On the day Obama announces plans to pull troops from Iraq, Romney praises the plan but renews the attack on Obama's opposition the the surge:

"It is in spite of Barack Obama's stance that the troops are coming home in victory — not because of it," he told CPAC.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has appointed yet another termed-out lawmaker to a six-figure post in state government, his sixth such appointment in recent months.

The latest appointee, former GOP Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, will earn $128,109 as a member of the Agricultural Labor Relations Board, which meets once a month.

The Schwarzenegger appointments — whose cumulative salaries total more than three-quarters of a million dollars annually — have come as the state is battling record-setting deficits.

On Schwarzennegger, McClintock arose to demand that the federal government hold firm against California's efforts to impose stricter emissions standards for automobiles.

"I rise to urge the president not to waive the federal law on emission standards that is currently protecting Californians from Gov. Schwarzenegger's crusade to save our planet by destroying our economy," McClintock said, adding: "So I would respectfully suggest to the president that California's economic folly is not something that he should be copying."

McClintock also attacked both the Bush and Obama administrations for pushing hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending to bail out the economy.

"This proves what I like to call 'McClintock's Second Law of Political Physics,'" he said, adding laterr, "The more we spend on our mistakes, the less willing we are to admit them."

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom will appear on Bill Maher's HBO program "Real Time," with a 10 p.m. airing this evening.

California's unemployment rate has crashed through the 10 percent barrier.

Statewide unemployment jumped to 10.1 percent last month, the state Employment Development Department said today. That was an increase from 8.7 percent and represented the highest rate since May 1983.

In addition, newly revised numbers show the state lost jobs at a far swifter rate than previously believed. While it was earlier reported that the state lost 257,000 jobs in 2008, the new numbers peg the job loss at nearly 462,000.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's office says he will declare a state of emergency after three years of below-average rain and snowfall in California.

The drought has forced farmers to fallow their fields, put thousands of agricultural workers out of work and prompted conservation measures in cities throughout the state.

Schwarzenegger spokeswoman Lisa Page says the governor is expected to sign the proclamation Friday afternoon.

The order will direct state agencies to provide assistance for affected communities and businesses.

Three dry winters have left California's state- and federally operated reservoirs at their lowest levels since 1992.
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As if being bankrupt is not enough for California….

A large crowd braved chilly temperatures downtown today to protest President Barack Obama's stimlulus program and to throw tea into the Mississippi River.

A conservative movement that currently finds itself out of power turned its attention here to the man who last led them out of the political wilderness 15 years ago: Newt Gingrich.

The former Republican speaker entered the ballroom here at the Conservative Political Action Conference to Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger," with the packed crowd standing and clapping to the song's beat. And in the first few moment of his remarks, Gingrich immediately criticized the month-old Obama administration.

He chastised Attorney General Eric Holder's recent speech that the U.S. was a nation of cowards when it comes to the issue of race.

"I welcome an opportunity to have a dialogue with you about cowardice anywhere, anytime," he said in comments directed at Holder. Then, turning to President Obama's Tuesday address to Congress and his budget, Gingrich called them "the boldest effort to create a European socialist government we have seen."

JTP is free to write his book, to do television appearances, etc. He will garner an audience or lose it based on his abilities in those areas, which may or may not exceed his ability to fix leaky pipes. The idea that Joe the Plumber is a spokesman for conservatism stems from those who write about him as if he were (the Politico’s Patrick Gavin in the link Ruffini provides), those who give him the soapbox (Pajamas Media), and, to a certain extent, those who feel the need to write in response to him (Ruffini).

Another point is that Joe the Plumber isn't the first ordinary citizen catapulted into national prominence by a random encounter with a Democratic president. (Paula Jones first told her story to the world at CPAC!) Twists of fate may give an ordinary citizen a moment of fame and the spotlight — but whether anyone keeps listening depends entirely on what they have to say.

The Associated Press has learned that James Dobson has resigned as chairman of the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family.

Jim Daly, president and chief executive officer of the Colorado Springs, Colo.-based ministry, said Friday that Dobson will continue to host the organization's flagship radio program and speak out on moral issues.

The departure of the 72-year-old Dobson as board chairman is part of a succession plan. He founded the group in 1977.

Dobson began relinquishing control of the group six years ago by stepping down as president and CEO.