Bill Leonard, a conservative leader in the state for over 2 decades and currently a member of the State Board of Equalizaztion has endorsed Mitt Romney for President. Below is his statement.

I have decided to support Governor Mitt Romney in tomorrow’s Republican Presidential Primary and invite you to join me.

After 24 years as a legislator, I thought I knew how government worked. Yet, the last five years as a constitutional elected official in an executive branch agency has taught me that I did not know as much as I thought before. With all due respect to the Senators McCain, Obama and Clinton, our next President needs to be a former Governor and Governor Romney is the right one in many ways.

Executive power is quite different than legislative power. Being the person with whom the buck stops demands and defines leadership in ways that being one of a hundred or more does not. Governors give the best clue about how they will lead the nation by their service in their state. In this way, I knew that President Reagan would be better than President Carter because I… Read More

Congressman Darrell Issa sent over this brief piece on his support for Senator John McCain’s campaign for President:

TO: Reporters Attending The Governor’s Yes on 93 Presser Today FROM: Jon Fleischman RE: The Big Lie — A Tale Of Three Mail Pieces Today, Governor Schwarzenegger along with a number of other politicians will hold a press conference in Los Angeles — their last effort to push Proposition 93 to severely weaken California’s legislative term limits, and allow dozens of legislators that would have to retire at the end of this year to serve years longer in office (in the case of Fabian Nunez, he would be able to serve for six more years, until the end of the first term of the Governor to follow Schwarzenegger!). Central to the campaign is what we call "The Big Lie" — which is simply this. Instead of presenting voters with an honest campaign, Fabian Nunez (and now Arnold… Read More

TO: Reporters Attending The Governor’s Yes on 93 Presser Today FROM: Jon Fleischman RE: The Big Lie — A Tale Of Three Mail Pieces Today, Governor Schwarzenegger along with a number of other politicians will hold a press conference in Los Angeles — their last effort to push Proposition 93 to severely weaken California’s legislative term limits, and allow dozens of legislators that would have to retire at the end of this year to serve years longer in office (in the case of Fabian Nunez, he would be able to serve for six more years, until the end of the first term of the Governor to follow Schwarzenegger!). Central to the campaign is what we call "The Big Lie" — which is simply this. Instead of presenting voters with an honest campaign, Fabian Nunez (and now Arnold… Read More

Today Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Secretary of State Bill Jones will be in Gardena (yes, Gardena) making some GOTV calls for Senator John McCain (it’s a media event). McCain’s campaign this weekend touted the endorsements of some former California Governors — Pete Wilson and George Deukmejian. Of course, while Arnold is campaigning for John McCain, his wife, Maria Shriver is supporting a different candidate. San Diego County legislators are weighing in — Congressman Brian Bilbray and State Senator Dennis Hollingsworth endorsed Mitt Romney. Congressman Darrell Issa endorsed John McCain. Senator John McCain will be in California on election day, this Tuesday, and is holding a public rally at 12:30 p.m. by San Diego’s airport. See the attached flyer for details. … Read More

I know – it’s a dire blog title – but I absolutely mean it.

And almostevery Republican political strategiest I know thinks so too (and I’ve heard from a lot since my original post).

Also, it appears the progressive Democrats agree with me as well – they’re opposing Prop 93 on their blogs.

The Democrat’sreason? If Prop 93 passes and the termed out Republican incumbents in their targeted seats run for reelection, it will be harder for the Democrats to pick up those seats.And they don’t like that at all.

Liberal Democrat, David Dayen, over on Calticsmakes the argument that Prop 93 passing stands in the way… Read More

Just in — GOP Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney will be holding one last public rally in California before the Tuesday primary. It will be held at 7:30 p.m. right near Long Beach Airport. A flyer with all of the details is attached.

If anyone knows of other public appearances by the GOP candidates here in the Golden State in the final two day, pass that info along and we’ll post it up.… Read More

An E-lection of Change… It was hi-lited on the main page yesterday, but SD Young Republican President Ben Avey’s piece in Friday’s Union-Trib deserves a local shout out as well. Ben nails it on the head about changing politics in the Internet age, and how young voters are both driving and engaging the medium. An excerpt:

Have you visited your presidential candidate’s Facebook or Myspace page? Have you watched a debate on YouTube? Have you blogged about your opinion only to be rebuked by a peer you have never even met? Many of you will say no, but check with your kids, because they will probably say yes. Read all of "An election of change."

Red County SD: Peters to Join the City Attorney Fray?… SD City Councilman Brian Maienschein’s announcement of a couple of weeks ago was… Read More