During Ronald Reagan's 1966 campaign for governor of California, Republicans established the so-called Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."

It was proposed by State Republican Chairman Gaylord Parkinson to help prevent a repeat of the liberal Republican assault on Barry Goldwater that laid the foundation for Goldwater's trouncing in the 1964 presidential election. Just as Nelson Rockefeller and his East Coast cronies had branded Goldwater as an "extremist" who was unfit to hold office, so candidate George Christopher and California's liberal Republicans were leveling similar personal attacks on Reagan. Party liberals eventually followed Parkinson's advice, and the rest is history.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown leads all Republican challengers in an early look at the state's 2010 governor’s race. But with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom as the Democratic candidate, the three Republicans are competitive.

The latest Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 statewide telephone survey finds that Brown leads former eBay CEO Meg Whitman 44% to 35%. He holds a 45% to 32% advantage over State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and a 44% to 34% edge over Tom Campbell, an ex-congressman and former state finance director.

Carly Fiorina is emerging as a potential GOP challenger for the US Senate seat of Bay Area liberal Barbara Boxer next year, and the prospect has energized the California Republican Party.

Not yet an official candidate, Ms. Fiorina is the former CEO of Hewlett Packard (HP) and was an economic adviser to Sen. John McCain’s presidential bid last year. Like Meg Whitman, who just announced her campaign for governor, Fiorina is a newcomer to politics with very deep pockets. She has registered a campaign committee that reportedly had a strong presence at the state GOP convention this past weekend in Indian Wells, Calif.

Had a little hang time with Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, R-Orange County, at the GOP confab. Chuck D. from the OC explained something he mentioned in his warmly received, no-notes/no TelePrompter speech Sunday a.m. He was explaining his underdog US Senate run to the faithful when he said:

"We are stealing a copious amount" Chuck told the GOPers, "from Barack Obama."

Whoa, Chuck, D. You are like Obama in…no way at all. At least in terms of policy.
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Say what?

Trevino said in an interview that it was never the intention to give off the impression that the straw poll was party-sponsored.

"Our assumption was that everyone knew what we assumed they knew, which was that the party these days doesn't run a straw poll," he said.

He said organizers handed out ballots, which had the gubernatorial candidates' names listed first in alphabetical order, to attendees leaving the Saturday night speeches. About 200 ballots were returned to a box outside the DeVore convention suite.

It was not a function of people who already like Chuck," he said of the poll's methodology, though he conceded: "This is not scientific, this is not the height of polling, it's a straw poll it is what it is."

First and foremost, there was no official California Republican Party straw poll taken of delegates or attendees to the convention. As an elected party officer, I feel comfortable assuring everyone of that. I even called my colleague, CRP Treasurer Keith Carlson, and asked him. "Nope," he said, demonstrating a strategic use of brevity (not often exhibited by attorneys).

Yet a media release went out this morning from the DeVore for U.S. Senate Campaign proclaiming his overwhelming victory in the CRP Convention Straw Poll.

So what gives?

The answer is pretty simple. The DeVore for U.S. Senate campaign conducted their own straw poll.
The questionable part of the process was in releasing the "results" in a way that made it non-obvious to the reader that this entire straw poll was conceived, executed, counted and released by the DeVore for Senate campaign.

This severely impeaches the credibility of the results because of the obvious conflict of interest that exists.

Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate, has finished her memoir just four months after the book deal was announced, and the release date has been moved up from the spring to Nov. 17, her publisher said.

"Governor Palin has been unbelievably conscientious and hands-on at every stage, investing herself deeply and passionately in this project," said Jonathan Burnham, publisher of Harper. "It's her words, her life, and it's all there in full and fascinating detail."

Palin's book, her first, will be 400 pages, said Burnham, who called the fall "the best possible time for a major book of this kind."

The book now has a title, one fitting for a public figure known for the unexpected — "Going Rogue: An American Life."
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Already on the Christmas book list.

Iran tested its most advanced missiles Monday to cap two days of war games, raising more international concern and stronger pressure to quickly come clean on the newly revealed nuclear site Tehran was secretly constructing.

State television said the powerful Revolutionary Guard, which controls Iran's missile program, successfully tested upgraded versions of the medium-range Shahab-3 and Sajjil missiles. Both can carry warheads and reach up to 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers), putting Israel, U.S. military bases in the Middle East, and parts of Europe within striking distance.

