Free Republic

In the strange world of politics, where up is down and down is up, Republicans tout as a victory David Harmer's 10-point loss to Democrat John Garamendi in Tuesday's special congressional race. With an 18-point party registration advantage, off-the-charts name identification and double the cash of his opponent, Republicans say Garamendi should have won with a far bigger margin. "Harmer winning 43 percent of the vote in an overwhelmingly Democratic district in the Bay Area does not speak well for the Democrats," California GOP Chairman Ron Nehring said the morning after Tuesday's election. Yes, this is largely spin. Harmer outperformed...

Despite election countdown fervor from pro-GOP David Harmer forces, the National Republican Congressional Committee does not yet view him as a “contender” in his bid against Democratic Lt. Gov. John Garamendi in the 10th congressional district special election on Tuesday. A Roll Call story today reports that the committee elevated nine candidates in its Young Guns program — its targeted candidate initiative — from “On the Radar” to “Contender.”Harmer was not among the nine selected for the second tier. No candidate has yet achieved the highest ranking of “Young Gun.” NRCC spokeswoman Joanna Burgos insists Harmer’s status does not reflect...

All we know for sure is that Carly Fiorina has a busy schedule on tap. Fiorina, the former Hewlett Packard CEO, has been exploring a bid for the U.S. Senate, and the buzz is that she will officially announce her candidacy next week to challenge Assemblyman Chuck DeVore in the Republican primary. The Contra Costa Times reported last week that Fiorina is headed to Pleasanton on Friday, Nov. 6 to make a "very important" announcement to the Tri-Valley Business Council. Indeed, Council President and CEO Tobias Brink said yesterday that it "would be my assumption" that Fiorina is planning an...

One candidate in next year's gubernatorial race contributed thousands of dollars to Democratic Sens. Barbara Boxer and John Kerry. Another wrote $21,000 in checks to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore and the Democratic National Committee in 2000. A third was a registered Democrat in the early 1970s and has acknowledged supporting George McGovern as the party's presidential candidate in 1972. All three – Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner and Tom Campbell – are vying to become California's next governor, but not as Democrats. They constitute the entire GOP gubernatorial field, a fact that has some Republicans wondering where their candidates' loyalties...

California Republicans are seeing political gold in California's water problems, hoping to steal the issue from Democrats and win support from one of that party's key constituencies - Latinos. GOP leaders have put water atop their agenda for next year's statewide campaigns. They are expanding voter-registration efforts in the drought-stricken Central Valley, where unemployment is high and food banks are busy, and encouraging candidates to reach out to Latino voters hit hard by the recession. The strategy was distilled on a 5-foot-high banner at the Republican voter registration table in front of a Walmart store in Dinuba (Tulare County) in...

Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer holds a strong edge over possible Republican challengers seeking to unseat her in the 2010 election, according to a new Field Poll of registered voters. The poll, conducted via telephone between Sept. 18 and Oct. 6, showed Boxer holding a double-digit lead over two GOP hopefuls, declared candidate Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, and former Hewlett Packard executive Carly Fiorina, who has not declared her candidacy but has formed an exploratory committee. Boxer beat Fiorina 49 percent to 35 percent, and DeVore 50 percent to 33 percent. The poll indicated that much of Boxer's lead could stem...

After last weekend's California Republican Party convention, a spokeswoman for potential Senate candidate Carly Fiorina dissed the results of rival Chuck DeVore's self-commissioned straw poll, telling CNN's Peter Hamby: "Let me get this straight, you want me to comment on a Chuck DeVore straw poll that was conducted in the DeVore hospitality suite on Saturday night with a bunch of college Republicans and a lot of free beer flowing?" Beer and college students may go together like Republicans and no-tax pledges, but can candidates really capture conservative students' support with an abundance of ale? Not so easily, according to Michael...

