Free Republic

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...

A political advocacy group funded largely by wealthy Stanford physicist Charles T. Munger Jr. has poured $83,000 this week into an independent push to re-elect Republican Assemblywoman Beth Gaines. Gaines, of Rocklin, is running against attorney and fellow Republican Andy Pugno in the 6th Assembly District, a newly drawn district based in Placer County but extending into Sacramento and El Dorado counties. Democrat Reginald Bronner of Lincoln rounds out the field. A radio advertisement and campaign literature supporting Gaines was funded by Spirit of Democracy, whose coffers consist of $727,000 from Munger and $150,000 from the California Dental Association, records...

Since just before the last California presidential primary, the proportion of voters registered as Republicans has fallen from 33.5 percent to 30.4 percent, according to new figures from the California Secretary of State.

Last fall, we pointed out that the California Republican Party was running a bit late in not being able to field — with all due respect — a “name” candidate to take on incumbent Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein. And now, we see one of the effects of that. DiFi is lapping the GOP field in the latest fundraising disclosures. . . . DiFi is outraising the entire Republican field by about a gazillion to one in the latest fundraising totals. That includes includes her closest GOP rival — Danville autism activist Elizabeth Emken, who was endorsed by the CA GOP....

Shocker: One of CA’s most promising young Republicans abandons GOP in midst of heated SD mayoral raceCalifornia State Assemblyman and San Diego mayoral candidate Nathan Fletcher, seen as one of the California Republican Party’s most promising future possibilities for statewide office, announced today he’s abandoning the GOP and “partisan politics” to become an independent. The defection of Fletcher, who served in the Marine Corps for more than a decade and is an Iraq war veteran as well as a spouse of a prominent GOP activist — Mindy Tucker Fletcher, the former campaign spokeswoman for George W. Bush — is an...

The Tehama County GOP announced it has disinvited California Republican Party Chairperson Tom Del Beccarro from speaking at its May Lincoln-reagan Dinner. Apparently the Tehama GOP does not appreciate the CRP Chair’s hamfisted disregard for party bylaws and the state party’s controversial endorsement process that picks favorites before the California Primary. Not like we’ve never heard these complaints before. And brushing off bylaws concerning endorsements is just the tip of the iceberg.CRP Chairman Tom Del Beccaro,After serious discussion of the endorsement actions taken by the California Republican Party Board of Directors during their March 11th meeting, the Tehama County Republican...

SACRAMENTO, Calif.—Republican state lawmakers stood in united but futile opposition Thursday to the practice of approving empty bills that contain no real legislation but will be amended later to include budget legislation. Democrats, who control both houses, each approved several so-called "shell" bills—the Senate 40 of them, and the Assembly 38. The bills contain no actual budget details but will be amended later to include specific language needed to enact the budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Passing the bills now makes it quicker and easier to approve a state spending plan before the constitutional deadline in...

Republican Assembly hopeful Andy Pugno kicked off his campaign today with a pledge that could leave him backing his rival over his own candidacy in November. The Folsom Republican is challenging Assemblywoman Beth Gaines, R-Rocklin, in the 6th Assembly District. Under the state's new top-two primary rules, voters could send both Republicans to the general election. But voters in the safe GOP district might be spared a second round of a same-party slug fest if that happens. Pugno said today that he would support whichever Republican gets the most votes in the June 5 primary -- even if he secures...

California Republicans Get Behind Mitt Romney The national front-runner has a substantial lead in the state over Rick Santorum, with other rivals trailing in the distance. But there's little enthusiasm for the GOP field overall. By Seema Mehta March 25, 2012 Republican voters in California have swung behind Mitt Romney, with the national presidential front-runner crushing his rivals by double digits and substantially expanding his support in the state, a new poll has found. Romney won 42% of registered Republican voters, with his closest rival, Rick Santorum, trailing by 19 points, according to the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll. Newt...

California Could End Up Deciding Republican Presidential Nomination Megan Goldsby, CBS Local - San Francisco SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) – The Republican presidential contest remains unsettled, and California could be the state that finally decides it. Super Tuesday turned out much like a children’s birthday party – everybody left with a prize, according to former California Republican Party chair Ron Nehring. “Everyone is going to stay in this contest throughout the month of March,” said Nehring. “I’d be very surprised if anyone dropped out.” KCBS’ Doug Sovern Reports: Republican Presidential Nomination Could Be In California's Hands Even though he didn’t land...

