Free Republic

On Jan. 17, I attended the Atascadero Democratic Club business meeting and informational forum at 7:30 p.m. on gun safety which had been announced in the Atascadero News calendar to include a field representative from Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office and a local emergency room doctor, Steven Sainsbury, with 25 years emergency room experience speaking on his perspective regarding gun safety. This program was planned after the Sandy Hook Elementary School killing of 20 first graders and six school personnel trying to protect them. As the gun control/safety issue heated up, the club found itself and meeting date right in the...

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Thursday linked outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to one of the “saddest” Senate votes in years and suggested DeMint’s values won't be missed on Capitol Hill. Pelosi criticized the resigning South Carolina lawmaker and other GOP senators for voting Tuesday against Senate ratification of a United Nations treaty on rights for the disabled. “For them [DeMint and other treaty opponents] to slap the face of our veterans, of people with disabilities, of families with children with disabilities, that was one of the saddest days,” Pelosi said in the Capitol, taking care to avoid...

After a Nov. 6 election that saw unprecedented gains in Latino political power, Latino organizations already are organizing voter-registration and citizenship drives aimed at increasing their influence further. Several groups are preparing to fan out to colleges, high schools and churches in coming months to register new voters. Citizenship workshops, including one in San Bernardino on Saturday, Dec. 1, aim to turn legal permanent residents into voter-eligible citizens. “The Latino vote really fulfilled its potential this past election in a way it hadn’t done before,” said Arnulfo De La Cruz, California director for Mi Familia Vota, a six-state voter-registration campaign...

Frank Aquila wasn’t 100 percent positive that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney was going to win heading into Tuesday’s election. Despite his strong conservative roots, Aquila – who served as a county chair for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign and penned a book about the decision to go with former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate – had seen too much transpire over the course of four years to count out to former senator from Illinois that cut his teeth in the rough-and-tumble world of Chicago politics. And while certain parts of the election – like the Democrats...

It's not just Democrats making a final push in the state's four competitive Senate seats. Senate GOP leader Bob Huff hit the trail last week to boost candidates he needs to win to prevent Democrats from winning a veto-proof supermajority in the upper house. . . .

ACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California has reached an all-time high of 18.2 million registered voters, while the number of registered Republicans has fallen below 30 percent, signaling a worrisome decline for the state's minority party, officials said Friday. In its final update before Tuesday's general election, the secretary of state's office said the number of registered voters has increased by 950,000 since the 2008 presidential contest. Officials attribute that surge in part to the state's new online registration system, which helped many young, Democratic-leaning Californians sign up to vote this fall. That system was seen as a threat to the...

SAN FRANCISCO – About 30 Filipino-American seniors from all over the Bay Area gathered Thursday morning at a community center in a largely Filipino enclave in the heart of San Francisco’s South of Market district. Along with their regular breakfast and a mental health workshop, Rudy Asercion, who directs the West Bay Filipino Multi-Services Inc., also served up a good dose of politics, rallying them to register and vote. He also invited them to the center that evening to watch the vice presidential candidates Joe Biden and Paul Ryan in their first and only televised debate. A recent national survey...

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz may be President Barack Obama's worst surrogate, at least according to the Obama campaign's internal polls. But Wasserman Schultz may be campaigning for herself to win an under-the-radar race for a leadership position in her party that may allow her to succeed Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, who could retire from Congress next spring. The Democratic Caucus Vice Chair -- the no. 5 leadership post -- is opening up and the National Journal reports Wasserman Schultz may be actively campaigning for the spot. DWS has been soliciting votes from Democrats who could potentially unseat...

In the off chance that Democrats take back the House in November, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has dreamed up quite a busy first day for her return to the Speaker's podium. After laying out the Democrats' path back to the House Thursday, Pelosi ticked off a bold list of the achievements she most wants to see on day one - including perhaps, a constitutional amendment. First and foremost was a jobs bill, based largely on President Obama's, she said. Second on the list was passing the DISCLOSE Act, a bill introduced in 2010 that would effectively overturn the Supreme Court's...

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has received his first regular intelligence briefing from the Obama administration during a stop in Los Angeles. Romney spokesman Rick Gorka says the former Massachusetts governor met Monday with members of the intelligence community at a federal building. Romney's briefing lasted 2 hours...

WASHINGTON — California Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman said at a press conference on immigration outside the Capitol Friday afternoon that America needs immigration reform to help those here illegally while also allowing them unionize for better wages. “We need a regular process by which the 12 million people who are part of our society can be fully part of our society, and they need documents,” the congressman said. “It’s important for the labor market of this country because as long as there are 12 million people without documents, there are 12 million people who can’t stand up for their rights...