Indian Wells, California Republicans begin the 2010 campaign season with something many considered unthinkable just a few months ago - hope that they can win a major statewide race. They realize the odds are still steep. Only 31 percent of California voters are registered Republicans and no Congressional or legislative district has a majority of GOP voters. And demographically, former state Republican leader and current political analyst Allan Hoffenblum said the GOP has become an "old white guy" party in a state that is rapidly diversifying.Yet coming out of their three-day state convention that ended today, party activists say they...

Indian Wells, CA -- Greetings from the California Republican Convention, where we've already made a tactical error: We forgot to eat before the speeches. Do you know what the sound of 900 Republicans chewing sounds like? For all intents and purposes, this weekend is the kickoff for the 2010 campaign season and all the major statewide candidates are here. (Save for US Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, who is undergoing her final two weeks of radiation therapy to treat breast cancer.) The next 40 hours are all about kissing up to the hardcore activists here. But before the smooches were planted,...

Marcos Breton: Latino Republican Amador wants seat in Congress Sep. 9, 2009 The former U.S. marshal wants to be a U.S. congressman. He's a leader in Sacramento's Latino community, and he's Republican. He could be retiring after 40 years of presidential appointments and posts under California governors. But at 65, he's diving into the caldron of national politics. Tony Amador may or may not get his wish to strengthen the weakened hand of the GOP in Washington, D.C., but his candidacy is illuminating. Amador aspires to the corridors of power after being a child of the powerless. He was one...

A Republican running for a Fresno-area Assembly seat next year is offering a Delta delicacy of sorts at an upcoming fundraiser. An invitation from Brandon Shoemaker, at right, for an Oct. 3 feed promises Delta smelt appetizers with a robust meal featuring barbecued beef.

ke Berryhill, a Turlock Irrigation District director and a member of a prominent political family, announced Monday that he is running for Dennis Cardoza's congressional seat. Cardoza, D-Merced, is up for re-election in 2010. Cardoza's district includes part of Stanislaus County. Berryhill is a former Ceres Unified School District trustee and has served on the TID board since 1983. His term expires this year and he is not running for re-election. Berryhill, 62, is a Ceres rancher and a Republican. "Someone needs to step up to the plate and take on Dennis Cardoza," Berryhill said. "He's really had a free...

A small but vocal group of local Republicans is accusing county party leaders of conspiring to rig Central Committee elections and abusing office powers. They allege the local party and state party’s chair of dodging campaign finance violation fines, using party resources for personal gain, ignoring party bylaws and State Election Code and harassing and intimidating other party members. (READ REST OF ARTICLE AT LINK ABOVE)

California Republican Party leaders, in a move that could reshape state primary-election politics, are preparing a move to bar decline-to-state voters - now 20 percent of the electorate - from casting a GOP ballot in statewide and legislative primaries. The proposed bylaw to the state Republican platform, which delegates will decide at the party convention next month in Indian Wells (Riverside County), has riled some business leaders and Republicans. They say it could be disastrous for the party's future and could relegate Republicans in the state to "permanent minority" status by keeping independent voters from supporting Republicans in primary elections....

We'll give the young Republican crowd some points for, uh, creativity -- but we just hope they get their fun in the right order when they hold that big Bay Area Young Republicans' "Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Fundraiser" this weekend. Say, whaaaa? No kidding. In a move that says that the Wild West is alive and well in California politics (or that maybe there's no adult advisor involved here), the San Francisco, San Mateo and Silicon Valley Young Republicans are planning an official smokin', drinkin', shoot-em-up fundraiser -- literally. It's even listed on the California Republican Party events website.

Meg Whitman, an early front-runner in the race for the 2010 Republican nomination for California governor, told a lunchtime crowd Friday in Ventura that she can be the candidate to rescue the California Republican Party from irrelevance and the state itself from near bankruptcy. “In business terms, we would say the Republican Party is losing share at an alarming rate,” said Whitman, a veteran executive who was CEO of eBay for 10 years. Republicans make up just 31 percent of the state’s registered voters, trailing Democrats by 14 percentage points, she said. “We’re going to have to include groups that...