California has already begun working to empty its prisons in response to its massive budget gap, so at least they’ll have some room for a few al-Qaeda terrorists, if Senator Dianne Feinstein gets her way. Not only did Feinstein volunteer California, she also volunteered Missouri as well. Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) was not eager to accept, as he said to Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace:

Carlyfornia? Sen. Barbara Boxer might have a race on her hands next year when she comes up for re-election.

Sacramento pollster Jim Moore just did a statewide matchup between Democrat Boxer and her possible GOP rival, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

The results: Boxer, 46 percent – Fiorina, 40 percent.
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Note: Senator Boxer is now below 50 per cent and Fiorina has not run one ad yet.

One problem: There was no official straw poll at the California Republican Party Convention.

"We did not conduct a straw poll at this convention whatsoever," California GOP chairman Ron Nehring said in an e-mail.

So who did? An aide to DeVore — a state Assemblyman who has actively courted the party's conservative wing as he prepares to battle Fiorina for the Republican Senate nomination — acknowledged that Sunday's poll was engineered by the DeVore campaign, even though it was described as a "CRP straw poll" in an e-mail to supporters.
Fiorina spokeswoman Beth Miller was even more dismissive.

"Let me get this straight, you want me to comment on a Chuck DeVore straw poll that was conducted in the DeVore hospitality suite on Saturday night with a bunch of college Republicans and a lot of free beer flowing?," Miller asked.
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OOOPS

The Eleventh Commandment was a phrase used by former President of the United States Ronald Reagan during his 1966 campaign for Governor of California. The Commandment reads:

"Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican."

[edit] History

The 11th commandment was created by then California Republican Party Chairman Gaylord Parkinson to help prevent a repeat of the liberal Republican assault on Barry Goldwater that contributed to Goldwater's defeat in the 1964 presidential election. East Coast Republicans like Nelson Rockefeller labeled Goldwater an "extremist" for his conservative positions and declared him unfit to hold office. Fellow Republican candidate for Governor George Christopher and California's liberal Republicans were leveling similar personal attacks on Reagan. Hoping to prevent a split in the Republican Party, Parkinson used the phrase as common ground. Party liberals eventually followed Parkinson's advice.
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And, Reagan went on to beat Pat Brown.

A new poll shows appointed Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) could indeed have a difficult primary on his hands in 2010.

The Tarrance Group (R) poll for the Colorado Policy Institute appears to be the first public polling on Bennet’s primary with former state House Speaker Andrew Romanoff. It shows Bennet leading Romanoff 41-27.

Bennet, like other appointees to the Senate, has not posted the strongest approval ratings and could be vulnerable in both the primary and the general election.

In the GOP primary, recently declared candidate and former Lt. Gov. Jane Norton leads Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck 45-15. For some reason, Aurora City Councilman Ryan Frazier was not included in the GOP primary polling.

Fearful that they're losing ground on immigration and health care, a group of House Democrats is pushing back and arguing that any health care bill should extend to all legal immigrants and allow illegal immigrants some access.

The Democrats, trying to stiffen their party's spines on the contentious issue, say it's unfair to bar illegal immigrants from paying their own way in a government-sponsored exchange. Legal immigrants, they say, regardless of how long they've been in the United States, should be able to get government-subsidized health care if they meet the other eligibility requirements.

The so-called 11th Commandment has served the Republican Party well over the years. Ronald Reagan is often given credit for coming up with the rule, but in fact, it was someone else’s idea — someone named Gaylord Parkinson, who years ago was chairman of the Republican Party in California. In September 1965, as California Republicans (including Reagan) prepared to compete for the GOP nomination for governor, Parkinson decreed that the candidates should refrain from attacking each other. He called it the 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of another Republican.” The idea was to foster party unity and avoid the acrimony of the year before, when moderate and conservative Republicans were bitterly divided over their presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater.

Chuck DeVore sent out yet another of his campaign emails yesterday, this time whining that “Obama and his liberal colleagues in Washington are spending us into oblivion. Meanwhile welfare rolls continue unabated while fraud and abuse run rampant.”

So I wondered if DeVore might in fact be spending himself into oblivion? The short answer – yes!

