Ninety seven years ago today, in the small town of Tampico, Illinois, a future president of the United States entered the world. Ronald Wilson Reagan, born in very humble surroundings, ascended to the heights of international leadership and power. Today we honor the man who inspired and lead the Conservative movement.

Last week the Republicans held a debate at President Reagan’s library in Simi Valley. As I watched the debate, I was struck once again at how Reagan’s legacy is still such a powerful influence on our party—twenty years after he left office. Every Republican candidate for public office, from president to city council, seeks to wrap themselves in the Reagan mantle. Romney, McCain, Huckabee—and all the previous candidates for president—have listed their conservative credentials in an effort to appear the most “Reaganesque”. But simply touting your presence at the Reagan Revolution or recounting the actions that verify your commitment to conservative ideology is not… Read More

Fox and CNN call CA for McCain some time ago. But, it’s the apportioned delegate count we’re all interested in…

McCain looks to be carrying every district in the state in the 40-50% range against Romney’s 20-30% range.

CNN election tracker at present has it McCain, 475 delegates, to Romney’s 151. But, that’s with only 11 CA delegates included for McCain. Add to that another 160+ from CA alone, and McCain is nearing the threshold numbers John Lewis indicated this morning (see post) to make this thing virtually inevitable.

Some would say it’s still early. Put a fork in it.… Read More

With the early returns rolling in for Super-Tuesday, the race for the White House is reaching full steam.

In the Caucuses in West VA, Huckabee racked up 18 delegates (the balance will be awarded in the May Primary) and won his home state of Arkansas and in Alabama, which apportion their delegates 34 and 48 delegates respectively.

McCain posted wins in the winner-take-all states of New Jersey (52), Delaware (18) and Connecticut (30) and leads in Illinois, which apportions its 70 GOP delegates. McCain is also likely to win in NY (101) and Arizona (53).

Romney won his home state of MA, which apportions its 43 delegates; and is likely to win in Utah, CO, and North Dakota (apportioning 36, 46 and 26 delegates respectively).

Returns from winner-take-all states MT, MO and apportioned states CA, OK, GA, MN, TN and AK will continue to roll in (Alaska reports last for this round), so tons of delegates are still up for grabs.

The largest state in the Union has recieved unprecidented attention from both parties, that alone should revive the… Read More

Just in from Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman on a very important issue…

Completion of the Orange County Toll-Road — a Statewide Benefit that Needs to Move Forward Now

By Senate Republican Leader Dick Ackerman (R-Tustin)

With the State in a Fiscal Emergency, California Can Lead by Taking Advantage of this Public-Private Partnership California faces a golden opportunity. With worn down roads, congested traffic and a $14 billion budget deficit, we need alternatives to fund critical infrastructure projects. Our golden opportunity? We can take advantage of a public private partnership by supporting the completion of State Route 241 and Orange County’s system of Toll Roads. The Transportation Corridors Agencies are offering California two smart solutions to our statewide challenges of relieving traffic congestion and building costly infrastructure. They would build State Route 241 at no cost to California taxpayers, and give $100 million to improve California State Parks. This equals one-fourth of the State Parks Department annual operating budget, and given the State Parks… Read More

Going into Super Tuesday, everyone (including our own analyst, John Lewis), hadWest Virginia favoring Mitt Romney. I knew that McCain had a strong force there, but not quite at Romney’s level. So I just about came out of my chair when I read that Mike Huckabee won the state’s delegates.

Get this – it’s a "convention" state, so the GOP delegates are elected in a very political environment. On the first ballot, Romney fell shy of what he needed to clinch the delegates. Behind him. But not too far, was McCain. Huckabee got only a handful of votes.

So what happened? Apparenlty, in order to deprive Romney of an eventual win, the McCain folks through their support, en masse, to the Huckster.

Now THAT is hardball politics.… Read More

Tomorrow is a big day, as the mice-uber-alles crowd swarms tomorrow’s California Coastal Commission meeting, where the Commission will vote on whether the proposed 241 completion route complies with the California Coastal Act.

The enviros will be all over the hearing, which will be held at the Del Mar fairground in San Diego County, falsely claiming completing the 241 will ruin Trestles beach, wipe out a mouse no one has been able to catch and a trout no one has seen, and "destroy" San Onofre State Beach.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies encourages those who are interested in standing up for traffic relief and common sense over hysteria to attend the commission meeting. TCA can arrange transportation, etc — so those interested should click here for more information.… Read More

It was awfully nice of Adam to go to suchlengths yesterday to spin for the newest client of Probolsky Research, but unfortunately the facts just aren’t on his side in this case.

When a candidate has to take a second on his house, and move his money in and out, and in and out of his committee just to make a show of having it, nobody is fooled into believing that he has any intention of spending it.

Plus, a good chunk of the money Neil “raised” can only be spent in the General Election, and his Cash On Hand only shows what it shows because Neil seems to have sat on his debts for quite some time, racking up almost $25,000 in debt.

In fact, upwards of 43% of Neil’s Cash On Hand might as well be Monopoly money, as it’s already owed to someone, can’t be spent in the Primary, or is already owed to a bank somewhere.

And I don’t agree with Adam that Jeff is going to need to “significantly outspend” Neil in order to win, as one wouldn’t need anything larger than a Post-It note to be able to list Neil’s accomplishments, but at this point if it were necessary, he’s already capable of doing so.

Jeff has lived in Orange County… Read More

For our political junkie readers: 4 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Georgia primaries. 5 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee primaries. 5:30 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Arkansas primaries. 6 PM Pacific time, the polls close in the Kansas Democratic caucuses and the New Mexico Democratic primary, as well as the Colorado caucuses for both parties and the primaries for both parties in Arizona, Minnesota, and New York. … Read More