WASHINGTON – As Democrats seek to fatten their lead in the U.S. House in 2010, they're taking the fight to traditionally Republican turf – and Rep. Dan Lungren is directly in their cross hairs. Lungren, 62, of Gold River, won an eighth term to Congress last year, even though he received less than half the votes in California's 3rd District. He had previously represented a Long Beach district from 1979 to 1989. The district's minority population has risen dramatically since 2000. And while Republicans still outnumber Democrats by 2 percent, President Barack Obama carried the district, which includes Sacramento's suburbs...

California Republicans, known to engage in intraparty warfare, got an unexpected boost from the state's fiscal crunch as party leaders and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger united against Democratic appeals for less-traumatic budget cuts. But GOP unity in Sacramento doesn't extend statewide, where activists and insiders are eyeing next year's election and fiercely debating the future, the message and potential leaders of the party in California, the nation's most-populous state. The dissidence in party ranks was on full display at a Commonwealth Club of California event Friday to explore the party's prospects. State Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria (Santa Barbara County), who...

State Sen. George Runner is stepping down as chairman of the Senate Republican Caucus, the Flash Report reported today. The 57-year-old Lancaster lawmaker told his 14 GOP colleagues that he will leave the post at the end of this month, according to the blog, written by state GOP official Jon Fleischman. Runner said that resigning the chairmanship will allow the post to be held by someone who is not seeking higher office and, at the same time, trying to qualify and pass a statewide ballot measure.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, whose signature manifesto swept Republicans to power in the mid-1990s, called Wednesday for conservatives to recruit Democrats who oppose tax increases and big government and form a coalition to do battle with President Obama's "fantasy wing of the American left." .................. "If you look at California on the recent vote against raising taxes or spending, when you get 64 percent of the state voting with you, it tells you that in the most Democratic districts of the state, there was a solid majority against raising taxes and spending," Mr. Gingrich told editors and reporters at...

Here’s a sure sign that commercial real estate broker Chris Riggs is planning to challenge Rep. Ken Calvert in the Republican primary next year: Riggs in recent days has launched Twitter and Facebook sites, and he has also begun to hire consultants and campaign staff. “This race will be a litmus test to see if all the millions of ‘tea party’ attendees across America are really serious about electing officials that run on a limited government, tax lowering platform, as this will be a perfect opportunity to pick off a big tax-and-spend incumbent,” Riggs told the Orange County Register this...

Democrats have remained coy on the idea of new taxes, but Sen. Abel Maldonado, R-Santa Maria, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel last week that it is "not reasonable" for any legislator to rule out taxes . . .

Assemblyman Roger Niello, who cast a key vote to pass a state budget that raised taxes this year, has been replaced as the GOP's point man on the Assembly Budget Committee. The Fair Oaks Republican will hand his committee post to Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber, who is a freshman in the lower house but served a dozen years in the Senate, leaving in 1990. The switch was made by the Assembly's new Republican leader, Sam Blakeslee of San Luis Obispo, who has stressed that taxes cannot be raised again in tackling a $24.3 billion shortfall. "There is no doubt that...

... Republican attorney David Harmer – son of former California lieutenant governor and Southern California state legislator John Harmer – says he’ll be a candidate in the 10th Congressional District should Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, be confirmed to the State Department post to which she is nominated. .... Harmer, of San Ramon, said he believes the district’s voters share his commitment to fiscal responsibility. .... And although this will be an uphill battle for him – the district has an 18-percentage-point Democratic registration edge – Harmer said he already has raised more than $150,000 for this race. Spokesman Michael Caporusso...

Poll: Should the U.S. Treasury Bail Out California?

