Free Republic

A GOP 'clarifying moment' in Calif. primary The conservative challenging GOP establishment-backed candidate Carly Fiorina in the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate primary in California says his campaign is putting the lie to the notion that the Party needs a moderate, self-funded businesswoman to defeat incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer. California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore says he is not surprised or bothered that Carly Fiorina gained the backing of eight Republican U.S. senators last week in Washington. DeVore notes that he has been endorsed by 60 percent of California's elected Republican officials, including Congressman Tom McClintock -- people that can actually vote for...

Tea Party Boot Camp Saturday - October 24th 8:30 am - 2:00 pm Fresno Fairgrounds A Training Event How to transform yourself into a Government Butt Kicking Activist Four Training Sessions Session One - Activism 1. Street Activism - Scott & Saundra Hawkins 2. Boots on the Ground Activism - Julie Griffiths 3. Precinct Level Activism - Lonny Leitner from American Majority Session Two - Using the New Media Lonny Leitner from American Majority explains how to use Facebook, Twitter and Blogs to advance the Tea Party Movement. From beginner to online activist in one hour. Session Three - Health...

Rep. McClintock gave the following speech to the How to Take Back America Conference in St. Louis hosted by the Eagle Forum on September 26, 2009. A funny thing happened this summer on the Road to Serfdom. The American people decided we don’t want to go! We are watching something unfold across the country that is quite remarkable. We are watching Americans do what Americans have always done whenever we have sensed that our country or our freedom is in danger. Ever since the days of the Boston Tea Party, in times of crisis, we have set aside our personal...

Tom McClintock has announced four healthcare town halls in Placer County, Lassen County, Nevada County and El Dorado County. The original health care town hall in Cameron Park, El Dorado County September 5th has been moved to a larger location due to the anticipated crowd size: ELDORADO COUNTY, CA McCLINTOCK TOWNHALL Saturday, Sept. 5th 4:30 pm Ponderosa High School 3661 Ponderosa Rd Shingle Springs, CA 95682 PLACER COUNTY/ROSEVILLE, CA McCLINTOCK TOWNHALL Tuesday, Sept. 1, 6:00 pm Granite Bay High School 1 Grizzly Way Granite Bay, CA 95746 NEVADA COUNTY/GRASS VALLEY, CA McCLINTOCK TOWNHALL Friday, Sept. 4, 6:00 pm Grass Valley...

Sacramento Tax Day Tea Party - April 15th Rep. McClintock will be speaking to the Sacramento Tax Day Tea Party at the State Capitol on Wednesday, April 15th. This should be one of the largest Tea Party gatherings in the nation. Fox New's Neil Cavuto will be broadcasting live from the event. Conservative talk show host Michael Reagan and Michelle Malkin will be there as well. We hope that you can join the thousands of people at the Tea Party. Where: California State Capitol, West Steps When: Wednesday, April 15th -- Tax Day Welcome at 11:00 am Rally from Noon...

The Bush administration added another $700 billion to the nation’s deficit with the bailout bill last fall, despite many warnings that it would not stabilize the economy. It didn’t. That administration ended with record spending, record borrowing, record deficits, and an economy in shambles. But my question to many of my friends in the majority is this: if record spending, record borrowing and record deficits is the path to economic recovery – why aren’t we already enjoying a period of unprecedented economic expansion? In fact, all of the bailouts, handouts and loan guarantees already enacted add up to $9.7 trillion...

Democrat Charlie Brown closed to within 329 votes of Republican Tom McClintock Friday in the ongoing ballot count for the 4th Congressional District race. Brown, from Roseville, was as close to McClintock's lead as he'd been since Election Day, and an e-mail to campaign supporters said that provisional ballots from Nevada County deserved the credit. "Every day, we are hearing that election day provisional ballots, thousands of which have not yet been tallied, are breaking for Charlie by substantial margins in Placer, El Dorado, and Nevada counties," Brown campaign manager Todd Stenhouse said in the Friday e-mail, which also requested...

