Not since Ronald Reagan’s final campaign rally at Orange County’s Mile Square Park on the eve of the 1984 election, have thousands of Californian Republicans gathered.Neither Bush could do it. None of last year’s Republican presidential candidates could fill the Home Depot Tennis Center.

The Center has 13,000 court side seats. All those seats plus the suites were filled to capacity. Still thousands more were slowly streaming into the stadium quickly filled up the court yard. Thousands more found standing room around the rim of the stadium. Over 20,000 people were there to celebrate, shout and scream. It was a party. Lots of families, lots of color, and a whole lot of women. Yet, the clouds overhead were threatening with a little misty rain.

The crowd waited patiently for hours. The tickets were hard to get. Many people had to give several hours at local McCain/Palin HQ’s to get inside. It was hard to imagine our side could fill a stadium, with a few days notice and no advertising in LA.

StateCRP Chairman Ron Nehring, started the show by giving acheerful talk inspiring the troops. Next Tony Strickland, in the state’s… Read More

Either it’s a classic pr bungle or a brilliant covert strategy. Superficially it appears that the McCain team’s very public but unprecedented announcement, McCain was "abandoning" Michigan cannot be seen as a sigh of of strength. All polls during the summer months showed a close race. In fact, the Michigan GOP raised an unprecedented $8,000,000 the strongest effort in memory. The state Chairman himself was not informed. He read about the evacuationin the press.

Still, it must be a McCain campaign ruse. Let the Obama folks think they got a state where they lost badly to Hillary.

Just today Sarah Palin was quoted in writing an e-mail " Oh come on, you know, do we have to? Do we have to call it there? Todd and I, we’d be happy to get to Michigan…I want to try."

Looks like we have a solution. Send Sarah to win.… Read More

Last night I took a break to eat dinner and watch the Vice Presidential debate. Things were cruising along until we got to same sex marriage. When they did, I nearly fell out of my chair.

I support Proposition 8. For me, marriage is clearly defined as between one man and one woman. That is my view. In Yolo County, that puts me in the extreme minority. There are people that think less of me for my views on this topic but that is ok.

Well, guess what? Last night I clearly heard Senator Biden say that he and Senator Obama support a definition of marriage that is very similar to mine.

I welcome their endorsement of Prop 8 which simply states exactly what Senator Biden said last night. Maybe we will see them at one of the Yes on 8 walks that will be going on all over California in the coming weeks.

The principles of Prop 8 are supported by the California Republican Party, California Republican Assembly, Senator Joe Biden, and Senator Obama. What a team.… Read More

Yes, we often refrain from press releases in deference to original blog content, but this pretty much says it all….

Issa Statement on House Passage of Bailout

Washington, DC – Congressman Darrell Issa today made the following statement following the House’s passage of the $700 Billion bailout:

"The vote today to pass a Wall Street bailout package is a tragic defeat for taxpayers. We are being saddled with a $700 billion bill for risky decisions made by Wall Street financiers and a plan that has little chance of resolving the underlying problems in the financial markets. Taxpayers are outraged, and they should be.

"The last two weeks have revealed to the American people the breadth of the failure on the part of federal regulators, the Bush Administration and Congressional leaders. With a manufactured sense of urgency they spread panic through the markets, shattered Americans confidence in the banking system,… Read More

Wach it here… … Read More

Todays Roundup depicts our illustrious Governor with his hand out for a "bailout" from the federal government. He needs $7 billion to make ends meet.

Why isn’t there a market for California’s bonds? Because the State’s balance sheet is a mess. Period.

It’s not a function of the credit markets – its a function of the mess Arnold has made of the State’s finances.… Read More

The Choice

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Assembly District 80 will be one of the most competitive in the California this November. This is the seat where incumbent Republican Bonnie Garcia barely won reelection in 2006, but is now retiring due to term limits. The GOP nominee for the seat is former Palm Springs Police Chief Gary Jeandron, a strong conservative. The Democrats have put forward as their nominee Manuel Perez, a liberal (so much for theory that competitive districts producing moderate nominees). Voters will have two candidates with contrasting political philosophies and visions for the future of the Golden State.

So how are things looking in this race? Longtime FR friend Jamie Fisfis is the principal of Chariot Research, and is well respected for his acumen in the public opinion (polling) field. He is just out of the field with a survey of voters in AD 80, and has shared the results with FR.

Here is what Fisfis presented to us…… Read More