Governor Schwarzenegger appears to be playing hard to get, according to the Sacramento Bee, which filed this story from the trail of the governor’s bus tour today.

"Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Thursday he might endorse Democratic candidates in some of the races for statewide office this year.

"’If I like someone, absolutely,’ the Republican governor said in response to a reporter’s question inside the Veterans of Foreign Wars hall at a campaign event. ‘Let’s see. But right now, I’m just thinking about moving the state forward.’"

Ah, Arnold Unplugged. That’s the boy from Austria we know and … love? I suspect this was nothing more than a mere eye-rolling moment, like so many we’ve seen before, that really doesn’t mean anything. More impolitic rhetoric from a non-politician who got caught off-guard.

Think about it. Last month Carla Marinucci quoted Schwarzenegger campaign manager Steve Schmidt saying that at least three of the statewides already had the… Read More

[UPDATED – SEE THE E-MAIL FROM LANCASTER’S CAMPAIGN MANGER SENT TO ADAMS ON THE FRIDAY BEFORE THE ELECTION – IT’S AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST.]

Apparently, years ago, Anthony Adams delivered pizza for a living. Whom among us hasn’t worked in a similar job when young? I actually remember my stint at Straw Hat Pizza, my memories of which are mostly washing dishes, and making free pizza to take home after work.

Adams just won the GOP nomination for the State Assembly where Dennis Mountjoy is retiring, a victim of California’s three term limit. In the spirited primary, another significant candidate in the race was Chris Lancaster, the son of former moderate GOP legislator Bill Lancaster.

Part of this story has to do with the fact that allegedly, many years ago, some senior citizen wrote a very strongly worded letter to a newspaper taking then-City Councilman Chris Lancaster to task for voting for a local tax increase. Apparently Lancaster sued the woman for her public criticism, and he served her with court documents by wrapping them in Christmas paper and delivering… Read More

Fellow FR contributor Adam Probolsky and I will be looking to see if there is extra protection on our Southwest Airlines flight home from Sacramento to “The OC” – some ‘people of interest’ who obviously rushed to the airport to be on our flight include Assemblymembers Lynn Daucher,Todd Spitzer, Van Tran, and Tom Umberg. Also State Senator Dave Cox and his wife. The “retired legislator caucus” is represented by former Senators Marian Berguson and Ross Johnson, as well as former Assemblyman Tom Mays.

Johnson, Berguson and Mays went to the back of the plane with Umberg. Probably letting him know the membership fees for the retired legislators club, which he will join later this year.… Read More

There’s only one unsettled race left in Orange County after Tuesday’s primary election: the 5th Supervisor District, which goes to a November run-off between Pat Bates and Cassie DeYoung. Pat took 44.3% on Tuesday to DeYoung’s 36.7%.

Both campaigns say transportation will be a central issue of the campaign, meaning much Cassie DeYoung Chicken Little-ism over the Terrible Tunnel. During the primary campaign, DeYoung attempt to make an issue out of Cong. Ken Calvert’s support for studying a possible tunnel underneath the Santa Ana Mountains connecting Orange and Riverside counties. Pat Bates supports studying whether a tunnel is even technically feasible before making a decision whether or not to build it.

I’ve blogged elsewhere of my free-floating anxiety about the collateral impact DeYoung’s demonization of the tunnel project might have on the resolve of other politicians who favor building, or at least studying, a mutli-use tunnel through the Santa Ana Mountains.

Take, for example, this Los Angeles Times… Read More

The results of all three contested GOP state races – 66 Jeffries (JohnsonClark), 74 Garrick (Coronado Communications), 77 Anderson (Nygren) – bodes well for the increasing ‘organization’ of San Diego Republicans. Each of the three winners was the most active candidate within their local Republican Party. None of the winners will go to Sacramento with the common ‘deer in the headlights’ look that doom half of incoming Republican legislators, particularly local government types, to years of confusion as to the role of the minority. The new San Diego delegation (Wyland, Hollingsworth, Jeffries, Walters, Garrick, Plescia, Anderson, and Horton) is probably the strongest delegation we’ve had in decades: sophisticated without the chronic divisive personal issues or deadwood that have weakened past delegations.

Interestingly, the winning Assembly campaigns also had the best ground campaigns. Winning managers, each of whom look to already be slated for their next opportunity, were:

Steve Puetz (Garrick). Puetz is the former Chairman of the College Republicans. He ran the San Diego Republican Party membership… Read More

When it was all said and done, the only thing that may have really mattered was the only thing that had at the start. No amount of pontification, money, mudslinging, Duke Cunningham fallout, or national attention was going to change the fact that California’s 50th Congressional District is home to significantly more registered Republicans than Democrats. To be exact, 44 to 30 percent, with a slew of independents.

The 50th is a Republican district, pure and simple. The political term is a safe seat. The district was drawn that way, whether one detests the reapportionment process or not. The common wisdom is that Democrats don’t win seats like this, as in “it will never happen.” No more of a chance than a Republican ever taking a seat like Bob Filner’s nearby 51st district, a long-term haven for any Democrat winning the Party primary.

That is the cold, perhaps ugly reality of politically-motivated gerrymandering. As we know, the Constitution mandates the occasional redrawing of political lines… Read More

[Today’s Daily Commentary has been penned by Barry Jantz, one of the FlashReport’s San Diego County Correspondents, and is his take on last Tuesday’s Special Election in the 50th Congressional District.]

When it was all said and done, the only thing that may have really mattered was the only thing that had at the start. No amount of pontification, money, mudslinging, Duke Cunningham fallout, or national attention was going to change the fact that California’s 50th Congressional District is home to significantly more registered Republicans than Democrats. To be exact, 44 to 30 percent, with a slew of independents.

The 50th is a Republican district, pure and simple. The political term is a safe seat. The district was drawn that way, whether one detests the reapportionment process or not. The common wisdom is that Democrats don’t… Read More

All in all, it was a pretty good election night. In California, we held the threatened Congressional seat. Both big spending initiatives lost and moderates beat liberals in a number of Democratic primaries around the state. Turnout was exceptionally low in spite of millions spent by statewide Democrats in contentious primaries. Seven other states also held primaries on Tuesday and in all cases the predictions of Republican demise were premature.

So, what happened? We Republicans have been worried about our base and with good reason. But it appears that the Democratic base did not turn out on Tuesday. That is also with good reason. They can’t figure out what their party stands for anymore. Neither can I.

In Washington, we in the majority still have to deliver more spending and border control because it’s the right thing to do and togive the voters what they expect from us. But let’s remember that the other side has a challenge too. Being the party of "no" and the party for nothing is not going to motivate their voters any more than it would motivate ours.

Are they really for nothing or are they for higher taxes, open borders,… Read More