The race for the newly drawn 6th Assembly District is shaping up as a potential political – and personal – Republican slugfest. GOP Assemblywoman Beth Gaines could face two challengers from her side of the aisle in her re-election bid for the safe Republican district. The Rocklin Republican's potential rivals – Folsom attorney Andrew Pugno and Roseville school board member Linda Park – both have ties to Gaines' former rival, Roseville Councilman John Allard. Pugno, who has filed a statement of intention to run but has made no formal announcement, used the same campaign consultant in 2010 that Allard did...

A fine new report from the Public Policy Institute of California updates what we know about the state's political geography. For decades, the political divide in California was between the Democratic north and the Republican south. But in recent times, analysts have talked about a blue Democratic coast vs. the red Republican inland. PPIC's new report concludes that the coast vs. inland explanation isn't exactly right. When you dig deeply into the numbers, the state's real political divide puts the two former rivals -- Los Angeles County and the Bay Area -- on one side of the partisan divide, and...

Suddenly June 5 doesn't seem so far away. With a muddled outcome from the 10 Super Tuesday states, there's no sign the GOP presidential primary process will be resolved before California Republicans hold a vote that pundits once said was too late to matter. In fact, June 5 -- when California and four other states will vote -- is now "one of the key dates between now and the convention" in late August in Tampa, Fla., said renowned election prognosticator Larry Sabato, who directs the University of Virginia Center for Politics. "As it turns out, every state is relevant, just...

Livestream to the California GOP Convention. Newt is scheduled to speak right now; as I right this, stream is running, and people are milling about before the speech. (Some twit seems to be harassing the camera operator with dumb questions.)

Long written off as too late to matter, California's Republican primary June 5 may turn out to matter a lot. A new Field Poll shows former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum just six points behind front-runner Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. California's mother lode of 172 delegates has long been considered Romney's firewall against a contested or even brokered national convention in Tampa, Fla., in August. A contested convention is the ultimate nightmare scenario for the GOP, which has savored this year as its best chance since Jimmy Carter to deny a second term to an incumbent Democratic president."It's...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The California Republican Party will host presidential candidate and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich during its convention later this month. Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro said Tuesday that Gingrich will address the twice-annual gathering in Burlingame on Feb. 25th. Del Beccaro calls Gingrich one of the most dynamic figures in GOP politics in the last 50 years....

The Chronicle has learned that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be speaking at the Saturday lunchtime slot — that’s priiiiiiiimetime at these things — at the California Republican convention in lovely Burlingame. The Feb. 25 gig will be part of a three-day presidential campaign swing through California for Newt. Details are still coming together, but he may do a public event in the Bay Area along with a fundraiser, which of course is the point of coming to California.

Since just before the last California presidential primary, the proportion of voters registered as Republicans has fallen from 33.5 percent to 30.4 percent, according to new figures from the California Secretary of State.

Jon Fleischman, the conservative blogger, was brooding the other day on Facebook, underwhelmed by the presidential candidates he has left to choose from. It's "pretty alarming to me," the former executive director of the California Republican Party wrote, "how dispassionate, or non-interested I am in this new battle for the Republican nomination between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich." For like-minded Republicans – a cheerless majority of the party in California, according to a recent poll – a virtual therapy session ensued. One friend recommended a prescription for Xanax, another a vote for Ron Paul. Joe Ludlow, who helps run a...

The California Republican Party keeps making matters worse as it struggles against what seems inevitable. On Friday, the California Supreme Court unanimously decided to leave in place state Senate district maps drawn by the voter-created California Redistricting Commission. This was the second time the GOP turned to the court for help, and the second time it was slapped down. The Republicans spent – and probably wasted – $2 million on its drive to qualify a referendum challenging the maps. It's not certain that the measure will qualify for the November ballot.

While blue California is almost certain to go for President Barack Obama come November, California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro sees opportunity for the GOP to be a major force from the presidential race down.Del Beccaro laid out his strategy and expectations for the 2012 election in a Wednesday interview with The Bee Capitol Bureau.>Can the Republican Party play at all against Obama in California? The Republican Party historically in California has sent money to other states. So we do have an impact, regardless of whether this particular state is in play. … It will look like a competitive...

