Free Republic

One in five Americans calls California or Texas home. The two most populous states have a lot in common: a long coast, a sunny climate, a diverse population, plenty of oil in the ground, and Mexico to the south. Where they diverge is in their governance. For six years ending in 2010, I represented almost 500,000 people in California’s legislature. I was vice chairman of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and served on the Budget Committee. I was even a lieutenant colonel in the state’s National Guard. Before serving in Sacramento, I worked as an executive in California’s...

One in five Americans calls California or Texas home. The two most populous states have a lot in common: a long coast, a sunny climate, a diverse population, plenty of oil in the ground, and Mexico to the south. Where they diverge is in their governance. For six years ending in 2010, I represented almost 500,000 people in California’s legislature. I was vice chairman of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and served on the Budget Committee. I was even a lieutenant colonel in the state’s National Guard. Before serving in Sacramento, I worked as an executive in California’s...

Former GOP Assemblyman and U.S. Senate hopeful Chuck DeVore has given up his Orange County supervisor bid to move his family to Texas. DeVore has accepted a new job as a visiting scholar at the nonprofit Texas Public Policy Foundation, where he will write a book on "the Texas Model of how low taxes and low government spending, a light and predictable regulatory environment, respect for property rights, and a business-friendly legal climate has turned Texas into America's jobs generating dynamo."

Good-bye, California, I'm going to Texas It’s hard to say “good-bye” – perhaps “au revoir” is better (till we meet again). As some of my friends know, our family has been caring for my aged in-laws, 86 and 82. As with many people who have seen a full life of war and work and raising a family, they need our help. This assistance has consumed our whole family – in fact, it’s the toughest thing – and the most important thing – we’ve done, even more so than running for statewide office. In addition, as with many in the Golden...

A series of messages forwarded to The Daily Caller show a top aide to former Alaska Gov. and possible presidential candidate Sarah Palin mocking top political figures and even her boss’s own daughter, Bristol Palin. RedState.com founder and CNN contributor Erick Erickson is “a total douchebag,” wrote Palin speechwriter and domestic policy adviser Rebecca Mansour in a May 22, 2010, message. “Greasy dumb ass with a talent for self-promotion. He threw himself in at the Gov’s SC rally. Self-promotion.” (Erickson said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley invited him to the rally). Mitt Romney supporters are “wacky as hell,” Mansour wrote,...

California U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein recently criticized the intelligence community for failing to anticipate Egypt's political upheaval -- but looks like the CIA types should have been reading Chuck DeVore. That's right: the California GOP former U.S. Senate candidate published an analysis back in January warning Egypt was on "the brink of a chaotic transition of power" -- weeks before anyone had even taken to the streets of Cairo. The former Irvine Assemblyman raised his concerns on the issue of Egypt's future in a Jan. 11 piece in Investors' Business Daily entitled "A Restive Egypt Faces Succession; Islamacists May Make...

Proposition 19: NO – Marijuana legalization My biggest concern with this initiative, aside from the basic policy considerations, are two large unintended consequences: 1) will drug abuse grow, thus putting more of a strain on our out-of-control welfare system; 2) the impact of lawsuits on employers seeking to enforce a zero-tolerance policy (especially important in the defense industry). Proposition 20: YES – Redistricting reform extended to Congress Prop. 20 will make the independent State Commission on Redistricting re-draw Congressional Districts in 2011, instead of the legislature working with liberal interests, just as the independent commission will re-draw Legislative district boundaries...

California GOP Senate nominee Carly Fiorina is skipping a chance to appear with Sarah Palin at a major Republican National Committee fundraiser so she can campaign with Sen. John McCain instead. Fiorina has not yet announced the Saturday campaign appearances with McCain, but a campaign source tells POLITICO that she will be spending her time on the stump with the 2008 GOP presidential nominee rather than his running mate, the former Alaska governor. POLITICO reported last week that both Fiorina and GOP gubernatorial Meg Whitman would be skipping the RNC fundraiser in Anaheim, citing scheduling conflicts. The RNC is heavily...

I’ve poked around the California Senate race for the last several days, in preparation for a piece in the forthcoming National Review. And I discovered, or relearned, something I thought was kind of interesting. You know how many of our band blasted Palin for anointing Christine O’Donnell in the Delaware Senate race, disregarding viability (or so it appeared)? Well, you recall that the GOP Senate primary in California featured three contestants: Carly Fiorina (the ex-CEO and eventual winner), Tom Campbell (the former congressman who is a moderate, basically), and Chuck DeVore (the assemblyman who is a true-blue, four-square conservative). Palin...