Just hours before budget negotiations begin at the Capitol, Republican state senators declined to specify today what big-ticket costs they favor chopping to solve a massive $21.3 billion deficit. Instead, gathered at a press conference outside the Capitol, the senators said the collapse of all but one ballot proposition Tuesday was a green light for long-range plans to cut public spending in the future. They unveiled a series of reform ideas to change school spending and hold state bureaucracies accountable for performance by imposing "term limits" on them or requiring them to "prove their worth" to be funded. "Solving the...

Just before state Sen. Roy Ashburn cast the vote that would subject him to a recall drive and cloud his political future, he recalled his hero, Ronald Reagan. He told of Reagan's painful decisions as California governor to twice abandon a no-taxes pledge. Then the Bakersfield Republican, who had promised never to raise taxes, voted for a state budget deal that included $12.8 billion in new taxes. "Ronald Reagan would vote 'yes,' " he argued. But invoking the GOP icon hasn't spared Ashburn and the "Republican Six" from the wrath of constituents. As California voters go to the polls May...

Setting the stage for what is expected to be one of the nation’s hottest Congressional races of 2010, Assemblyman Van Tran announced today that he will challenge seven-term Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez. Tran had been recruited heavily by Washington GOP leaders, who consider central Orange County’s 47th Congressional District one of their best chances for gaining a seat next year. “Both sides will be pouring resources into this,” Tran said in anticipation of a heavily funded drive. Democrats have a 12.4 percentage point advantage in the central county district and Sanchez is popular there, winning by 44 percentage points in...

When Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee speaks, everyone listens -- that was the message sent last year in one playful verbal volley. During contentious floor debate, Republicans complained that their policy views routinely are ignored. One Democrat, disputing the complaint, noted that a hush comes over the floor whenever Blakeslee talks. For the next few days, as a joke, legislators would demand silence throughout the Assembly chambers -- loudly murmuring "shhh!" -- whenever Blakeslee grabbed a microphone. The lighthearted wordplay was a symbol, perhaps, of the respect that the San Luis Obispo Republican has within both parties. A lame-duck lawmaker termed out...

Assemblyman Sam Blakeslee was elected Thursday as Assembly Republican leader, effective June 1. "Our team is looking forward to working with everyone in the Legislature to find responsible solutions that balance California's budget and returns prosperity to our communties," the San Luis Obispo Republican said in a written statement. Blakeslee vowed to fight for high-performing schools, safe streets, a healthy business climate, and for reform and streamlining of state government. Blakeslee will replace Assemblyman Mike Villines, R-Clovis, who held a news conference earlier Thursday morning to announce that he will step down at the end of this month. Villines, attacked...

Assembly GOP leader Mike Villines of Clovis is expected to resign his leadership post tomorrow. . . . Villines has caught the wrath of anti-tax conservatives ever since negotiating a budget deal in February with Democrats and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger that includes temporary tax hikes

The College Republicans student club set up a table on the San Francisco State University quad, offering information about and speaking out against the Fairness Doctrine, which would require broadcasters to provide balanced and fair views of an issue. Though the doctrine was eliminated in 1987, there is some talk of reinstating it. Conservative groups - like the College Republicans - oppose that move because the doctrine could curb conservative talk-radio shows. James Kincaid, president of the San Francisco State College Republicans, and three other club members were gathering signatures for a petition to stop the Fairness Doctrine when Jacob...

Days after a Republican congressman asked Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to step down, Assembly Republican Leader Mike Villines has a target on his back. Shawn Steel, a former California Republican Party chairman and one of two representatives to the Republican National Committee, on Wednesday told Rob Johnson of Modesto's KMPH 840 that he and other Republicans plan to ask Villines to step down from his Capitol leadership post. Steel said Republicans are angry that Villines helped approve billions in temporary taxes during the latest budget agreement and that he is now advocating passage of Proposition 1A, which contains a spending limit...