With 17-term Republican Rep. Jerry Lewis of San Bernardino announcing his retirement Thursday, following retirements of two GOP veterans this week, California's huge Congressional delegation could see its biggest shakeup in two decades. The state's new map of congressional districts, drawn by a 14-member citizen redistricting commission, is expected to yield more open seats, more competitive elections and possibly three to five new Democrats in the House, reflecting California's long-term trend toward the Democratic Party. That has some Democrats salivating at the prospect that they could regain the House majority and reinstall San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi as speaker.

Jeff Miller, Texas Gov. Rick Perry's presidential campaign chairman in California, was in Iowa with a handful of California lawmakers for last week's caucuses. He may find himself in South Carolina when the race arrives there later this month. He isn't missing much back home. "That June primary," Miller said, "might as well be 100 years away." It sure feels like it. While the Republican presidential campaigns fast-forward to New Hampshire on Tuesday and South Carolina on Jan. 21, hardly anyone in California is off the couch. Republicans here know the race may be over before they vote on June...

Now that Gov. Jerry Brown has decided to take his tax hike initiative directly to the voters, will Republicans have a role to play in the Legislature in 2012? Or will they be relegated to little more than a cranky but irrelevant presence in the Capitol, holding fast to their anti-tax ideology but with little to show for it? Increasingly marginalized with dwindling statewide registration numbers, Republicans have already lost leverage on the budget and may soon lose it on taxes if new district lines leave them short of a simple one-third minority. Perhaps the Republicans' last chance to have...

California Republicans still favor former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the GOP's presidential primary sweepstakes, but they have a new No. 2: Newt Gingrich. A new Field Poll shows the former House speaker has displaced Texas Gov. Rick Perry as the prime challenger to Romney in the Golden State. Romney leads the field at 26 percent, with Gingrich close behind at 23 percent.

(snip) Whitman is representative of an emerging Republican type — what you might call the austerity caucus. Flamboyant performers like Sarah Palin get all the attention, but the governing soul of the party is to be found in statehouses where a loose confederation of uber-wonks have become militant budget balancers. Just as welfare reformers of the 1990s presaged compassionate conservatism, so the austerity brigades presage the national party's next chapter. Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana who I think is most likely to win the GOP presidential nomination in 2012, is the spiritual leader. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey...

A Recap Of the CRP Platform Committee Activity At the Convention There is much to be said about the California Republican Party’s Fall Convention held in downtown Los Angeles last weekend. Presidential candidates and a straw poll, great workshops and townhalls, tributes, speeches and more. The better part of a thousand GOP activists, donors and leaders descended on the L.A. Live! Marriott-Ritz hotel, across from the Staples Center (we were the pre-show for the Emmy Awards, I guess). This column, however, is devoted to only one aspect of the convention – the ongoing process of the quadrennial adoption of the...

We spit up our oatmeal (which is SO good for artery-cleansing, haters) this morning when we read how Guv Jerry Brown described the Republican opposition to him. He compared it to (of course) the Catholic Church’s Legion of Decency, which rated films in the 1950s. The contemporary incarnation: Jerry said GOP legislators obey strict fealty to the “Legion of Acceptability”….whose roster Jerry told the NYT includes: “Jon Coupal, who works for Howard Jarvis; Grover Norquist; the Ken and John talk show; the guy who does the Flash Report. Any two of those can stop any bill in the Legislature where...

A push to adopt a more moderate California Republican Party platform was was defeated in the final hours of the party's fall convention in Los Angeles today. The proposed language, which downplayed traditional GOP positions on gun rights, abortion and same-sex marriage, had come under fire from conservatives. Supporters had argued that the changes emphasized jobs and the economy and presented the party's issue stances in a way that would appeal to more voters. The plan, backed by wealthy GOP donor Charles T. Munger Jr., failed to win approval from the CRP Platform Committee Sunday afternoon. The committee instead approved...

Charles T. Munger Jr. isn't your run-of-the-mill Republican donor. The wealthy Stanford physicist is gaining prominence in a state Republican Party now regularly in search of money needed to win in blue California. But Munger's involvement in the state GOP goes beyond writing checks. His influence will be on display this weekend as California Republicans gather in Los Angeles for their fall convention and begin discussing a Munger-inspired platform that downplays traditional GOP positions on gun rights, abortion and same-sex marriage. The bow tie-wearing Republican has spent recent months shepherding a behind-the-scenes effort to adopt a more moderate California Republican...

