Free Republic

Conservatives: Aloof governor doomed the GOP If you've seen even one national political convention, you've witnessed this scene: On the final night, as confetti flies and balloons drop, the head of the party's ticket clasps hands with his running mate and they lift their hands high in a show of confident, optimistic togetherness. Given that clichéd expectation, it was startling to observe this summer's California Republican Party convention. The running mate on the GOP ticket, lieutenant governor nominee Tom McClintock, emceed the Friday night dinner. By 11 a.m. Saturday, he was sneaking out the back door, departing before Gov. Arnold...

Conservative Republican Assembly legislators signaled they are prepared to make life difficult for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger by installing a combative conservative as their leader, a move experts said might backfire and actually marginalize the GOP caucus. Republicans are the minority party — they hold only 32 of the 80 seats in the Assembly — and generally are only able to influence legislation — on taxes and budgets — when a two-thirds vote is needed.

WHAT label can be put on the California electorate, circa 2006? Clearly this is not a conservative state, not with our penchant for borrowing and Jerry Brown set to become our next attorney general. Yet it's not quite liberal, either: Faced with the chance Tuesday to stick it to two of the left's most hated bogeymen - Big Tobacco and Big Oil - through Propositions 86 and 87, Californians declined. Conventional labels don't apply here. Far more than partisanship or ideology, the key factor in California's 2006 statewide races seems to have been money. In almost all cases, the campaigns...

LOS ANGELES - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger tirelessly promoted himself and his ambitious package of public works bonds en route to his landslide re-election. But he spent little time campaigning for fellow GOP candidates gunning for six other statewide offices on Tuesday's ballot. Some experts believe that was one reason only one other Republican joined Schwarzenegger in victory. "Arnold is bigger than the Republican Party in California," said Thad Kousser, an expert in state politics at the University of California, San Diego. "He wants to be known as the person who rebuilt the infrastructure of the state rather than the person...

LOS ANGELES - Democrat John Garamendi won a close race for lieutenant governor, as Republicans faltered in their efforts to win statewide offices and gain power in Sacramento. Garamendi, who currently serves as insurance commissioner, edged out conservative Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock, an anti-tax ideologue, in Tuesday's election. Democrats also won races for California attorney general, treasurer and controller. "The conclusion to be drawn here is that California is still a true progressive state even though it has a nominally Republican governor," Garamendi said. With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Democratic state Sen. Debra Bowen had a slim lead...

LOS ANGELES - Despite millions of dollars in campaign spending and a flood of attack ads, the 2007 California Legislature could end up with the same partisan lineups as the 2006 version. Democrats won 47 of the Assembly's 80 seats and were leading in a 48th district that was too close to call early Wednesday. Republicans captured at least 32 seats, the number they had going into the election. In the Senate, where half the seats were on the ballot, only one seat had a chance of changing hands - the lone district held by Democrats in heavily Republican Orange...

Welcome to the live thread for the California Primary Election. Polls are open until 8pm tonight. If you are a registered voter, it is your duty to vote and defend your rights and civil liberties, protect your pocketbook, and vote the bums out where applicable. Feel free to discuss issues key to your local area that others may be interested in. Post your polling place experiences if you like. And post numbers as they come in later tonight.

Northern California radio stations got something extra Monday with the monthly emergency alert system test transmitted by fellow station KFBK -- and at least one of them was none too happy about it. The test, complete with raspy alarm and tone, didn't end with the familiar words, "This concludes the test of the Emergency Alert System ... " Instead, it segued into a political advertisement by Republican Dick Mountjoy, who is running for U.S. Senate against Democratic incumbent Dianne Feinstein, and another spot for a mortgage company. "In layperson's terms, it's called operator error," said Jeff Holden, station manager for...

SACRAMENTO - California's top election official predicted Friday that 55 percent of registered voters will cast ballots in Tuesday's election, fewer than in any general election in state history except one. How a relatively low voter turnout might affect the outcome of races for statewide offices such as governor and lieutenant governor, as well as controversial proposals to impose higher taxes on oil companies and tobacco, is anyone's guess. Conventional wisdom holds that a lower turnout favors Republicans, whose voters are more reliable about showing up on Election Day. That could translate into a big night for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger...

SACRAMENTO — If the polls are correct, Gov. Schwarzenegger is on his way to a big win Tuesday. But is he popular enough to pull other Republicans across the finish line? In what is being billed nationally as the year of the Democrat, California might buck the trend. At least that's the hope of Republican strategists, who for weeks have talked about a so-called coattail effect: the theory that a big win for the popular Republican governor could mean good things for the GOP in other statewide races. Republican analyst Dan Schnur has even compiled a "coattail index." It says...

As Phil Angelides' hopes of becoming governor of California sink to zero, political junkies and interest groups are turning their attention to a handful of other statewide offices that, with less than a week of campaigning remaining, are still in contention. The big question is whether a very strong re-election vote for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, perhaps even a landslide, will translate into Republican gains in down-ballot contests, especially if Angelides' poor showing depresses Democratic turnout. As a new Field Poll underscores, Democrats have pretty much sewed up two of those offices, attorney general and treasurer. Former Gov. (and current Oakland...