If you look at the graphic above you will see that DeVore’s campaign for the U.S. Senate is heavily in debt. He owes over $106,000! Ruh-roh!

And it turns out that DeVore’s Assembly campaign accounts are also in debt! See the figures below.

DeVore in ‘08 (active)
Cash (6/30/09) = $2,064.65
Debt (6/30/09) = $31,782.87 (of which $7,800 are loans from himself made in
2009, the rest is accrued expenses)

DeVore in ‘04 (active)
Cash (6/30/09) = $224.93
Debt (6/30/09) = $19,308.51 (of which $18,850 are loans from himself made in
2003, the rest is accrued expenses)

Todd and I would like to offer our best wishes to the Jewish community as they celebrate the High Holy Days. With the celebration of the Jewish New Year this week and the observance of the Day of Atonement next week, we are reminded of the hopeful commitment to renewal and peace exemplified by the Jewish tradition and the Jewish people throughout history.

Yom Kippur, the most solemn and important of the Jewish holy days, is a time of reflection and supplication for forgiveness. The timeless human struggle to promote justice, harmony, and peace is seen here in this process of atonement – in humbly seeking pardon for past wrongs in the hope of a new beginning. It reminds us that if we wish to co-exist globally, we must all strive for forgiveness and tolerance.

A speech was given at the United Nations General Assembly yesterday that was full of hateful anti-Semitic rhetoric

Unfortunately, the synagogue’s rabbi considered himself a bit of a political speechwriter as well, and gave an overly political and unbecoming sermon that evening condemning “those who would use alliteration to polarize our society.” As Safire put it in his book Before the Fall, “that’s all I needed; the ‘nattering nabobs of negativism’ was not a sin I had come to atone for.” Yitzhak Rabin, who was the Israeli ambassador to Washington at the time, comforted Safire after the sermon and later told the rabbi that he felt the attack was inappropriate, something for which Safire was forever grateful.

Gregory asked: “Your wife famously talked about the vast right wing conspiracy targeting you. As you look at this opposition on the right to President Obama, is it still there?”

The former president replied: “Oh, you bet. Sure it is. It's not as strong as it was, because America has changed demographically. But it's as virulent as it was. I mean, they're saying things about him. You know, it's like when they accused me of murder, and all that stuff they did. … But … it's not really good for the Republicans and the country, what's going on now. I mean, they may be hurting President Obama. They can take his numbers down. They can run his opposition up. But, fundamentally, he and his team have a positive agenda for America. Their agenda seems to be wanting him to fail."
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Bill Clinton playing the Hispanic card? or is it the Black card?

Former presidential candidate John Edwards is said to be ready to admit that he fathered a love child. But Hades may have a skating rink before his wife, Elizabeth, signs off on such a confession.

As a grand jury in North Carolina considers whether Edwards misused campaign funds to cover up the scandal, Elizabeth still can't abide his former mistress, Rielle Hunter.

Word is Elizabeth vehemently opposed the plan, now in place, for Hunter and daughter Quinn to move from New Jersey to Wilmington, N.C., where the Edwardses have a beach house.
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Elizabeth Edwards talking to a divorce lawyer. Why did it take so long?

Iran said it successfully test-fired short-range missiles during drills Sunday by the elite Revolutionary Guard, a show of force days after the U.S. and its allies condemned Tehran over a newly revealed underground nuclear facility that was being secretly constructed.

English-language Press TV reported the Fateh-110, Tondar-69 and Zelzal were test fired in a missile defense exercise, but did not give specifics on range or other details. All are short-range, surface-to-surface missiles.

Gen. Hossein Salami, head of the Revolutionary Guard Air Force, told reporters Iran tested a multiple missile launcher for the first time. Press TV showed pictures of at least two missiles being fired simultaneously and said they were from Sunday's drill in a desert in central Iran. In the clip, men could be heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" as the missiles were launched.

GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner repeated his campaign's call Saturday for rival Meg Whitman to drop out of the race after The Bee reported this week that it could not find evidence that Whitman registered to vote until 2002.

State Insurance Commissioner Poizner told The Bee in an interview at the California Republican Party convention in Indian Wells that Whitman's voting record made her "unelectable." On Thursday, the day the Bee story was published, Poizner communications director Jarrod Agen first called on Whitman to "step aside."

