The National Organization of Marriage has just launched a new television commercial here in California in which they seek to emphasize that on the issue of gay marriage, Republican Tom Campbell and Barbara Boxer have the same position. They highlight a couple of other similarities as well.

Brian Brown, Executive Director of NOM, has this to say about his organization’s ad, "GOP voters believe in tax cuts, national defense, and the family. They oppose same-sex marriage by a 4-1 margin. They deserve to know that Tom Campbell is a pro-gay marriage, pro-choice, pro-tax Republican — not much different from Barbara Boxer on many key issues."

A well placed source with NOM shared some information about the ad buy itself, "The ad is focused in key GOP areas – San Diego, LA, Fresno, Bakersfield and Sacramento media markets. In larger markets such as LA, San Diego and Sacramento it is targeted to areas within the market that are rich in Republican voters."

Here is the ad…

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This last weekend at the California Republican Party Convention, State Senator Tony Strickland formally announced his candidacy for State Controller. We had the FlashReport FlipVideo camera on hand… This video below starts with Strickland’s actual announcement, followed by a statement made by Jon Coupal, President of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, announcing the endorsement of HJTA PAC for Strickland — and then Strickland, Coupal and I sit down for a few minutes to talk about the campaign. I’d like to extend an FR shout-out to Strickland’s campaign consultant (and former FR contributor) Joe Justin, who helped to set this up…

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We’ll be posting up all kinds of fun "goodies" from this last weekend’s State GOP convention, but this one we put on the top of our list. Photo credit goes to Republican National Committeeman Shawn Steel for this picture of U.S. Senate Candidate Carly Fiorina’s top consultant, Marty Wilson. In case anyone was wondering whether Marty is willing to take on any task necessary for the campaign, we note here that Marty is carrying Mrs. Fiorina’s purse. Marty, we think it’s your color!… Read More

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For the first time, the two contenders for the Republican nomination for Governor, Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, will debate. The event, hosted by the New Majority, will take place at 530pm today in Orange County. We will be featuring live, streaming video of the showdown here on the FlashReport Blog! So tune in to watch it live, or catch the replay!… Read More

Just another day at the office for the men and women that work in California’s prisons.

From California Department of Corrections news release:

This morning, March 13, 2010, at approximately 8:14 a.m., a 43-year-old female correctional officer at North Kern State Prison (NKSP) sustained moderate injuries in an unprovoked attack by a 37-year-old inmate in the reception center part of the prison. The correctional officer was transported to Delano Regional Medical Center where she remains in stable condition. The inmate was identified as inmate Russ Loc, who has been housed at the prison since March 8, 2010, after being convicted in Los Angeles County for forced oral copulation resulting in great bodily injury. The incident began this morning at approximately 8… Read More

Judging from reports the CRP convention this weekend has been a very interesting one. I’m a member, appointed by Congressman Darrell Issa, and I usually attend. But this weekend’s GOP convention conflicted with the annual National Audition Grand Finals of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. I was really looking forward to seeing Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner in Santa Clara, but as donors we were invited to the Auditions. I opted for music over politics, a rare such decision, and hopefully Jon Fleischman will have inserted my picture at the Met with Audition’s host, famous mezzo soprano Marilyn Horne, taken about 45 minutes ago, to prove I actually was doing something else of meaning this weekend. For those interested, PBS stations in California will be airing a documentary film tonight about the 2007 Auditions, a good cool down after a busy GOP event.… Read More

The first competitive San Diego County Sheriff’s race since 1994 enters its primary leg withthree hopefuls to appear on the ballot. As well, a challenge has been filed over one candidate’s chosenballot description.

The pool of anticipated competitors narrowed from four on Friday, when perennial candidate Bruce Ruff dropped his bidin passive fashion, simply not filing any nominating paperwork by the deadline after he campaigned for several months.

The three remaining candidates each have law enforcement experience. Obviously, they want to tout their respective backgrounds. Thus, their chosen ballot designations…

Jim Duffy – San Diego County Sheriff Lieutenant

Bill Gore – San Diego County Sheriff, Appointed

Jay La Suer – Retired Undersheriff, San Diego

Watchers of these types of things (hacks like me) know the general rules for this all important designation (the last and sometimes only thing many voters will truly note about each candidate prior to voting)…

-Three words max, unless it’s… Read More