The special election in San Diego’s 50th Congressional District is coming down to the home stretch, with the election just weeks away. There are a half-dozen viable GOP candidates all trying to get the biggest piece of the pie.

By most accounts, the candidate who is leading the pack if former Congressman Brian Bilbray, who has been working as a federal lobbyist (for an immigration reform group, and other clients) since he lost his house seat years ago.

Anyways, the conventional wisdom is that Bilbray will win unless he is the subject of negative campaign mail hitting him on his vulnerabilities as a lobbyist, and potentially as a former Member of Congress in a district where the Duke Cunningham calamity might leave voters looking for a fresh face.

The California Republican Assembly Federal PAC has a negative piece on Bilbray hitting wide and deep throughout the 50th District tomorrow. The CRA folks sent over a copy of the piece — it is attached below.

Oh yes, an interesting point – the CRA… Read More

Lancaster School District in Los Angeles County’s Antelope Valley has adopted a new science philosophy that allows debate in science classrooms about Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Lancaster becomes the latest school district that specifically hasentered into this debate. See the article here.

Alex Branning, the parent that initiated the policy. Says his next target in Los Angeles Unified. Hate to break the news, but LAUSD needs a "Big Bang" to start all over again. This policy won’t do that.… Read More

Attorney General Bill Lockyer has filed his long-awaited lawsuit challenging the Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency’s decision to move forward with the completion of the 241 Tollway.

OC Blog has saved me the trouble of putting together all the relevant links with this post here

I’m perusing the lawsuit and only got as far as Page 2 before noticing a factual error:

“The portion of San Onofre State Beach traversed by the Toll Road is located on property that was formerly part of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and is leased from the United States Department of Navy on a long-term basis.”

Actually, all of San Onofre State Beach is still a part of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base. But hey, what’s some factual inaccuracy among environmentalists? It’s all about saving the planet, right?

A few sentences later, there’s this disinformational gem:

“Respondents approved the Toll Road even though it will subject the hundreds of thousands of annual visitors to San Onofre State Beach to the incessant noise and visual… Read More

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The last line in the Capitol Weekly’s piece today profiling the three Democrats running to replace termed out Assemblywoman Wilma Chan in the 16th Assembly district race reminds me why it’s so lonely in the Bay Area at election time:

"No Republicans have filed to run in the district, where GOP voters are outnumbered 6-to-1 by Democrats."

That line made me think of my 10-year-old daughter asking me the other day if John Kerry is from California. "No," I said. "He’s from Massachusetts."

"Well, then why does everyone in Oakland have his bumper sticker on their cars?" she asked.

Mind you, it’s March ’06. Kerry lost the election in November… Read More

In this business of politics we sometimes forget that the men and women who become policy makers are not necessarily themselves the biggest reason for thier own success. The fact is, George W. Bush would be no where without Karl Rove (George W.’s ‘brains’). For every successful politician there is a man or woman, some times a team, but more regularly on person that is their political brains, foot soldier and all around goto guy or gal. This column is written not just in tribute to them but to highlight just how important the politicians ‘brains’ really are.

I am going to present this list as a start of something bigger and encourage readers to give me their thoughts on who else to include on future lists. Today’s list will include ten elected officials and their ‘brains’ mostly from Orange County, but some from other parts of the state.

ASSEMBLYWOMAN MIMI WALTERS

ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF MIKE CARONA

ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISOR LOU CORREA

ASSEMBLYMAN TODD SPITZER

ASSEMBLYMAN TOM UMBERG

ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISOR BILL CAMPBELL

ANAHEIM MAYOR CURT… Read More

I have received dozens of calls over the last month about CRA and how one goes about getting a CRA endorsement. People could read our bylaws at the CRA website. I’ve learned that it easier to find my phone numberon the site then click the by-laws link. So here is a quick primer.

Statewide endorsements and Board of Equalization are done at the Statewide Endorsing Convention. We recently had one in Bakersfield. Delegates sent by units and the Board of Directors then endorse statewidecandidates and initiatives.

All endorsements at all levels require a two-thirds vote.

CRA is a conservative organization not only in beliefs, but also in how it operates. The state does not endorse in local races.

If the local race partisan or non-partisan has more than one unit in that area (meaning ANY of the geography regardless of size), a local endorsing convention must be called with delegates from all the affected units. With the current gerrymandered seats, some legislative districts could haveseveral clubs that need to be invited to participate. A single club in a… Read More

GOVERNOR ’06 – Arnold banks, The Dems spend. The big news of the day is that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has really put his campaign fundraising into gear, raising millions of dollars since the beginning of the year – out raising each of his Democratic opponents. Actually, this highlights the financial advantage of running unopposed as the Republican Party’s pre-primary endorsed nominee for Governor — Schwarzenegger is not only putting money in the bank for the fall campaign — but his two opponents are spending money like crazy on television ads as they wage a hard-fought campaign for their party’s nomination. Of course, all three candidates for Governor are quite wealthy in their own right, multi-millionaires all. That said, there are a lot of news stories today that talk about the extremely deep pockets of E-bay co-founder Steve Westly, who has a personal fortune measured in… Read More