Nevada County has completed 85 percent of its uncounted ballots and the three days of tallies have cost us 1,350 votes of the 1,500 loss that we expected. However, El Dorado and Sacramento returns have been much higher than expected, so it now seems unlikely that we will dip into negative territory any time during the counting of the remaining ballots. As of tonight, our lead has narrowed to 691 out of 338,307 ballots counted, or 0.20 percent. But there are only 1,792 ballots left to be counted in Nevada County, and Nevada County is the only county remaining that...

Charlie Brown (Dem) 162,556 49.8% Tom McClintock (Rep) 163,839 50.2%

Here’s the latest on the vote count. Today our lead increased slightly to 827 votes out of 312,693 cast. Our best estimate is that there are just under 55,000 votes remaining to be counted. We currently have 50.13 percent of the vote; we will need 49.25 percent of the remaining ballots to win the election. The good news is that a precinct-by-precinct analysis of the remaining ballots leads us to believe that the overwhelming majority is from Republican strongholds, but as they say, “It ain’t over till it’s over.”

These are crucial races for us, particularly the senate races: Coleman MN-Sen: Coleman leads by about 500 votes. This one looks like it's headed for a recount. How (or will) this change the outcome? Chambliss GA-Sen: Chambliss is leading by 1% or so. He may have dipped below 50%, and if so, we're headed for a runoff. McClintock CA-04: McClintock is leading by about 600 votes or so with 100% of the precincts in, but there are about 4000 ballots yet to be counted. Stevesn AK-Sen: Stevens is up by about 4,000 votes, with about 40,000 absentee and provisional ballots...

Conservative House Races to Watch: Peter Roskam – IL-06 Michele Bachmann – MN-6 Tom McClintock – CA-04 John Shadegg – AZ-03 Tom Feeney – FL-24 Andy Harris – MD-01 Chris Hackett (challenger) – PA-10 William Russell (challenger) – PA-12 Lou Barletta (challenger) – PA-11 Dean Andal (challenger) – CA-11 Marilyn Musgrave - CO-4 Jon Porter - NV-3 Tim Walberg - MI-7 Joe Knollenberg - MI-9 Does anyone live in these districts? What are the ground reports like? We need to keep as many solid conservatives in the House as we can.

Ron Paul is getting ready to welcome Republican California state Sen. Tom McClintock into his caucus, but first, Paul must get him elected. Paul, the libertarian-Republican congressman from Texas who raised more than $34 million for his presidential race, sent out an e-mail last week urging his massive donor base to contribute to McClintock. McClintock is the career Southern California politician, who is in a tough fight to win a congressional seat in the region that runs from east of Sacramento north to the Oregon border. The district is heavily Republican, but Democrats think they have a chance for victory....

Not content with his legacy of seriously damaging the Republican Party in California during his term in office, former Gov. Pete Wilson has weighed in on the Sacramento-area Tom McClintock vs. Doug Ose congressional primary ... I lived in Sacramento and was deeply involved in GOP politics during the “Wilson years,” and as such think there are a couple of items Republican voters in the 4th Congressional district ought to take into account as they weigh the liberal Wilson’s endorsement of the liberal Ose. * If Pete Wilson had gotten his way, Ronald Reagan would have never been in the...

(snip) Doolittle was hailed by elected officials in a vast, stoutly Republican district for bringing home federal dollars. His bountiful political leadership fund furnished the purse strings for candidates and causes. His fiery conservatism plucked the heartstrings of party activists. (snip) Regional elected officials who stood with Doolittle now overwhelmingly support former Sacramento-area Rep. Doug Ose, claiming he is best suited to secure federal funding for local projects and infrastructure. Republican Party activists, particularly the local county GOP central committee members who were among Doolittle's most devout supporters, are breaking strongly for Ose's rival, state Sen. Tom McClintock. (snip) Tom...

