The Washington Post has an excellent story on how the Republicans outmaneuvered the Democrats on the Alito nomination.

Steve Schmidt, Governor Schwarzenegger’s new campaign director, was the quarterback for the nomination and the piece provides some great insight for what the California Republican Party can expect when he gets on the ground this week. Here are the takeaway quotes about Schmidt’s style:

"An intense and single-minded advocate for the administration, Schmidt, 35, is considered an operative in the mold of the late Lee Atwater — kinetic and relentless. Conservative activists love him, privately referring to him as "The Bullet" for his swift and accurate aim at the target. Ultimately, Schmidt would put in place a tight organizational structure and bring every tool at his disposal to the fight — technology, the media, conservative special-interest groups,… Read More

Congratulations go out to Representative John Boehner of Ohio who was elected minutes ago to succeed Tom DeLay as the new Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives on a vote of 122 – 109. On the first ballot, the ‘reform’ vote was split between John Shadegg of Arizona (the former head of the conservative Republican Study Committee) and Boehner. Shadegg’s dropping off after the first ballot moved all of the ‘reform’ votes over to Boehner, who defeated the Majority Whip, Roy Blunt, who was trying to move up.

I’m sure that there are a lot of ways to read and interpret the results of this closed-door voting session, but Californians can be hopeful that it means that we are going to see a CHANGE in the way that Republicans do business in the Beltway. Perhaps it means that we will see an end to an era that has seen a 33% growth in federal spending since Republicans re-claimed control of the House in 1994. Perhaps it means that the explosion… Read More

Yesterday I got an interesting “don’t quote me” email with some news in the June race for the heavily Republican San Diego County 5th District Supervisorial race between incumbent Bill Horn and former Assemblyman Bruce Thompson. The Horn campaign, as expected, is cash rich with only more to come. On the other hand, if the information I got is accurate, Thompson’s campaign finances are really lacking. My information says the Thompson campaign will show 31k raised and 14k cash on hand. Unless Thompson has a really hefty checkbook, or newly resurgent county labor unions decide to play, this spells real trouble for his campaign. This showing is worse when you consider Thompson has the endorsement of Congressman Issa, State Senator Hollingsworth and some other notable local officials. This sort of support should translate into campaign funds, but apparently hasn’t.… Read More

Apparently stars sometimes align in the political landscape of California. There is an interesting article in today’s LA Times (read it here) about the state suing the federal government over the reimbursement of medical costs and prescription drugs under the new Medicare "reform" legislation. What is interesting about this article is that it indicates that the Attorney General, the Governor and the State Controller are in rare agreement that the federal reimbursement plan is bad for California because the state won’t be reimbursed for its expenses in a manner commensurate with the costs.… Read More

My commentary today is my article from Capitol Weekly, which you can read here.

Care to read comments, or make your own about today’s Daily Commentary?

Just click here to go to the FR Weblog, where this Commentary has its own blog post, and where you can read and make comments.… Read More

I previously posted that Cameron Smyth had the 38th Assembly District race all locked up. See it here. The fundraising shows him with over $200,000 and his GOP opponent Mary Barrientos has only $20,000. See the article here. This is a very GOP district and the June Republican primary victor will win.

The best quote about Smyth was fromone of the Democratic challengers Jim Alger.

"I think the fact that he’s well-known makes him vulnerable,"

Good Democratic thinking. We’ll see how thatworks out for you.… Read More

This culled from a SDUT graphic. I left the smart allecky "fun facts" in, just for…well…fun, even though most of them are lame….

Brian Bilbray Contributions: * $5,420 Money spent: $14,878 Cash on hand: $190,531 (Bilbray started his campaign with $199,334 from his 2000 campaign.) Fun fact: He paid Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, who considered a run for the seat herself, $2,000 for a poll.

Francine Busby Contributions: $519,606 Money spent: $187,936 Cash on hand: $371,161 Fun fact: After retirees and homemakers, attorney was the most often listed occupation of her contributors.

Richard EarnestContributions: $39,114 Money spent: $38,335 Cash on hand: $200,778 (includes personal loan of $200,000) Fun fact: He paid $5,000 for a polling consultant in December.

Howard Kaloogian Contributions: $170,527 Money spent: $17,418 Cash on hand: $153,108 Fun fact: His first fundraiser with expenses was held in Michigan.

Bill Morrow… Read More

I grew up in an off road motorcycle riding family, thus I know a thing or two about it. In 1971 surf documentary film director extraordinaire Bruce Brown produced the all time motorcycle classic film "On Any Sunday". One of the features of the film was the annual Lake Elsinore Motorcycle Grand Prix. The Grand Prix began in the 1960s and in the early 1970’s Honda even introduced a motorcycle called the Elsinore. The race was shut down in 1973 but was brought back to life in 1996. Lake Elsinore is currently gaining national fame for hosting Extreme Sports. With that in mind, The Lake Elsinore Motorcycle Grand Prix is looking to once again take a national spot light under the leadership of Lake Elsinore Mayor Bob Magee.

So why the history of dirt biking on a political BLOG you say; here is why. The Riverside County Board of Supervisors voted to knock down yet another domino in the fight to keep "private" in the phrase "private property". The BOS recently sent a draft off-highway vehicle (OHV) ordinance back to the Planning Department requesting that "they either ban OHV use in residential areas… Read More