Tom Campbell, the former state budget director and Republican congressman exploring a bid for Congress, recognizes that he's financially overmatched against his mega-rich opponents Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman. But, in an interview with ABC News, he sees a path to victory in the GOP primary. "A three-way race is exceptionally more achievable,

Republican politicians are afraid of their base. Very afraid. Press folks have categorized the April 15 TEA parties - TEA for "Taxed Enough Already" - as anti-President Obama, anti-government and even "anti-CNN." But it is GOP leaders who are scared senseless (for want of a better word) by the protests. Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin posted reports of Republicans who got booed at TEA parties - including a video of GOP Rep. Gresham Barrett of South Carolina addressing protesters. Barrett told them, "I respect you," and that he had introduced friendly legislation. Folks didn't care. Many in the crowd booed or...

The California Republican Party's executive committee is expected to vote this weekend to oppose Proposition 1A, which would limit future spending while approving $16 billion in temporary tax hikes. The CRP will find itself in a tricky position explaining how it can oppose Proposition 1A after it already gave Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger $650,000, much of which is going toward the pro-1A effort. Schwarzenegger laid claim to that money in January and February ($1.3 million shows up on the secretary of state's Web site, but the transfers have been double-posted, according to Schwarzenegger campaign spokesman Julie Soderlund). CRP spokesman Hector Barajas...

Republican State Senator Abel Maldonado isn't mincing words: he says that "hyper-partisan" events like Tea Parties and recall rallies being pushed by radio stars like KFI's John & Ken are a glaring example of a disturbing trend -- a rise in entertainment-driven, ratings-driven political gimmicks that don't provide real solutions for voters. "It's crazy. While my state melts and burns, these folks are making money selling ads,'' Maldonado told the Chronicle. "All they care about is money in their pocket.'' Maldonado last week launched his efforts with the Reform for Change Committee, to push for Prop. 1F -- which would...

On the night of our Presidential election in November, someone burned down our back fence. No one reported it that night. Our daughter asked us the next day who burned our fence. Our next door neighbor's garage, to which the fence is attached, was not burned. The fire department was called and came the next day. We wondered aloud to the fireman if it was burned because of our prominent yard signs for McCain-Palin and Bob Schaeffer. He thought not, yet we wonder... We were the only visually identifiable Republican on our block. Everyone else is a Democrat or Obama-voter....

I missed this last week, but multimillionaire financier Howard Ahmanson, one of the biggest early funders of Proposition 8, has left the Republican Party and become a Democrat. Kathleen Pender of the Washington Post spoke with Ahmanson for a column. In a rare interview Thursday, Ahmanson shared some of his thoughts about why he switched parties. In a word, taxes. Specifically, he was offended by the California Republican Party's insistence during a recent state budget battle that there would be no tax increases for any reason, no matter what. "They're providing one issue, and it's just a very silly issue,"...

SACRAMENTO — If Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan indeed decides to run for Congress — or even if she opts to run for what could be an open state Senate seat — it would be hard to blame Republicans for openly rooting for the Alamo Democrat to succeed. Or even secretly funneling contributions to her through a front group. It could mean grabbing back a seat that had been theirs for the last six years — and looked lost to Democrats for the next six. Buchanan is strongly considering but has not officially decided to run for the Congressional seat that will...

After last fall's elections, the Democratic leaders in the California Senate and Assembly were a mere five votes shy -- in both houses combined -- of a complete two-thirds governing supermajority. They've never come that close since. Vacancies -- created through members taking other offices and running for open congressional seats -- are likely to frustrate Democrats and empower Republicans for at least the rest of the year. "It does create complications," said Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento. "You want to have a full house." The two-thirds majority is a magical combination in California because that is the...

From Sacramento -- Up close, the state Senate's new minority leader is soft-spoken and seems perhaps shy. But he definitely is not shy. And through his soft voice, he is an outspoken advocate for a conservative ideology. Sen. Dennis Hollingsworth, 42, of Murrieta is a hard-right Republican who gives every indication of being a legislative leader who won't budge on taxes. Not now, not ever. He could be Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's worst nightmare, not to mention the Democrats'. Hollingsworth says he and the governor have only chatted briefly, not substantively, since the senator landed his job in a February coup...