Senator Tom McClintock: "I'm not sure if Ron Paul is presidential Timber" 7 Days Before The Primary, McClintock Refuses To Endorse Ron PaulBy Martin HillLibertyFight.com: As a former supporter of California State Senator Tom McClintock, I've been very disappointed in im in recent years, particularly after he endorsed gun-grabbing socialist Arnold Scwarzenegger in 2006. So last week I wrote and posted the article 'Which Big-Government Socialist Will Tom McClintock Endorse Next?' (I also posted it at RON PAUL WAR ROOM and DAILY PAUL). When I had started writing the article, Fred Thompson was still in the race for president. Then...

With Fred Thompson out of the presidential race, who's a self-respecting conservative to go for? Could it be, maybe, perhaps, a certain Republican-libertarian from Texas? That's one question perplexing California state Sen. Tom McClintock, possibly the second-most-famous California Republican currently in office after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. McClintock created a stir two months when he endorsed Thompson’s presidential candidacy. Having run for governor, lieutenant governor and state controller, McClintock has shown that while he has not won a statewide contest, he can win GOP primaries, which conservatives tend to dominate. So heading into the Feb. 5 primary, McClintock’s endorsement is seen...

Video of FRED THOMPSON speech at Laguna Woods, California, it runs approximately 25 minutes. There are also pictures posted. Our thanks to Curt who was at the ralley and taped the event as well as the photographs.

I was going to post MY OWN "after-action report" from the AMAZING rally for Fred Thompson [with Tom McClintck, John Zeigler -- and JERI !] this morning in Southern California......but since Curt from Flopping Aces did such a GREAT JOB, I'll just post a link to HIS report, and add my comments to THIS thread. :o) Plus, Flopping Aces now has the FULL VIDEO of Fred's speech posted online here:www.floppingaces.net/2007/12/01/a-visit-from-fred-thompson ..so you can watch the whole thing online FOR YOURSELF!It's almost like being there LIVE!

I was proud to host Senator Fred Thompson to the 70th Assembly District today to an enthusiastic crowd of 700 people in Laguna Woods. According to my wife, Diane, Senator Thompson, “Covered all the bases. He hit all the conservative themes and he covered them articulately and with passion.” I was very glad to hear that as Diane is very tough to impress (she had a weak moment when she met me, for which I am eternally grateful). Greeting Senator Thompson at the rally were his state chairman, Sen. Tom McClintock, radio personality John Ziegler emceed the event while former...

Today, I saw Presidential Candidate, Fred Thompson for the very first time at a Rally in California! Master-of-Ceremonies, John Ziegler, had the crowd laughing at jokes and insights about the upcoming election. The crowd of several hundred supporters rallied around Thompson after he spoke clearly about why the Democrats are ruining this great country. Fred Thompson stood a literal head above the crowd, as he shook hands with the crowd at the events end. John Ziegler brought up an important issue in his introductions... The most important issue is to stop Hillary from winning the presidency! I wish more of...

O come all ye Thompson faithful to the Laguna Woods Village Clubhouse 3 this Saturday for a rally for the presidential candidate. All the information you need is contained in this flyer, which you will need to show at the gate so you can see Fred. The closer we get to Iowa and New Hampshire, the fewer opportunities we will see these guys in OC, so now is a good time to catch Fred and any others who come around the Orange Curtain.

This announcement needs ITS OWN thread! FRed PING!!I am passing this along for anybody who can make it to Southern CA this weekend. Let's give FRed a good turnout!! ***** Come meet Presidential Candidate Fred Thompson Come join California State Senator Tom McClintock and Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore as they extend a warm Southern California welcome to former US Senator and Presidential Candidate FRED THOMPSONthis Saturday in Laguna Woods at 9:00 AM.Don’t miss this rare chance to meet Senator Thompson in a candid and fun rally. FREE and open to all supporters. Clubhouse 3 at Laguna Woods Village 24351...