The race is officially on in the 6th Assembly District. Republican Assembly candidate Andrew Pugno announced Monday that he plans to move forward with his bid to unseat Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Rocklin, on the Nov. 6 ballot, despite an earlier pledge to stop campaigning if another Republican came in first in the June primary. The Folsom attorney said in a statement that he has concluded he "cannot, in good conscience, endorse (Gaines') dishonest and unethical campaign tactics," citing what he called "last-minute attack ads that she knew were lies." "As the only other candidate on the November ballot, stepping aside...

Republican Assemblyman Jeff Miller is touting an unusual new endorsement in his bid for the targeted 31st Senate District: a former Democratic rival. Miller's campaign announced today that Steve Clute, the former Democratic assemblyman who came in third in the June 5 primary for the Inland Empire seat, has endorsed him over Democratic candidate Richard Roth. "Although our party of preference means ideologically we may not agree on every issue, one thing I know is Jeff Miller will stand up for Riverside County," Clute said in a statement released by the Miller campaign. "Voters can trust that Jeff will stand...

Earlier this morning, we alerted you to a report that the Democrat Party Chair from California, John Burton, compared Paul Ryan and the GOP to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. From the Chronicle (who will be posting audio shortly): Greetings from the California delegation breakfast at the DNC where before he had a cup of coffee Democratic Party Chair John Burton – much like his ol’ pal Guv Jerry Brown once did – just compared the Republicans to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, for “telling the big lie,” a reference to several falsehoods GOP VP nominee Paul Ryan recently told. “They lie...

New tone alert... According to a just released report from the San Francisco Chronicle, California Democratic Party Chair John Burton compared Paul Ryan and the GOP to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Let's see how - or if - the media reports this outrageous comment. Had this been a Republican, you would have already heard about it, as opposed to having to read it here. From the Chronicle (who will be posting audio shortly): Greetings from the California delegation breakfast at the DNC where before he had a cup of coffee Democratic Party Chair John Burton – much like his ol’...

. NBC News : Free Republic's Patton@Bastogne calls-out Myth Romney as a "Pathelogical Political Liar" at the Tampa 2012 GOP Convention ... Patton@Bastogne calls-out Myth Romney as a "Pathelogical Political Liar" in Tampa ...(click) Internet Link: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nbcnews.com/48798495 .

SAN FRANCISCO -- House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said Tuesday that she expects the U.S. Supreme Court next month will uphold President Obama's signature legislation: the Affordable Care Act. "We believe that this bill constitutionally is iron-clad," she told a crowd of about 550 at a Commonwealth Club event in the Fairmont Hotel. "I expect a 6-3 'aye' verdict from the Supreme Court." Pelosi, whose discussion with the club was meant to commemorate her 25th anniversary in Congress, said the bill is among her proudest legislative accomplishments. More than 80 million Americans -- young people allowed to remain on their...

Competing radio ads spotlight wealthy Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger Jr.'s deep-pockets support for incumbent Assemblywoman Beth Gaines against challenger Andy Pugno in a Placer County-based Assembly district. Spirit of Democracy, an advocacy group funded largely by Munger, has poured more than $175,000 into a radio and mail promotional campaign for Gaines this month. Pugno is attempting to create a backlash by painting the GOP activist as a liberal. Munger is a major GOP donor and was a key financial backer of redistricting reform. He has pushed to moderate the Republican Party by downplaying divisive issues such as abortion, gun...

Liberal activists organized by CREDO SuperPAC are planning to protest outside a fundraiser that House Speaker John Boehner is holding Wednesday on Portola Road in Woodside with Rep. Dan Lungren, R-Gold River. The event with Boehner, R-Ohio, costs up to $35,000 a plate or $5,000 for a photo opportunity, and is occurring just six miles from the Atherton home in which President Obama is scheduled to hold a $35,800-a-plate fundraiser at about the same time.CREDO SuperPAC says it has launched a campaign against Lungren with four full-time organizers and a Carmichael field office to mobilize local voters to defeat a...

FreedomWorks announced its support for three upstart Republican House candidates today, pitting the conservative grass-roots group against local elected officials in each state. The group endorsed Public Service Commissioner Kevin Cramer in North Dakota’s at-large seat; Lewis County Judge Executive Thomas Massie in Kentucky’s 4th district; and former state Sen. Sam Aanestad in California’s 1st district. All three candidates are running in open-seat races. FreedomWorks’ support is notable because it’s backing the underdogs in each race and, in one case, going against the state party’s endorsement. In North Dakota, the state GOP endorsed Public Service Commissioner Brian Kalk at its...