We got three minutes with B.Brain afterwards — oh, and not a minute longer — and prodded him for his thoughts about California's guv race. Said he hasn't really been following too closely. Rove said Meg Whitman's lack of experience won't necessarily be a disadvantage in that she is an outside-the-system candidate, and said Steve Poizner has a lot of grassroots support. Said Carly Fiorina has a chance against incumbent Sen. Barbara Boxer who is a "hyperpartisan." Indeed, takes one to know one.

Certainly not every citizen has a perfect record of voting in national, state and local elections. Nor do some people who have sought election to office. Schwarzenegger did not vote in the 1996 and 2000 presidential primary or general elections. Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and a prospective Republican candidate for Senate in California next year, skipped the presidential primaries in 2000 and 2004 and the primary and general elections in 2006.

Failure to vote from time to time is understandable and has rarely been seen as disqualifying for those seeking public office. But Whitman's record appears to go beyond occasional absences. Setting aside the question of whether she was registered before 2002, her slender record is striking for its apparent disinterest in the political process.

Given the state of the state, the California governor's race will be among the most important in the country next year.
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Should Meg Whitman proceed in the GOP primary?

With the junior Senator from California, elected at the tail-end of a recession, having watched unemployment climb by 33% in the Golden State during her tenure in the United States Senate*, we in California need a representative in Washington who knows how to create jobs. Unemployment out here is now at a post-World Wart II high.

Mrs. Boxer seems indifferent to the employment situation in the Golden State; just this week she voted to table an amendment which could have created or saved (to borrow an expression from the President she supports) as many as 80,000 jobs.

To bring California back, we would do well to send someone to Washington who is not a creature of government. With a background in business, Carly Fiorina knows what it takes to get companies to move to (or stay in) the Golden State, creating jobs, fostering innovation and expanding opportunity.

It was the beginning of what has been an enduring three-way friendship and political relationship.

Angeles has been a political consultant and adviser to both Stricklands and, since December 1998, has been employed by the California Assembly as chief of staff to Tony and then to Audra after she was elected to succeed her husband in 2004.

“Our kids call Joel ‘Uncle Joel,’ ” Tony Strickland said in an interview last year. “Joel is Audra’s political mentor. He is our common friend.”

Angeles was found not guilty Friday of misdemeanor charges involving three demonstrators outside a June 2008 political fundraiser for Tony Strickland.

A Ventura County jury today acquitted the chief of staff of a state assemblywoman on charges of assaulting protesters outside of a political fundraiser last year in Thousand Oaks.

Jose "Joel" Angeles, the top aide to Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R-Thousand Oaks), was found not guilty of misdemeanor criminal charges stemming from a scuffle in which a 69-year-old Episcopal priest complained that he was body-slammed by Angeles, causing injuries that required shoulder surgery.

Angeles testified during the trial that it was he who was roughed up during the scuffle, and that he had not hit or shoved anyone.

The incident occurred when mostly Democratic protesters gathered outside of a fundraiser at the Hyatt Westlake Plaza Hotel for Strickland's Republican husband, state Sen. Tony Strickland.

Tom Campbell was billed as the featured speaker at Friday night's dinner at the GOP convention in Indian Wells. But Campbell, introduced by party chair Ron Nehring as "the nicest guy in California politics" — paging Leo Durocher — was left to cool his heels as three other speakers (including Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger) preceded him.

The odd part was who the party had speak before him. Bill Mundell, chairman of ZBB Energy, gave a quirky, rambling speech calling for "an economic revolution" centered around selling off public assets, including the DMV. Mundell rambled on for 30 minutes, leaving the audience checking their Blackberrys and giving each other looks of despair and disbelief.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is wasting no time pouncing on a Sacramento Bee article reporting that fellow GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman apparently never registered to vote until 2002. And didn't bother to vote after that. As Republicans gather at their statewide convention in Indian Wells this weekend, Poizner sent out a press release saying Whitman feared "the California press corps, which is the only thing she avoids more than debates and voting."

Is a little Whitman piling on happening? As Poizner tries to ride "not voting-gate" — Governor Schwarzenegger is dismissing the former eBay CEO's promise to delay implementing AB 32 regulations if she becomes governor.