The Los Angeles Times reported today that “State officials have warned the Governor that the likely deficit for next year has jumped from a few billion dollars to as much as $10 billion, threatening to wipe out the progress Schwarzenegger has claimed in getting the state's accounts in order.” This is news? For more than three years now, I have been warning that the state’s finances were in worse condition than they were under the Davis administration and that the rate of state spending could not be sustained. This past summer, Senate Republicans warned that the budget was dangerously unbalanced...

The pundits and media and once again telling those of us in Flyover Country what a bad job Fred Thompson is doing as a presidential candidate. Aside from his campaign staff in disarray, his wife running his campaign, and his low energy level, Fred has committed a “gaffe” in New Hampshire by stating that no state legislature had yet passed a law permitting gay marriage, when the New Hampshire Legislature, alone among the states, had passed a law permitting civil unions and the governor had signed that bill into law. Poor Fred couldn’t get his facts straight! Except…he did get...

One of California's leading conservatives delivered a public slap at Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sunday, two days after the celebrity governor called for the Republican Party to move to the political center or risk a future of irrelevance. Sen. Tom McClintock never mentioned the governor by name, but his speech to GOP activists at a state convention was thick with transparent digs at Schwarzenegger and referenced remarks the governor made last week. On Friday, the governor declared that the GOP was "dying at the box office" and would drift into the political margins unless it tackles issues like global warming...

SACRAMENTO, (AP) -- The impasse over the state's long-overdue budget turned heated Wednesday when the Democratic leader of the Assembly said Republicans would lose the gains they had previously negotiated if they fail to end the stalemate quickly. "Political hostage-taking is not the way to do business, and we can't reward it," said Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, recently returned from a European vacation. . . .

The other night, as the Senate's Republicans were blocking the state budget, GOP Sen. Tom McClintock alluded to the driver's license pledge, sending an implicit but unmistakable message that a big impediment to a deal was mistrust of the governor's promises to cut enough spending to bring the budget into rough balance. Rightly or wrongly, Republicans believe that he'll sell them down the river in his eagerness to deal with Democrats. That mistrust, when coupled with Schwarzenegger's cavalier treatment of GOP politicians last year, made all but one of the senators impervious to his pleas.

Conservative activists, meanwhile, told the lawmakers to hold their ground. "You 15 are officially martyrs for all California taxpayers," Jon Fleischman, a member of the state party's board, wrote to the caucus on his blog Flash Report, http://www.flashreport.org.GOP senators have been using the blog to sound off on Perata, the governor and Assembly Republican Leader Michael Villines of Clovis. They also offered updates on the lockdown. Just before 7 a.m. Saturday, Sen. Jim Battin (R-La Quinta) sent in a posting. "We've been locked in, and there are sergeants at every exit making sure we can't leave," he wrote. "I slept...

A s the Senate immigration bill faltered, Sen. Dianne Feinstein complained that the status quo is de facto amnesty because the mass deportation of millions of illegal immigrants is logistically, politically and socially impractical. Feinstein and her cohorts seem oblivious that it is this attitude that discredits any promises that a new, tougher law will somehow be enforced when an amnesty is granted. Sorry: been there, done that. And they have yet to explain what is wrong with current immigration law — except that it's not being enforced. Indeed, if the self-described "grand bargainers" want to enact future immigration laws,...

Respected fiscal watchdog state Sen. Tom McClintock, writing in The Sacramento Bee, criticized a state government spending rate that has grown “significantly faster than it did under Davis,” increasing 30 percent the last three years alongside 23 percent revenue growth. McClintock said “the governor’s spending spree has now produced the biggest operating deficit in California’s history -- $8 billion, compared with Davis’s worst year of $6.6 billion.” McClintock also cited $45 billion in pension obligations and “$40 billion to $70 billion in health care obligations” owed to state employees. Warning that “pressure for tax increases” will grow “as California approaches...