[by Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine, CA), re-published with his permission] For years I have admired Congressman Ron Paul’s principled stance on spending and the Constitution. That said, he really damaged himself when he blamed President Lincoln for the Civil War, saying, “Six hundred thousand Americans died in a senseless civil war… [President Abraham Lincoln] did this just to enhance and get rid of the original intent of the republic.” This is historical revisionism of the worst order, and it must be addressed. For Congressman Paul’s benefit – and for his supporters who may not know – seven states illegally declared...

SACRAMENTO — Sen. Barbara Boxer's popularity with Californians is falling as she finds herself in a statistical tie with her Republican challenger, former Hewlett-Packard Co. chief executive Carly Fiorina, according to a Field Poll released Thursday. The survey found 47 percent of likely voters support Boxer while 44 percent back Fiorina, a gap that is within the poll's margin of error. The result is similar to the last Field Poll, taken in March. That survey showed Boxer with 45 percent support, compared with 44 percent for Fiorina. Meanwhile, the senator's popularity has fallen. Just 41 percent of voters say they...

SARAH  PALIN! Sarah Palin Joins Us to Support the Troops Don't Miss This Historic Event!   Folks, we've just made a huge breakthrough for the troops! Governor Palin has agreed to support our efforts to send the largest care package shipment in history to U.S. Troops.You are the first to hear of this, and YES you heard right... SARAH PALIN is joining YOU, MAF, and the Troops for this momentous outpouring of support for the troops! RUSH LIMBAUGH IS OUR FIRST GUEST SO TUNE IN PROMPTLY AT 1 PM! AND STAY TUNED BECAUSE PALIN FOLLOWS AT 1:45!    TROOPATHON...

With the election season more than halfway over, the "tea party" movement has notched some impressive victories but also learned a hard lesson: There are limits to the power of its anger-fueled insurgency. The movement scored a big win this week in South Carolina, where state Rep. Nikki Haley romped past a four-term congressman to win the GOP nomination for governor. Still, for all the attention the tea party movement has gotten and all the passion of its followers, a rough accounting at the ballot box shows the movement has just about as many losses as victories. Money has proved...

Sarah Palin endorsed Carly Fiorina over Chuck DeVore in California, and Terry Branstad over Bob Vander Plaat in the Iowa governor's race. In doing so, she rebuffed standard "tea party" picks for candidates who were more mainstream. As usual, the mainstream media has found a way to criticize these choices. With a few surprising endorsements in recent Republican primaries, the self-styled rogue of GOP politics has reaped an angry response from some of her own supporters and a fresh round of speculation about her own presidential ambitions in 2012. ...Shelby Blakely, executive director of the Tea Party Patriots' online publication,...

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, the conservative Orange County Republican who began running for US Senate in November 2008, just conceded the race. Here's the prepared text of the concession speech of the man we liked to call Chuck D from the OC: My friends, I just completed my telephone call to Carly Fiorina, to congratulate her on her victory this evening. She is our party's nominee. I endorse her. I will support her. I will vote for her. And I call upon all of you to do the same in November. We traveled a long road to get here. When I...

Former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman and Former Hewlett-Packard Chief Executive Carly Fiorina held early leads in the Republican races for governor and U.S. Senate respectively. With about 7% of the vote counted from around the state, Whitman is earning 65.6% of the Republican vote, compared to 25.3% for Steve Poizner. Fiorina has 59% of the early vote, leading former Congressman Tom Campbell and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine), who have 22% and 16% of the vote respectively. In other races, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Steve Cooley, a Republican, and San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, a Democrat, are leading...

We're all supposed to be really excited that Carly Fiorina is "on our side" because she's been endorsed by various and sundry organizations. The National Rifle Association, the National Right To Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List etc. By now, many of us realize these groups have a record of endorsing incumbent politicians and political insiders, plus candidates that are less than 100 percent Pro-Life or Second Amendment. National Right To Life always endorses my GOP congressman as "PRO LIFE" when he only voted Pro-Life 57 percent of the time in 2007 and 2008. Then there's the half-way Second...

While Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, took the stage late into a pro-Israel rally held in front of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles this afternoon, the candidate for the U.S. Senate made sure to give a louder and more fiery speech than those of the nearly two dozen people who came before him. Almost all of the speakers, which included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., defended the actions of Israeli soldeirs who last week boarded a Turkish ship trying to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza. The soldiers killed nine people aboard...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Chuck DeVore, candidate for the Republican nomination for United States Senate in California, issued this statement in response to Democratic attacks on Carly Fiorina over the past 48 hours: "I called upon Carly Fiorina once to explain how she'll defend her profound vulnerabilities in a general election. I now repeat that call. Republicans deserve to know how she would make the fight against Boxer about something other than herself: because right now, she is failing to do that. "Republicans in California have known structural disadvantages: the Democrats have more money, more registered voters, and more media...

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, the only Republican U.S. Senate candidate in the state who could afford a significant television advertising campaign, has opened up a 15-point lead over her nearest opponent just days before Tuesday's primary, according to a Field Poll released today. The first-time candidate, who campaigned up and down the state and was endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, has the support of 37 percent of voters compared with 22 percent for former South Bay Rep. Tom Campbell - who led Fiorina by six points in a Field Poll in March. Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Irvine, more...

The latest campaign ad from Carly Fiorina, who has pulled ahead of her opponents in the California GOP’s Senate primary race, is getting a fair share of attention for its breezy dismissal of the link between national security and climate change. “Terrorism kills … and Barbara Boxer is worried about the weather,” Fiorina tells the TV camera following a short clip of the incumbent Democratic senator playing up the security risk of global warming — an issue that has concerned the Pentagon dating back to the Bush administration. Fiorina has taken a progressively more skeptical line on climate change and...

Got Ovaries? Vote for DeVore Let’s chat about the race for the U.S. Senate Republican primary, shall we? Let’s talk sex and conservatives. As a woman, I am told I should fall in line and vote for Carly Fiorina. We girls should stick together, right? Ms. Fiorina herself said that women should vote for her because she’s not a “white man” like her conservative opponent, Chuck DeVore. "With all due respect and deep affection for white men, I am married to one," Fiorina said at a breakfast at Americans for Tax Reform, according to The Hill. "But [Barbara Boxer] knows...

The unabashedly liberal candidate Tom Campbell has pulled his video ads. Presumably he was unable to get his money back from the robo-callers so don't be surprised if you get a call or two from his campaign this last week of the campaign. His website will remain up as well. Other than that it's bye-bye to Tom. This presents both an opportunity and a question for the Chuck DeVore campaign. The opportunity for Chuck DeVore is Carly Fiorina no longer has liberal Tom Campbell to position herself as a Conservative against. Standing next to Tom, just about anyone looks like...

GOProud has endorsed former HP CEO Carly Fiorina in her battle to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer. Via press release: Today, GOProud, the only national organization representing gay conservatives and their allies, endorsed Carly Fiorina for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in California. “Carly Fiorina is the candidate conservatives can trust,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director of GOProud.

Turning to California, we noted last week that a poll, this one by the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), indicated Carly Fiorina had moved ahead of Tom Campbell, albeit the two candidates were both within the margin of error. Still, the poll was significant in that Campbell had consistently been narrowly ahead of Fiorina for weeks and this was the first poll to reverse that trend. We wondered at the time if the poll could have been an outlier. Late yesterday Survey USA released a poll which threw cold water on the idea that the PPIC poll was an...

Having attended a speech of Nikki Haley’s in Atlanta last year, her run for Governor of South Carolina is one I’ve followed. Living here, I’ve also watched the California Senate race. Both situations seemed to be stable: Haley was stuck in fourth, while in California Tom Campbell was staying ahead of second place Carly Fiorina. Then Sarah Palin intervened, and both Haley and Fiorina shot into first place in new polls. Now we have confirmation of both events. Sarah Palin carries respect in the Republican Party. Public Policy Polling checked both primaries. In South Carolina, they show Haley running away...

When Carly Fiorina launched her campaign for U.S. Senate late last year, she wanted little to do with Sarah Palin. "I've never met her," Fiorina replied when asked about the former Alaska governor's leadership skills. "Next question." And Meg Whitman, the front-running GOP candidate for California governor, probably wasn't planning to ask Dick Cheney or Newt Gingrich to endorse her when she launched her ubiquitous ad campaign last fall. But as the races for governor and senator go down to the wire before the June 8 primary, big name Republicans are jumping into the fray with endorsements — 11th-hour nods...

Conservative supporters of Chuck DeVore seem outraged that Sarah Palin didn’t endorse their candidate for the California GOP Senate Primary race to take on Barbara Boxer in the November election. To them, it seemed like the likely thing for her to do and I know DeVore himself had asked for the nod. DeVore’s supporters are operating, to this day on the notion that their guy is the “one true Conservative in the race.” They run off of emotion and perception but they are omitting many facts about the Senate race and about Chuck DeVore himself with their analysis. I’m going...

