California’s Attorney General Jerry Brown wants to know: Are you on Team Coco or Team Leno? This morning the presumed gubernatorial candidate tweeted: @JerryBrown2010 Big debate at the campaign office… Where do you stand? http://www.jerrybrown.org/node/590.

The link takes visitors to the Brown for Governor 2010 Exploratory Committee web site, where there is the following poll:

Pick a Team: Team Coco or Team Leno?

Big debate at the campaign office… Where do you stand? If you provide your name, zip code and e-mail, you’ll be entered into a drawing for a vintage 1974 "Brown for Governor" bumper sticker signed by Jerry.

Since the NBC debacle is the most interesting contest in California right now, it was only a matter of time before politicians began weighing in. How convenient and environmentally conscious for Brown torecycle his “vintage” 1974 bumper stickers…… Read More

The new year brings us some new great places to get insightful news and observations on the California political scene. We’ve seen the arrival of non-profit investigative journalism organizations Cal Watchdog and California Watch, both with blogs. They are already producing great content and we’ll link to their best stuff.

Today brings a new big player from the main stream media blogging front — the Los Angeles Times has partnered with the venerable Capitol Weekly newspaper to create a new California Politics blog housed on the Los Angeles Times website. You can check out the new blog page at the LA Times website here. We’re expecting big things from Anthony York (pictured), Shane Goldmacher, and more on this site. Again, we’ll link to the best of the… Read More

Do people have a constitutionally protected right to dislike someone? "Associational rights" spring from the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. Supreme Court says this right includes both the right to associate with others, and the right to not associate with others.

The debate in the current Federal trial in San Francisco on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the initiative that bans same-sex marriage in California, has gone well beyond resolving the question of whether gays and lesbians have a straightforward "right" to marry. The case has included allegations by the homosexual plaintiffs that the ballot proposition passed by majority vote, was stimulated by an "animus," or dislike for gay people, and therefore constituted an illegal conspiracy against them, rendering the Proposition null and void. The plaintiffs have sought to "discover" private internal memos and emails of Prop. 8’s political consultants, hoping to find disparaging remarks against homosexuals, to help prove their contention.

In the meantime, supporters of… Read More

Scott Baugh has served as Chairman of the Orange County Republican Party for over five and a half years. Prior to that he served in the California State Legislator for nearly as long, and was elected by his peers as Assembly Republican Leader. In all of that time, Baugh has given hundreds, if not thousands of speeches.

Tonight, to use Baugh’s own words, he will deliver, "The most important speech of my life."

At 7pm this evening, hundreds of Republicans will converge on the Hyatt Hotel in Irvine for the first meeting of the year for the Orange County Central Committee. Everyone is buzzing as word has spread that Chairman Baugh has been cloistered away — writing, honing and perfecting a speech that… Read More

A Great Choice for Haiti Relief… With the tragic devastation in Haiti on just about everyone’s mind, many may still be deciding how they can help. There are of course several outstanding entities through which contributions can be sent. If anyone is looking for a homegrown organization with very low overhead and a great track record, California-based Rescue Task Force has my highest recommendation.

Started in 1988, RTF was led for many years by two Congressman Duncan L. Hunter staff members. Wendell Cutting passed away a few years ago, but many will remember him from his days as mayor of San Jacinto, president of California Republican Assembly, and — more recently — Hunter’s Congressional district director. Cutting is branded in the San Diego area as the namesake of a handful of continuing awards, given annually to those in the community exemplifying humanitarian efforts and high ethical standards.

RTF continues its relief efforts under the leadership of founder Gary Becks and his daughter Andrea Stone, in most cases with… Read More

Senator Abel Maldonado doesn’t like political parties. He makes that clear over and over again, whether stumping for his "top-two" ballot measure (that limits voter choice, keeps parties and vastly increases the cost of running for office) or now, in his official reaction to the Governor’s State Of The State Address.

As an officer with the Republican Party, I think it shouldn’t surprise anyone that I think that political parties are an important player in American politics, and would like to see my party grow in influence as much as possible, so that we can elect more people to office who support the outstanding policies outlined in our party’s platform.

Republicans believe that the problems we face in Sacramento have been largely created by decades of control of the legislature by liberal Democrats. Abel Maldonado seems to think that the problems in Sacramento are not caused by the Democrats, but by both parties. How you can possibly blame Republicans for our woes, given that we have virtually no input in California public policy (I don’t count Governor post-partisan)?

There are many who talk about the two… Read More

The departure of former Congressman Tom Campbell from the Republican primary for Governor benefits the candidacy of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner at the expense of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Exactly to what degree we will have to see.

First and foremost, I think that Whitman was advantaged in a field where she could run as the only candidate coming straight out of the private sector, challenging two opponents both of whom hold public office. Now, of course, this advantage is gone.

I also believe that Whitman benefited by Campbell’s presence in the race from a gender-perspective, the one woman running against two men.

**There is more – click the link**

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The departure of former Congressman Tom Campbell from the Republican primary for Governor benefits the candidacy of Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner at the expense of former eBay CEO Meg Whitman. Exactly to what degree we will have to see.

First and foremost, I think that Whitman was advantaged in a field where she could run as the only candidate coming straight out of the private sector, challenging two opponents both of whom hold public office. Now, of course, this advantage is gone.

I also believe that Whitman benefited by Campbell’s presence in the race from a gender-perspective, the one woman running against two men.

Finally, I think that with Campbell out of the primary, now means that the ultimate GOP nominee will have to get the voters of over 50% of voters in a closed Republican primary (yes, DTS voters can participate but historically those numbers have been very small). While neither Whitman nor Poizner is a rock-ribbed right winger, clearly Poizner has been posturing his candidacy well to the right of Whitman, whose strong… Read More