaffirming the officials’ support for medical marijuana. Supervisor Chris Daley was also on hand to endorse the efforts of Cathy and Steve Smith, the couple who runs HopeNet, a medical marijuana "club." In December, the feds raided HopeNet, seizing plants, equipment and records. The full Chronicle story is… Read More

"ICEBERG, DEAD AHEAD!" Editing and publishing this website, I read a lot of news stories and columns. So I find it fascinating that so many of our Republican legislators, who have year after year voted against putting massive bond measures on the ballot, are now flocking to support a collection of bond measures that would represent the most borrowing – ever – for the Golden State. As a matter of fact, a number of the bond packages are being authored by Republican legislators, and we’ll be talking about that in the coming days. There is a saying that goes like this, "No one has the ability to grow government more than a Republican Chief Executive." Is that what this is all about? Massive borrowing, when proposed by Democrats, is wasteful and irresponsible. But when it is proposed by a Republican, then it is okay? What should be resolute and total opposition to ANY borrowing unless it… Read More

"ICEBERG, DEAD AHEAD!" Editing and publishing this website, I read a lot of news stories and columns. So I find it fascinating that so many of our Republican legislators, who have year after year voted against putting massive bond measures on the ballot, are now flocking to support a collection of bond measures that would represent the most borrowing – ever – for the Golden State. As a matter of fact, a number of the bond packages are being authored by Republican legislators, and we’ll be talking about that in the coming days. There is a saying that goes like this, "No one has the ability to grow government more than a Republican Chief Executive." Is that what this is all about? Massive borrowing, when proposed by Democrats, is wasteful and irresponsible. But when it is proposed by a Republican, then it is okay. What should be resolute and total opposition to ANY borrowed unless it… Read More

In the first California election of 2006, reform Republican Kevin Faulconer (disclaimer – Coronado Communications client) appears to have defeated the labor council’s Lorena Gonzalez 50.99% to 49.01% (14,050 to 13,506) in the race for San Diego’s 2nd City Council seat. There are 2,500 remaining absentee votes to be counted – mostly absentees. If the numbers hold, this was a huge upset that quite literally will alter the direction of the seventh largest city in America.

This victory gives Republican Mayor Jerry Sanders the leverage he needs to pass his City Hall reform agenda. There are now three Republicans on the city council, one conservative Democrat (who is Council President), one populist ("surfer chick" Donna Frye who recently lost the Mayoral race) and three machine Democrats. Better, Frye actually lost her own 6th Council seat to Sanders in the Mayoral race, which indicates she may be interested in jumping on the reform team in order to avoid the serious challenge that… Read More

TIME TO BUY STOCK IN JUSTIN COMPANY! Congratulations go out to FlashReport Sacramento Correspondent Joe Justin. For those who didn’t realize that in addition to writing for this site, Joe actually does other work…Joe is recognized as one of California’s most accomplished political campaign professionals. His resume is long, and his successes around the country are many. It was announced yesterday in a caucus of Assembly Republicans that Joe has been tapped by Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to be the lead political consultant overseeing efforts to pick up GOP seats in the lower house in this year’s elections! This is a great pick! Now whether even ‘Mighty Joe’ can impact the iron-clad districts of the infamous "Incumbent Protection" reapportionment plan we have in place in this state…?? … Read More

TIME TO BUY STOCK IN JUSTIN COMPANY! Congratulations go out to FlashReport Sacramento Correspondent Joe Justin. For those who didn’t realize that in addition to writing for this site, Joe actually does other work…Joe is recognized as one of California’s most accomplished political campaign professionals. His resume is long, and his successes around the country are many. It was announced yesterday in a caucus of Assembly Republicans that Joe has been tapped by Assembly Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy to be the lead political consultant overseeing efforts to pick up GOP seats in the lower house in this year’s elections! This is a great pick! Now whether even ‘Mighty Joe’ can impact the iron-clad districts of the infamous "Incumbent Protection" reapportionment plan we have in place in this state…?? … Read More