SAN FRANCISCO - Still smarting from the Legislature's defeat of his tax and jobs plan, Gov. Jerry Brown accused Republican lawmakers tonight of an "unconstitutional delegation of power," saying they are controlled by the anti-tax group Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. "The Republicans in Sacramento have one jockey," Brown said in a fiery speech to about 1,000 nurses at the San Francisco Marriott Marquis. The Democratic governor said some Republican senators told him they would like to vote for the measure but couldn't because of the association's political clout. Now, after months of failed negotiations with Republicans, Brown said, "At least...

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is maintaining his edge over a surging Texas Gov. Rick Perry among Republicans looking to California's June 2012 presidential primary, according to a new Field Poll. The poll shows Romney's support has dipped slightly since June while Perry more than tripled his. But Romney still holds an eight-point lead.

Rep. Dan Lungren has decided against challenging fellow Republican Congressman Tom McClintock and instead will run in what is a swing district that extends from Elk Grove to Folsom, his campaign manager said today. "Unless something changes, he will run in the 7th Congressional District and is confident in doing so," Lungren adviser Rob Stutzman told The Bee. Lungren had toyed with running against McClintock, the more conservative of the two, in the 2012 GOP primary for the 4th Congressional District.

As the Republican candidates for president arrive today in Simi Valley to debate at the Reagan Presidential Library, they will find the Republican Party in California in decline, its registration falling and its remaining members older and more conservative than in Reagan's time. It wasn't always so hard to be Republican in the Golden State. Republicans Herbert Hoover, Calvin Coolidge and Dwight Eisenhower all carried California, and Republican presidential candidates took the state nine times in 10 tries between 1952 and 1988. Reagan and Richard Nixon went from California to the White House. But in the years since George H.W....

They've been dismissed as the inconsequential, angry, funny-hat-wearing political fringe. But conservatives and Tea Party activists at lively celebrations in the Bay Area say they're beginning to be recognized as something else as the 2012 elections loom: a mainstream movement. With two big gatherings - a California Young Republican Federation convention in San Francisco on Friday and a Tea Party Express gathering in Napa on Saturday - it wasn't so lonely being a conservative in the Democratic bastion of the Bay Area. "We're not afraid to come to the Bay Area, because the majority of the people in the Bay...

Ever since the Republican Red Tide that swept the country stopped at the Sierra Nevada in November, we've been wondering how California's GOP would attract new party members. (By the way, the Sierra also gave the Donner party problems in November, but that was a snowy winter nearly 165 years ago, and we digress.) The influence of Republicans, who hold just 43 of the Legislature's 120 seats, has been threatened again recently by newly drawn districts, particularly in the Senate. But judging by some votes cast in the Senate last week, members of the state's Grand Old Party aren't quite...

Boarded-up shops and a nearly empty parking lot provided the backdrop for former Masschusetts' Gov. Mitt Romney’s visit today to a struggling shopping center near the intersection of Victory and Laurel Canyon boulevards. Romney, presumed to be among the leading Republican contenders for the presidency in 2012, said President Barack Obama’s economic policies have contributed to the decline of this and many other malls across America. “Proposing raising taxes did not put people back to work. Obamacare made it less likely for employers to want to hire people. The talk about cap-and-trade and higher energy costs made it less likely...

Michele Bachmann heading to California in September By MAGGIE HABERMAN | 7/25/11 2:40 PM EDT Michele Bachmann is planning a trip to California in September, headlining the state GOP's convention: Bachmann's presence is sure to electrify the three day gathering of more than 1,000 California GOP activists from September 16-18 at the JW Marriot in LA Live, Los Angeles. "She is total energy,'' said state GOP chair Tom Del Beccaro, when we asked him this morning about Bachmann's decision to come to the nation's most populous state for a major 2012 campaign gig. "She'll be a rock star. She'll ignite...

Failed California GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina was named on Tuesday as the vice chair of the Republicans' effort to retake the Senate in 2012. ... "I'm pleased to welcome my friend Carly Fiorina to the NRSC team, where her many business and civic achievements will make her an invaluable leader and fundraiser during this critical election cycle," said the committee chair, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, in a statement. "I look forward to working with Carly to elect strong Republican Senators who will finally put a stop to President Obama’s failed tax-and-spend agenda, and instead promote the economic growth...

Republican Craig Huey is looking to pull off an upset of the year in Tuesday’s race for a Southern California House seat — a contest in which few expected him to seriously compete. If he prevails, he will have done so largely without the help of his would-be GOP congressional colleagues. As of Friday afternoon, just seven House Republicans had contributed to Huey’s campaign. House Speaker John Boehner, a prolific fundraiser and donor, has yet to cut Huey a check. Nor has the No. 2 House Republican, Majority Leader Eric Cantor. The same goes for House GOP Conference Chairman Jeb...