SACRAMENTO - While critics believe California state government is bloated, a new analysis from a Silicon Valley think tank suggests the state has one of the leanest work forces in the country. Census data released this week shows California had 393,609 full-time-equivalent employees as of last March, working out to 105 employees per 10,000 state residents, according to the Palo Alto-based Center for Continuing Study of the California Economy. That makes California the third-lowest in the nation in state employees per resident, behind every state except Illinois (at 103) and Nevada (at 104). The federal government has 142 employees per...

State Senator Tom McClintock is the most recognized and popular conservative leader in California today. At the close of his 2006 campaign for Lt. Governor, more than 80 percent of California’s public had heard of him and viewed him favorably by a three-to-one margin. He has received the support of more than 44,000 individual contributors and an additional 35,000 volunteers – constituting one of the broadest political followings in California. Through Citizens for the California Republic, Tom has a vehicle to amplify and broadcast McClintock’s commentaries and proposals to an awakening constituency throughout California. The following is my conversation with...

Tom McClintock will discuss the Governor's budget and health care plans on KFI at 5:05. All politics aside, he always brings common sense to the subject of California economics. Broadcast from Los Angles at 640 on the AM dial. Streaming here.

Click on the link

For Tom McClintock: May 1940 By William E. Saracino “Now at last, at last, his hour had struck. He had been waiting in Parliament for forty years, had grown bald and gray in his nation’s service, had endured slander and calumny only to be summoned when the situation seemed hopeless to everyone but him.” — William Manchester, The Last Lion. Tom McClintock is a fan of Winston Churchill, described above in the opening of William Manchester’s magnificent biography. The “now at last” referred to by Manchester was May 1940 when Churchill finally became prime minister. That marked the vindication of...

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena...who's face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcomings, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause... FlashReport Managing Editor Nicholas Romero asked me to pen a column for his FlashReport [some time ago] and I must admit I was tempted to write about a post November election agenda but decided against it. At a time such as this,...

Democrats are leading in six "down ballot" races for statewide offices although a significant number of voters remain undecided going into the November election, according to a new statewide poll released Tuesday. In the race for lieutenant governor, the Field Poll showed that Democratic Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi leads Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, 48 percent to 38 percent, with 13 percent undecided. Oakland mayor and former Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, also is ahead of his Republican rival, state Sen. Charles Poochigian of Fresno, in the race for attorney general. About 54 percent of likely voters chose Brown, 33...

McClintock Holds Big Fundraising Advantage; Garamendi Continues to StruggleSince he began his campaign for Lt. Governor, state Senator Tom McClintock has topped the $3 million mark in fundraising, and is closing in on having $2 million cash on hand, substantially increasing his fundraising lead over rival John Garamendi. As of June 30th, McClintock reported having more than $1.5 million cash on hand and $18,199 in unpaid bills. Garamendi reported having $408,238 with outstanding debts of $215,533. In real terms, McClintock has $1.5 million to Garamendi’s $188,000. “Tom McClintock is in a very strong position to become California’s next Lt. Governor,”...

General Election - November 7, 2006 Prop. 1A Transportation Funding Protection: YES! For years, the Legislature has raided our highway taxes for general fund spending. Though it’s more window dressing than relief, this measure makes it marginally harder to do so. Prop. 1B Transportation Bond: NO! Although some of this money is for long overdue road construction, most goes for equipment, maintenance and social programs that will be obsolete decades before our children have finished paying off the debt. Californians pay the third highest tax per gallon of gasoline in the country – and yet we rank 43rd in per...

State Sen. Tom McClintock still wants the governor's job, he admitted Thursday, but there's already a well-known Republican in line for that seat. For now, McClintock hopes Californians will choose him for the No. 2 job and confirm his belief that the state is at a "crisis or turning point." As long as voters are paying attention to the state's spending problems and education and infrastructure woes, he thinks they'll see things his way and pick him as lieutenant governor. "I believe this election will determine whether the recall of 2003 was a passing fluke," he said during an editorial...

