January 5, 2014
With no presidential race or U.S. Senate contest on California’s ballot next year, the 2014 elections mostly will be a moment of truth for downtrodden California Republicans. The state GOP and its new chairman, well-regarded former state Sen. Jim Brulte (also a personal friend, in the interests of full disclosure, and one of the smartest…
October 27, 2013
THERE are two things we know for sure about the Filipino-American community in our nation’s largest state. And what we know tells us that the community is a sort of tale of two cities, at least politically speaking. The first fact is that Filipino-Americans, as of the 2010 census, are now the biggest Asian American…
April 28, 2013
In California especially, Latino voters’ loyalty to the Democratic Party runs deep. Abel Maldonado, the Republican iconoclast most recently famous for his brief stint as California’s appointed lieutenant governor and his unsuccessful run for Congress last year, is making noises about running for governor in 2014 against Jerry Brown. Will putting up a Latino face for the…
January 6, 2013
“It’s probably only a matter of time before some nativist, anti-immigrant GOP yahoo refers to it as the 'yellow peril.'" Much has been made, both before and after last November’s election, of the serious problems Republicans have with Latino voters. GOP nominee Mitt Romney received only a pathetic 29 percent of the Latino vote, compared…
December 15, 2011
It looks like the biggest traffic jam in California next year may well be the various tax increases being pushed for the November ballot. So far, at least five big tax measures are in play. Think Long Committee for California, a group of high-powered movers and shakers funded by billionaire Nick Berggruen, has proposed a…
August 28, 2011
It’s pretty amusing to listen to the catcalls and caterwauling by California Republicans over the redrawing of electoral district boundaries by the Citizens Redistricting Commission. To hear them tell it, it was all a dastardly, malevolent plot to put Republicans at a disadvantage. “Illegal” and “probably unconstitutional,” raged state GOP Chair Tom Del Beccaro, in…
July 25, 2011
Speculation is rampant that Texas Gov. Rick Perry may be getting ready to announce for president, and Perry himself avers that he may be “called” to run. (Oh my God, another Republican presidential candidate who talks directly to God?) All I can say is: Another Texan for president? You gotta be kidding! When a single…
May 13, 2011
Republicans in California are on life support. Will they pull the plug themselves? Last year, they lost all eight statewide offices for the second time in the last three general elections. While the GOP was cleaning up elsewhere in the country, they also lost a Republican Assembly seat, and failed to take out any Democrats…
March 3, 2011
This weekend, the estimable governor of the Great State of Mississippi, Haley Barbour, comes to California to speak to the (rapidly diminishing) species we call Republicanus Californicus at their state convention in Sacramento. Barbour will cause a buzz because he will be the biggest-name speaker the state GOP could draw to their gathering, keynoting the…
February 28, 2011
Back in October of 2008, I penned a piece for Politico predicting that Sarah Palin, despite all the hype and frothing over her selection as the first female on a Republican presidential ticket, would never get the Republican nomination for president in the future, let alone be elected president. I pointed out that during my…