He belies his age as he navigates the neighborhoods near his home in Belmont Park where he has resided for 51 years with his wife and where they raised their three children. The gait is firm, the voice is strong, the eyes are alert, the posture is erect, the hair is plentiful, and the face is unlined. His birth certificate insists he's 83, but the laws of time have been rescinded with George Deukmejian, who doesn't look that dramatically different now than he did when serving two terms as governor of California. He was in the political maelstrom for 28...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, on a fundraising trip through California this week, has rolled out endorsements from a bunch of GOP lawmakers. ... House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, said in Romney’s news release that President Obama’s policies have failed California and the nation, while Romney “has a proven record of job creation in both the private sector and as a governor.” Similarly, state Senate Republican Leader Bob Dutton, R-Rancho Cucamonga, said Romney’s record as governor “speaks for itself.” “He created jobs, balanced budgets, and cut taxes,” Dutton said. “Mitt Romney knows how the economy works...

...Whitman doubts she will ever again run for elected office, and for many months she said little about the campaign. But she has started popping up recently on radio and TV. For a beaten candidate who wishes to remain relevant in politics – Whitman is advising Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in his presidential campaign, and she plans to involve herself in California ballot initiatives – it helps to stay in view. (snip) She said she plans to support ballot initiatives perhaps as early as this summer, likely involving education policy. She said she will recruit and support Republican candidates for...

With proposed new district boundaries, Republicans must recruit more moderate candidates and find common ground with more Californians, experts say. ********* [snip] Labor unions, which are Democrats' biggest allies, say the combination of the "top-two" primary system and the new political maps creates unprecedented opportunities for them to influence Republican races. Last week, the Service Employees International Union launched a political action committee aimed at helping moderate Republicans be elected to the Legislature. "The California Republican Party doesn't have enough money to buy a foreclosed home in Sacramento," said SEIU Executive Director David Kieffer. Jim Brulte, a GOP operative and...

Orange County Republicans have censured an official who sent an email that included President Obama's face superimposed on that of a chimpanzee with the words "Now you know why - No birth certificate!" County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh has called for Davenport to resign, something she has refused to do. Baugh had said the email was "dripping with racism and is in very poor taste."

A new poll from California shows Dianne Feinstein falling below 50% in re-elect support, a rating than in any other state might mean something. McClatchy sends up the red flag from the latest Harris Poll, which gives the four-term Senator only a +4 on support for a fifth term, hitting below 50%: Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein remains more popular among California voters than her colleague Barbara Boxer, a new Field Poll shows.But Feinstein can’t rest easy as she prepares for another re-election bid next year. For the first time since her initial 1992 election, less than half of the Californians...

Republican Beth Gaines has won the election to fill her husband's former Assembly seat. Gaines was ahead of Roseville Democrat Dennis Campanale in Tuesday's runoff election for the 4th Assembly District, leading 55 percent to 45 percent, with 90 percent of precincts reporting. The two emerged as the top vote-getters in an eight-way March primary election triggered by the January election of her husband, Ted Gaines, to an overlapping state Senate seat. While Gaines edged out her closest GOP rival by just one percentage point in the primary, she was considered the clear front-runner in this round of balloting. Campanale,...

Former staffers for defeated California candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have an urgent message for fellow Republicans: Their political future depends on Latino voters, and the Obama administration may be providing an opening. (snip) Mr. Wilson, managing partner at Wilson-Miller Communications Inc. in Sacramento, said that if the topic of immigration arises, Republicans should avoid anti-immigration rhetoric meant to stir up the conservative base. "We're on safe ground when we say, 'We have to secure our borders and get a guest-worker program, then work on a pathway for citizenship for people who are already here'—and then quickly pivot off...

Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- Reflecting on lessons learned on a two-day trip to the Lone Star state, Assembly Republicans said Thursday California needs to follow Texas' model of lower taxes and fewer regulations and legal hurdles to keep the economy growing. GOP lawmakers led a delegation of California representatives to meet with Texas Gov. Rick Perry, a Republican, and spoke to business owners about why they left California last week. Assembly Minority Leader Connie Conway of Tulare said the trip affirmed her caucus is on the right track with a package of bills she says would help California companies thrive....