The 2014 Primaries: Crushing The Tea Party
The 2014 primaries are now pretty much over and the Tea Party has lost every contest where it tried to oust an incumbent Republican. As a political force in America, the Tea Party now is only a shadow of its former self, although the more liberal media will likely continue to prop it up to […]
Immigration Reform: A Pathway To Impeachment
The case for impeaching President Obama will be very strong if he does one thing: go really big on amnesty for the 11 million undocumented workers in America. There are nothing but upsides for Obama and the Democrats if this happens, leaving his Republican foes with only the constitutional response of impeachment, which is a […]
The Republicans Best Chance in 2014
Republicans are looking around for a chance to snag one statewide office this fall, and most attention has focused on Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin running for Controller. But the GOP should really focus on Pete Peterson, their candidate for Secretary of State. He has a much better opportunity than Swearengin. Peterson is the executive director […]
A Claude Rains Moment On Campaign Spending
(Editor’s Note: The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has filed a lawsuit to remove the measure discussed below from the ballot. More on the HJTA lawsuit can be found here.) Worried about turnout in November, Democrats have placed an advisory measure on the fall ballot to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision that allows unlimited […]
Fifty Years Ago: A Speech To Remember
Fifty years ago today, one of the least successful candidates ever to seek the presidency, Sen. Barry Goldwater, gave his acceptance speech for the Republican nomination at San Francisco’s Cow Palace. The speech was roundly denounced by the political class as an appeal to extremism. Yet that speech marked the beginning of a new era […]
Racial Voting in the Controller’s Race
The Controller’s race recount brings up a topic rarely discussed in California, racially polarized voting, especially racially motivated voting in Democratic primaries. John Perez, the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic nod in the controller’s race, lost the Controller’s primary because not enough Latino Democrats turned out to vote for him and too few white Democrats […]
California’s New Republican Boss
Neel Kashkari is the Republican candidate for governor because of the efforts of a mild mannered, bow-tied Stanford University physicist named Charles Munger Jr. Munger is also responsible for the defeat and retirement of several powerful California members of Congress, and he is the major funding source keeping the California Republican Party afloat. Not bad […]
Republicans Improved Outlook For Congress
What a difference a week makes. Just a week ago Roll Call carried an article that with GOP Assemblyman Tim Donnelly in the runoff with Gov. Jerry Brown, Democrats would score big wins in Congressional races in California. But after Tuesday’s election, it now looks as through Republicans, not Democrats, might make congressional gains in […]
Can California Republicans Avert Disaster?
“An Urgent Warning from Gov. Pete Wilson about Candidate Tim Donnelly” screams the black and red front page of the least subtle campaign flyer of this cycle. Inside Republicans are told about GOP gubernatorial candidate Donnelly’s criminal past: “Donnelly is Currently on Probation,” along with helpful headlines like “Tim Donnelly appears to have larceny conviction […]
Donnelly’s Impact On Republican Candidates
With Democrats reeling from the criminal conduct of their own State Senators you’d think Republicans would be poised to take advantage of this embarrassment. But that is not the case; recent polling shows that Republicans are about to embrace as their candidate for governor a legislator with his own problems with criminal conduct. That would […]