Now Carly Fiorina tells us that she regards Jesse Jackson with reverence, and she actually worked with Jesse Jackson. And how many millions of dollars did she authorize for Jesse Jackson when she was CEO at Hewlett-Packard? (Hint: at least $15 million) Yet, minority business leaders themselves have been at the forefront of exposing that Jackson took the money and ran, focusing more on shaking down American corporations to finance his Rainbow Coalition/Operation PUSH gambits than actually to help African Americans, Latinos, and others gain access to meaningful employment in the high-tech community. California Republicans have to consider whether the...

o anti-establishment outlet for California GOP voters' anger By Rob Hotakainen rhotakainen@mcclatchydc.com Published: Saturday, May. 29, 2010 - 12:00 am | Page 1A WASHINGTON – Angry at politicians and deeply disillusioned about the future, California's GOP voters are clearly in an anti-establishment mood. But they will have little chance to express it in the June 8 election, experts say. "The sentiment is genuine, but it doesn't have an obvious outlet," said Jack Pitney, political science professor at Claremont-McKenna College. Despite their claims to the contrary, the candidates seeking to become governor or senator are all political or corporate insiders. In...

It looks like Carly Fiorina has moved into the lead in the race to be the Republican nominee for the Senate in California. What's less clear is whether, from a conservative point of view, her nomination would be desirable. Fiorina would be the ultimate stealth nominee. Not only has she never held public office, but until fairly recently, she failed even to vote in most elections. These days, when it's in her interest to do so, she talks like a conservative. However, her past provides little reason to believe that she deeply holds conservative convictions. And if she doesn't, but...

California Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said Tuesday she did not vote for former Rep. Tom Campbell in his 2000 Senate race against Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, an assertion her opponents seized on to question her loyalty to the GOP. Fiorina's comments came during a contentious portion of a radio debate where the three GOP candidates vying to challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer posed questions to each other. After Fiorina said she didn't vote for Campbell in a contest he lost by more than 2 million votes, she quickly added, "I didn't vote for Dianne Feinstein either." Conservative state Assemblyman Chuck...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- DeVore for California is privileged to announced that former Congressman Duncan Hunter, Sr., has endorsed Chuck DeVore for United States Senate in the California Republican primary. Former Congressman Hunter has a distinguished record in our nation's service. He served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 as an officer in the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment. In 1980, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as part of the "Reagan Revolution." In the course of a distinguished 28-year career in Congress, he established himself as a leading conservative voice on national security and foreign affairs....

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The Truth on Carly's Prop 13 Claim Carly Fiorina directly attacked a cornerstone of California's conservative movement -- and one of the few institutional protections California's property owners enjoy. In short, she attacked Proposition 13. And there's proof. Below, I'm appending a rather interesting little op-ed from the March 2nd, 2000, San Jose Mercury-News. It's by one Carly Fiorina and John Doerr (then as now a venture capitalist and partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers), and it enthusiastically endorses California's Proposition 26 of 2000. What was 2000's California Proposition 26? In brief, it was an attack on the provisions...

Carly was on the board of Revolution Health Group with Franklin Raines, Ronald Klain, Jefferey Zients and several others. This info can be found at http://www.muckety.com/

The three Republican U.S. Senate candidates will square off in a radio debate Tuesday afternoon in Costa Mesa on "The John & Ken Show" on KFI AM 640. The debate begins at 2 and will be streamed live. In Senate campaign news, Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore announced the endorsement of former Rep. Duncan Hunter Sr., who did not issue a statement.

It's crunch time in the volatile battle for the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, as Chuck DeVore and Carly Fiorina scramble to inherit voters peeling away from Tom Campbell as they become more familiar with his record and philosophy. Every bit helps in the final stretch of a fluid race, and it's my understanding DeVore will soon be announcing former San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter, Sr., is endorsing him for U.S. Senate. Given that Hunter made his mark as an unwavering advocate for a robust national defense, his endorsement burnishes DeVore's argument that his national security credentials are an asset...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- DeVore for California today released the results of a campaign poll undertaken by Adam Geller of National Research, Inc. The poll, conducted among likely voters on May 19th and 20th, with a margin of error of +/-5%, revealed the following candidate standings in the Republican race for the nomination to face Barbara Boxer in November: Fiorina 28% Campbell 26% DeVore 19% According to this poll, all three Republicans are well within one anothers' margin of error, and the spread between first and last place is in single digits. These results are broadly consonant with most of...

