Yesterday, writing from rainy Sacramento, I commented that San Diego County School Boardmember Sue Hartley, a liberal Republican who spends much of every month poking a stick in the collective eyes of her largely Republican and conservative constituents, was under siege from everyone right of say Congressman Ted Kennedy. I posted that Hartley was desperately trying to lock down some support right of center in a district with a voting base considerably right of center. And I posted that I thought the Lincoln Club endorsement was a major part of any strategy ending in her survival. The rumor train today, confirmed from 3 sources, says the Lincoln Club PAC Committee voted to endorse Hartley’s Republican conservative opponent Gary Felien.

Stop the bus folks, we got ourselves a race.

I also hear Felien has hired John Hoy, former executive director of the California Republican Party and current political consultant, to run his race. Good pick.

One better, folks in attendance confirm that Sue Hartley repeated that she would be seeking the Republican Party endorsement. I’d be willing to take odds tonight that she does no such thing. And I’ll… Read More

Today, Schwarzenegger Campaign Manager Steve Schmidt (pictured) held a ‘pen and pad’ briefing for about 20 poltical reporters in Sacramento.

You can read a few different takes on that meeting from various reports in the blogosphere: The Sacramento Bee’s Dan Weintraub, the Los Angeles Weekly’s Bill Bradley, the San Francisco Chronicle’s Carla Marinucci, and KQED’s John Myers. It’s actually kind of fun to compare what different folks took away from the briefing.

I found the most interesting part of Schmidt’s discussions to be about Susan Kennedy… Read More

Part of winning an election is:" Who you are running against?" Metropolitan News-Enterprise has article about the one Los Angeles Superior Court Judge to draw a challenger.His nameDzintra Janavs.

Would you vote against him because of his name? I remember back in the early 90’s when Armand Arabain was appointed to the State Supreme Court by Deukmejian. He lost confirmation votes in some Republican precincts in the San Gabriel Valley, while the others were winning confirmation. The article alludes to the Murphy vs. Kahn race that happened out here as well. What’s in name? You be the judge.You can access the full article here.

Just received a "FlashFax Alert" from Hedgecock producer Jimmy Valentine saying that Roger will endorse a candidate in the 50th CD special Friday on the radio. As close as this race will be, that’s big news.

Most polling — like it or not — is showing a statistical dead heat between Bilbray, Kaloogian and Eric Roach. Watchers are awaiting newpolling data, and some aresaying that Roach may have the momentum and stamina to pull this thing off. I can’t disagree…completely. However, new polling will tell if Brian’s counter-strikes are having any kind of negative impact on Howard and Roach.

Between the front runners, it has been assumed turnout and ground game will be the most significantdeciders. Add to that list…Hedgecock.

Some may laff, but I say not quite so fast. Low turnout, large number of GOP contenders, close election…the radio Mayor of SD could swing this election…if he selects someone actually… Read More

Congratulations to the overseer of this prosperous blog plantation on the fine profile in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

A quote from my fellow FR blogger Dan Schnur, caught my eye:

Republican strategist Dan Schnur, a regular contributor to FlashReport, said attribution is the fundamental threshold of whether something in the blogosphere deserves to be taken seriously.

“Someone who posts to a blog anonymously is essentially a high-tech graffiti artist,” Schnur said. “If there is a user’s guide to blogs, rule No. 1 is if the blogger isn’t sharing his name, his opinions aren’t worth your attention.”

Gee, Dan — that’s a pretty severe indictment, don’t you think?

Let’s take Dan’s assessment and time-travel back to the late 1780s when citizens of the newly independent United States debated the merits of the proposed Constitution. Let’s imagine a quote from an analogous story in the New-York Packet on the influential series of pro-Constitution essays being… Read More

Without electric power the FlashReport just does not work. In fact without electric power most of our modern society does not work. We in California need more power and with power comes power lines, the big ones. Why the Mr.Science lesson you say? Well in my beat, Riverside County, there is a proposed power project that has become increasing controversial. It is called LEAPS (Lake Elsinore Advanced Pumped Storage). Last night FERC (Federal Energy Regular Commission) held a hearing in Lake Elsinore that was attended by 300 plus people, most opposed to the project. It was a vocal crowd that brought the usual signs, stickers and flyers. It was great citizen participation in our democracy and I commend all that were there for being part of the public process. However for the 300 people that showed up at a public meeting there were 300,000+ local citizens that enjoyed the evening at home, or in the mall, or at a restaurant that had one thing in common; they were all using electric power to enjoy themselves.

I wonder how many people would show at a meeting if it were announced that electric power was going to be banned one day a week. I would speculate… Read More

Remember those protests of last week, where hundreds of thousands turned out to demonstrate against immigration reform proposals that include making it a felon to be in the U.S. illegally? Well, if you have forgotten them AND you live in the 35 State Senate District, Diane Harkey has sent you a reminder.

Click on the link below to view a .pdf of an exceptionally hard-hitting mailer that just dropped where voters are asked to thank Assemblyman Tom Harman for these protests. The connection? The piece highlights a Harman vote on legislation that apparently allowed illegal aliens the ability to get in-state tuition at California colleges…

Anyways, I found the piece to be notable less because of Harkey/Harman, and more because of the example of how current events can quickly find their way to into mail pieces.… Read More

Only a straight-laced, buttoned-down Republican…would be up at 5:45 a.m putting together the FlashReport, hair nicely coiffed, attired in a freshly-pressed white shirt and conservative necktie.

Congratulations to Jon Fleischman and the FlashReport for the terrific spread in the SDUT this morning, which Jon obviously has already hi-lited.

I couldn’t help noticing, however, a discrepancy between perception and reality, heightened by the photo of Jon, caption reading: "Jon Fleischman begins compiling his FlashReport blog at his Irvine condo every morning at about 5:45 before heading to his job…"

OK, I know the photo wasn’t actually taken at 5:45 a.m., but the average reader is left with the stereotypical view of the GOP. Come on, Jon, didn’t you see… Read More