I DON'T KNOW what was more disturbing, the lame attempt to suppress immigrant voter turnout in California's 47th Congressional District or the breathless reporting and hyper-indignation that followed it. Editorialists called the incident "despicable." Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger labeled it "racist" and a "hate crime." The chairman of the Orange County Republican Party called it "grotesque and obnoxious." You'd think they were all talking about a lynching, or at least a cross-burning. But no, it was a rather pedantic letter sent to fewer than 14,000 foreign-born Democrats with Spanish surnames in Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Anaheim. It didn't matter that...

These guys should be running for governor: Democratic Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi and Republican state Sen. Tom McClintock. They'd make the race a lot more interesting — less predictable, much closer, more focused, offering a clearer choice of views and visions. (snip) These candidates are interesting in themselves — both knowledgeable, thoughtful, experienced policy wonks. As insurance commissioner, Garamendi helped write workers' compensation reform, has forced down homeowners' premiums and decreed that auto rates should be based on driving records, not where a motorist resides. McClintock, a longtime conservative legislator from Thousand Oaks, was the crusader who deserves the most...

If she weren't running for secretary of state, Debra Bowen might consider Santa Cruz native Bruce McPherson the best fit for the job. As state senators, both traveled to Iceland to study geothermal energy; when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed McPherson to fill the secretary of state post last year, Bowen was part of the unanimous vote that confirmed him. "I consider him a friend," said Bowen, D-Redondo Beach. "When the governor nominated Bruce, I told him that I thought he was the second best person for the job." This November, Bowen hopes voters will agree with her. Bowen and McPherson,...

Dick Mountjoy for U.S. Senate Good Old American Rally!!!! ******************************************* Bring your biggest American Flag Mountjoy for U.S. Senate signs and campaign literature will be available as well *******************************************October 30, 2006 4 pm to 6 pm Grand Ave. and Pipeline Chino, California Let's show Chino what we want Dick Mountjoy In! Dianne Feinstein Out!! ******************************************* Come meet the man himself with a vision for California's future. ******************************************* We will have plenty of signs and petitions to send home with you!!! Let's Roll!!

TWO relatively young Southern Californians, Democrat John Chiang and Republican Tony Strickland, are vying to succeed Steve Westly as state controller. Chiang, 44, has a bachelor's degree in finance and a law degree. He has served on the State Board of Equalization the past eight years and previously had been a tax law specialist for the IRS and an attorney in the controller's office under Gov. Gray Davis. Strickland is only 36, but already has served six years in the Assembly, where he forged a reputation as a fiscal watchdog. He has a bachelor's degree in political science; counts our...

The California secretary of state, the attorney general, and the state Democratic Party are seeking to intervene in a lawsuit filed by state Republican Party leaders challenging Democratic candidate Jerry Brown’s eligibility to run for state attorney general, Brown’s attorneys said yesterday. Zachary Wasserman of Wendel, Rosen, Black & Dean in Oakland, representing Brown, told the MetNews that it’s his understanding that attorneys representing plaintiffs Thomas G. Del Beccaro, Contra Costa County Republican Party chairman; Adam C. Abrahms, head of the Los Angeles chapter of the California Republican Lawyers Association; and others, have stipulated that Secretary of State Bruce McPherson...

Statement Regarding Suit Joinder October 23, 2006, 6:00 PM Today we were contacted by the Attorney Generals Office and the Secretary of State. Each expressed that they would seek to join the lawsuit as nominal defendants in an effort to be heard in this matter. Although the Plaintiffs are skeptical of the motives of the existing AG Bill Lockyer, we felt that the interests of justice would dictate that we agree to allow them to join the suit without opposition. We agree that they probably have an interest in the outcome of the suit given that it affects their...

THE TWO major-party candidates for California secretary of state could not be more different in style or in philosophy about the role of the office. Incumbent Bruce McPherson, a Republican, is an engaging, low-key centrist with great faith in modern electronic voting systems and great concern about the potential for shenanigans at polling places. Sen. Debra Bowen, a Democrat who brings a lawyerly edge and high-tech guile in her approach to public policy, is highly skeptical about the current safeguards on electronic voting systems. One trait these two veteran politicians share is a high level of competence. It's unfortunate they...

(snip) Although the governor has expended virtually no political capital helping down-ticket Republicans, some of them are holding their own. Conservative stalwart Tom McClintock, the Simi Valley Republican senator, is neck-and-neck with Democrat John Garamendi for lieutenant governor. Garamendi is plagued by the Executive Life scandal that took place the first time he was insurance commissioner, in the early 1990s. As the LA Times reported, Garamendi used his office to seize the California unit of First Executive Corp., a junk-bond funded company that began to implode after junk-bond prices collapsed. Garamendi then sold the company to French investors as a...