The elves all had other plans this morning, so I am busy trying to compile the main news page. Look for it around 9am. After that, I will start tackling the 15 or so short analysis pieces that I would rather be writing right now! But, first things first…… Read More

Setting last nights unpleasantness aside for a moment, ithad beenexpected the Guv will announce a special session on our crumbling budget and call for that today, with the likelihood that the Assembly and Senate will convene that session Thursdayand immediately recess it. The caucuses meet anyway on Thursday to elect their caucus leaders so everyone will be in town anyway, the termed out and the newbies.Conveningit allows the special session budget committees to be formed and perhaps hammer out some fixes to the massive budget revenue shortfall..or not.

Republicans remain firm that no new tax, sales tax, tax onbusiness, whatever,will help fix thisslumped over economyor subsequently, state revenues.Instead removing dumb mandates like AB 32 could help kickstart some investor confidence, along with our position of tax credit incentives to employ people and invest in this state, not Nevada. We’ll see. It would figure that we only have til November 25 with this session as Thanksgiving is 2 days later and the true end of the term is November 30 at midnight. The new crop will be sworn in the… Read More

A good friend of mine who has always lived in the Midwest (Ohio, Indiana and Missouri) moved to California about two years ago. Yesterday was her first California election.

She called me today and left this message on my voice mail:

“Jennifer, so I live in a state that values the safety of its chickens more than the safety of its daughters?”

It’s sad, but true.… Read More

We’ll put out a Winners & Losers column for this General Election. Who should make the list? Who were the movers in front of the ballot measures? How about behind the scenes? Architects of legislative wins or defeats? How about some big local races? IE’s that worked? Didn’t work? Send in your suggestions, and we’ll try to see if we can’t inflate the egos of some winners — and dump on the losers (politely, in most cases).

Send in your suggestions here, or comment below.… Read More

I have gotten a lot of e-mails and a few phone calls this morning lamenting the "loss" of Tony Strickland’s bid for State Senate in the 19th District. Currently, he is down around 100 votes to Hannah Beth "Taxin’" Jackson.

That said, the race is FAR FROM OVER. In the Ventura County Star, it is being reported that "tens of thousands" of late absentee and provision ballots remain to be counted. You can be sure that similar large numbers of late votes remain to be cast in the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles County portions of this sprawling district.

I have no doubt that Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans have dispatched their top operatives and attorneys to the three Registrar offices, as this kind of thing turns into quite a production.

It actually reminds me of a similar situation not too long ago. Jeff Denham was down over 300 votes on election night in his first bid for the State Senate in 2002. He went on to win by over 1800 votes. Like Strickland, Denham was called "too conservative" for… Read More

Wherever one or more TV cameras may gather, there you shall find Gloria Allred.

The left-wing media hound attorney is going to announce a lawsuit against Proposition 8 in a few minutes.

On what legal basis? Who knows.

The political basis, of course, is media exposure for Gloria Allred.… Read More

The race between Tom McClintock and Charlie Brown for the 4th CD is still too close to call. Right now McClintock is up 451 votes and the absentee ballots are expected to break heavily for him. Provisional ballots are the real unknown factor. Knowing that Democrats have engaged in dirty politics throughout this election, the McClintock campaign is taking every precaution to ensure that there is no vote tampering.

Senator McClintock issued the following statement earlier today: “I wish to thank everyone who voted in the Fourth Congressional District. I am gratified and thankful that my campaign emerged after election night with the lead. I have full confidence in the hard-working and dedicated election officials who are counting the remaining absentee and provisional votes. I am confident that once the process is completed I will be the Representative for the Fourth Congressional District.”

This story is developing as quickly as the votes are being counted. Stay tuned for more updates…… Read More

Back in the early 1990’s all I heard about was how the Republican Party needed to be a “big tent.” The idea was to embrace anyone who wanted to be a Republican regardless of what that person stood for.

Of course that is how we get tax raising Governors like the one here in California. But what you also get are politicians that will put a bullet in your back as soon as the going gets tough.

Let’s look at John McCain. John McCain is no conservative. There are many issues where he went “maverick” rather than the generally excepted conservative position. Joe Lieberman reminded us of all those things during the RNC Convention.

So who stabbed him inthe back? Was it conservatives?

Collin Powell. This guy was made by Ronald Reagan and then the Bushes (not conservatives either). An enormous amount of Republican resources were spent promoting the General. Unfortunately, he isn’t the only one.

Former Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee, and Sen. Charles Mathias Jr. , Former Congressmen Jim Leach, Cong. Wayne Gilchrest and Former Mass. Governor Bill Weld all joined the team. How much did the Republican Party spend on behalf of these guys?… Read More