From: DeVore for California Date sent 05/21/2010 05:05:19 pm Subject: Monday night special View this email online Want to join a call party? Click here to find out if there are calls in your area Dear Patriot, Breaking news: we outraised Barbara Boxer and Tom Campbell in our online fundraising goals for this week's FEC deadline and YOU made it happen. Now, with the extra funds you helped us raise... we have a surprise.  Watch FOX's final episode of "24" on Monday night.  We have made a state-wide media buy, buying two ads during this historic show highly regarded...

One Nation PAC, a conservative political action committee dedicated to the ideals of lower taxes, limited government, strong national defense, energy independence, common sense healthcare, environmental conservation, superior education, and family values, will appear at the event to officially endorse Angle’s GOP primary race.

A Bright Day for Team Chuck Written by Melanie Morgan    Thursday, 20 May 2010 05:50 The latest PPIC poll is out and shows Carly Fiorina with 25%, Tom Campbell with 23%, and Chuck DeVore with 16%. The margin of error is +/-5% The previous PPIC poll showed Fiorina with 24%, Campbell with 23%, and DeVore with 8%.Here's what you need to know: Chuck DeVore has doubled his support from the last PPIC poll -- and he's within the margin of error of the front-runner.The distance from the first to third is narrowed into the single digits -- ground easily...

Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has issued a campaign mailer featuring quotes from Sarah Palin, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the National Tax-Limitation Committee. It includes a photo of Palin as well as logos of the two fiscal conservative organizations. But only the former Alaska governor is backing Fiorina. Both the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and the National Tax-Limitation Committee have endorsed Assemblyman Chuck DeVore,

<p>Sarah Palin’s presence at an event can draw thousands out to see her speak and evoke emotional responses from those who either love or detest her. It appears her presence will become a divisive force in Idaho politics when she comes Friday to the Qwest Arena to stump for Vaughn Ward, a Marine reservist vying with state Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Eagle, for the GOP nomination to take on Democratic incumbent Walt Minnick in Idaho’s 1st Congressional District. There will be protesters out to oppose her visit, but the group won’t be made up of anti-Palin Democrats; it will consist of anti-Palin Republicans angry over her involvement in local politics and her recent political endorsements. The group is being organized by Lucas Baumbach, a Republican candidate for the Idaho State Senate in District 17.</p>

GOP U.S. Senate candidate and former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said Wednesday that the latest Public Policy Institute of California poll shows that she is gaining advantage over former South Bay Rep. Tom Campbell. And coming on the heels of this week's election results, she said, it means that incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer should "be afraid, be very afraid." The latest poll shows Boxer leading all GOP comers, and gaining significantly with independents -- details below.

The myth in the California Senate race is that Tom Campbell has corralled the moderate/left votes, and Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore are splitting the conservative vote between them. In this myth, DeVore, as the lower-polling candidate, functions as a “spoiler” for Fiorina — who would otherwise win with a united conservative base behind her. As with all myths, this one is wholly false. Of the major polls taken on CA-Sen in the past 90 days, only five of them explicitly polled on ideological identification: Rasmussen, two SurveyUSA polls, LAT/USC, and Field. A survey of those five polls reveals the...

♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy birthday to youuuuuu Happy birthday to youuuuuu Happy birthday dear Chuck Happy birthday to youuuuuu *confetti shower* (I stole that from his wife) ;-)

PPIC Poll: DeVore doubles support; spread in single digits FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- DeVore for California today responded to the latest poll from the Public Policy Institute of California, assessing the state of the Republican race for the nomination to face Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer. The poll shows Carly Fiorina with 25%, Tom Campbell with 23%, and Chuck DeVore with 16%. The margin of error is +/-5%. The previous PPIC poll showed Fiorina with 24%, Campbell with 23%, and DeVore with 8%. Leisa Brug Kline, DeVore for California campaign manager, said, "This poll affirms the surge in Chuck DeVore's support...

Dear Patriot, I am writing you to ask if you will join me in an expression of support for the principles of liberty and individual sovereignty upon which this country was founded. Too often it is easy for us to dismiss our role in the creation of our government. We feel powerless as those we elect continue to spend money we don't have and instead of serving us the citizen who works and pays the taxes instead heap rewards on those who contribute least to our country or in many cases wish to tear it and the traditions that made...