State Senator Abel Maldonado has issued a scathing rebuke to fellow Republican Steve Poizner, charging that the GOP gubernatorial candidate "would let the state fall into ruin just to win a political campaign.'' Maldonado's letter to the State Insurance Commissioner was just released publicly, and it's a tough critique from the Santa Maria lawmaker.Coming a week after Poizner sent a letter to the state Republican Party -- he urged the GOP formally oppose the May 19 special election budget ballot measures -- the State Senator accuses Poizner of grandstanding on the critical issue of budget reform. "Since the budget was...

Tom Campbell doesn't have the big guns of his GOP competitors in the 2010 governor's race - not $50 million of his own money to throw in, like former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, nor the pulpit of statewide office, like Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. But Campbell has something more than the label of dark horse in the primary contest: He actually understands - in painful detail - the seemingly intractable problems of the California budget process. Campbell, who has served as director of the state Department of Finance, dean of the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and in...

What drove evangelical multimillionaire Howard Ahmanson—the man behind Prop 8—away from the Republicans? It wasn't Sarah Palin. He talks to The Daily Beast’s Kathleen Parker. Multimillionaire Howard Ahmanson, one of the nation’s top evangelical Christian philanthropists and one of three funders of Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, recently joined the Democratic Party. Although Ahmanson’s support for Prop 8 earned him critics on the left, his many philanthropic interests funded through his Fieldstead Institute are most often nonpartisan and nonpolitical, from AIDS prevention to public transportation. In an exclusive interview with columnist Kathleen Parker, he explains why he switched political...

SAVING THE REPUBLICAN PARTY OF CALIFORNIAby Jack Lee Let's face it, the Republican Party in California has tanked and they didn't get that way in just the last election. This has been a long, slow process of erosion that can be traced to a lack of... action, vision and inspired leadership. In short the Republicans whimped out and failed to live up to their own idealism and it got em tossed! For too many years the GOP gambled that they could spend a little time doing minor tweaks on a few key issues, then spin this to the public as...

Los Angeles, CA (AP) -- A state assemblyman who was reprimanded by fellow Republicans for supporting a state budget package that included tax increases has resigned a local party leadership position. Assemblyman Anthony Adams of Hesperia told The Associated Press on Friday that he is resigning as chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Party.

Let the campaigns begin. First, Sen. Mark DeSaulnier got himself elected to the Assembly in November 2006. Then the Concord Democrat got himself elected to the state Senate last November when he and Tom Torlakson, now back in the Assembly, swapped seats. And now that Rep. Ellen Tauscher has officially announced that she's leaving Congress for a post in the Obama administration, DeSaulnier has decided to run for that East Bay seat. What about Torlakson? He's endorsed DeSaulnier for Tauscher's seat and says he's formally kicking off his state schools chief campaign on April 3.

The California Republican Party has been pummeled by some tough body blows in recent years - and results at the ballot box have been just part of the pain. Now, at a time when the national GOP is trying to find its voice and cultivate new candidates, California GOP activists have begun engaging in a new pastime: issuing "fatwas" to punish state Republican legislators deemed too moderate on tax issues. This circular firing squad was on display last week at a "Tax Revolt" rally that drew 8,000 people to a Fullerton parking lot. It was organized by popular conservative talk...

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer has a comfortable lead over potential Republican challengers for her job in 2010, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, though voters are divided in their enthusiasm for her re-election, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. In a hypothetical matchup against Schwarzenegger, who will leave the Governor's Office in January 2011, Democrat Boxer leads by 54 percent to 30 percent, the poll found. The Republican governor has never said publicly that he plans to run for another political office. That marks a drop for Schwarzenegger from the October 2007 Field Poll, when the governor had a 44 percent...