Name: Tom McClintock Birthdate: July 10, 1956 Education: Bachelor's degree, University of California, Los Angeles, 1978 Elected office: State assemblyman, 1983-1993, 1997-2001; state assembly Republican whip, 1984-1989; state senator, 2000-present

Democratic Candidate for Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi released the following statement regarding today’s Field Poll. The poll shows Garamendi with a double-digit lead among Democratic Primary voters and in the best position to defeat right-wing extremist Tom McClintock in the fall. “But first I'll work everyday between now and June 6 to earn the votes of Democrats across California. Then, as I have done twice before, I will build a coalition of Democrats, fair-minded independents and Republicans so I can defeat Tom McClintock in the fall.” In addition, Garamendi has nearly swept the endorsement race, earning the support of the...

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy: it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups. Nine-tenths of the economic fallacies that are working such dreadful harm in the world today are the result of ignoring this lesson. — Henry Hazlitt, Economics in One Lesson In the 60-plus years since Henry Hazlitt pounded out on his pre-computer-age typewriter those lines from his classic contribution to economic and conservative literature, the world has demonstrated their wisdom repeatedly,...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's campaign has launched a 60-second radio ad featuring state Sen. Tom McClintock, R-Thousand Oaks, touting Proposition 76, the Nov. 8 ballot measure that would change the state's budgeting rules. Below is a text of the ad and an analysis by Bee Deputy Capitol Bureau Chief Dan Smith. Announcer: Unless you want higher taxes next year ... pay close attention to this message. Tom McClintock: This is Sen. Tom McClintock for Prop. 76. 76 is the Live Within Your Means Act - to control state spending, balance the budget without new taxes and stop borrowing from our kids....

Of all the factors contributing to California’s fiscal woes, one of the most fundamental and pervasive is the collapse of the constitutional process by which the state budget is developed in the first place. Ever since the Magna Carta, it has been a settled principle of governance that the authority that requests funds should not be the same one that approves them. This is the heart of our separation of powers, and the most important single mechanism to check the excesses and abuses that occur whenever mere mortals are spending other people’s money. Following this principle, California’s constitution sets forth...

"Starving" Education on the 'All You Can Eat' Plan January 26, 2005 State schools superintendent Jack O'Connell this week called for massive tax increases for the public school bureaucracy while issuing a blunt warning to Gov. Schwarzenegger: "Stop starving our schools." Here's how the governor is "starving our schools." According to the Legislative Analyst's Office, the governor's proposed budget provides $9,508 for every pupil in the California public schools. That's $206 per pupil more than last year. That means every classroom of 30 students will receive $6,180 more next year than it did this year - or a total of...

Notes on the State of the State January 6, 2005 I have always believed that resolving the basic problems that confront California will not be done within the most liberal legislature in the country. Put bluntly, the legislature is the problem, not the solution. Ultimately, I have believed that California's only salvation rests with a direct appeal to the electorate through the initiative. Nothing came through more clearly in Gov. Schwarzenegger's State of the State Address than that he has now reached the same conclusion. After a largely fruitless year of trying to work with the legislature, this year he...

Thank You to the E-team From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for everything that you did on my behalf - and on behalf of the other candidates who share our beliefs. For the nation, there is no question that the result reflects a continuing trend of conservative resurgence across America. In California, although the partisan balance of the legislature remains unchanged, the exit-polling that I've seen indicates that the state's voters remain philosophically more conservative than the votes they are actually casting. We certainly proved in the 19th Senate District that even in so-called "moderate"...

A century ago, a common sight in small towns was the itinerant peddler offering an amazing new elixir guaranteed to “cure whatever ails ya.” The peddler would make a small fortune, get out of town on the next stagecoach, and the gullible victims would be left with nothing to show for it but a lighter purse and a hangover. Today, supporters of Proposition 71 are making exactly the same claim: that for the low, low price of just $3 billion, they can cure everything from diabetes to cancer. Prop. 71 requires California taxpayers to borrow $3 billion for stem cell...