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Video: Sarah Palin Addresses National Tea Party Convention
In the first video Andrew Breitbart introduces the former Alaska Governor and Republican Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin. Then, her speech follows in five parts.
Enjoy her speech. More tomorrow.
Technorati Tags: Sarah_Palin
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CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore’s Money BOMB Fail
California Assemblyman and U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore Tweeting for Cash(?)
Well, Chuck DeVore is NO Scott Brown or Marco Rubio. It is well documented that in the race for California United States Senate to replace Barbara Boxer, DeVore’s fundraising has been extremely anemic.On the other hand, Chuck DeVore only raised $445,000 since October 2009. His expenses during that time were $364,000 for a net for the last quarter of 2009 equal to less than $100,000. DeVore reports $226,364 cash on hand but has debts and obligations of $83,654. So, his net cash on hand is $142,710.
DeVore’s poor showing in fundraising should re-ignite the rumors that he will soon drop out of the race.
DeVore’s campaign statement is here.
And, I documented the start of Chuck DeVore’s campaign’s moneybomb here – on January 27. Remember that a moneybomb, first promoted by Presidential candidate Ron Paul and his rabid online followers is supposed to be a ONE DAY event – a sudden cash infusion for a campaign.
Ron Paul, the libertarian contrarian of the GOP, did not use the Internet to find his fervent band of followers and donors. They found him – and set records in the process.
Paul’s backers introduced a new term to the political lexicon – “money bomb” – a one-day fundraising frenzy that yielded $4.3 million Nov. 5, chosen because it was Guy Fawkes Day in England (he’s the guy who tried to blow up Parliament 400 years ago).
But the Paulunteers (or Paulistas) were just getting started. A month later, Trevor Lyman, a music promoter who had never voted before, and his backers set off a $6 million money bomb. They picked Dec. 16, the day commemorating the Boston Tea Party. The Ron Paul Revolution set a one-day mark for fundraising that contributed to his fourth-quarter haul of almost $20 million.
But, DeVore’s campaign has failed in style and subtance. His moneybomb has been over many days and FAILED to raise any REAL money (not even meeting his own goal of $60K).
Here is what DeVore started with (or at least when I noticed his moneybomb) on January 27:
Here is yesterday morning (February 1) around 6 AM or so:
From January 27 to early morning February 1 DeVore increased about $11K
And, here is a screenshot from February 1 (last night) around 7PM:
About a 13K increase in 12 hours or so
And, then this morning (February 2) around 6AM:
A few thousand more but still below the stated goal of $60K by Febraury 1 (note the goal was changed this morning to February 2)
I don’t mean to beat an apparent dead horse and candidate as Chuck Devore is but these fundraising numbers and lack of support have to give the candidate a wake-up call. With the cost of campaigns and his polling numbers (last place) in both the California Field and PPIC polls, why is Chuck DeVore in good conscience even persisting in filing for the United States Senate?DeVore has been campaigning for over fourteen months now and his candidacy has NOT caught fire – no matter how much he spams twitter for campaign donations.
Chuck, gracefully withdraw now and support the only remaining conservative in the race, Carly Fiorina.
Technorati Tags: Chuck_DeVore, Carly_Fiorina
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CA-Sen: Carly Fiorina Leads in U.S. Senate Campaign Cash
California U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina today hosting a Town Hall Meeting with High-Tech Entrepreneurs and Innovators
The Federal Election Commission campaign disclosure reports are out and Carly Fiorina leads California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore by millions of dollars. Tom Campbell who just switched from the California governor’s race a few weeks ago did not file a report since he was not a candidate on December 31, 2009. Since Campbell cannot transfer funds raised for the Governor’s race he starts fresh with no campaign cash.Republican U.S. Senate candidates Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore each raised more than $1 million through the end of 2009, but Fiorina had a significant cash-on-hand advantage after loaning her campaign $2.5 million, according to year-end statements they released Friday.
Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, had $2.75 million in cash at the end of 2009, compared to $226,364 for DeVore. Former congressman Tom Campbell entered the Senate race two weeks ago and had to start his fundraising anew after dropping his gubernatorial bid.
Carly Fiorina who only announced her candidacy in November 2009 has raised almost $1.1 million, including more than 200 hundred contributions at the maximum ($2,400).
Her contributors include:
- Edward Atsinger of Salem Communications
- Colin Powell, former Secretary of State
- Jerry Perenchio, former Univision CEO
- Donald Bren, CEO of the Irvine Company
Fiorina’s campaign statement is here.
On the other hand, Chuck DeVore only raised $445,000 since October 2009. His expenses during that time were $364,000 for a net for the last quarter of 2009 equal to less than $100,000. DeVore reports $226,364 cash on hand but has debts and obligations of $83,654. So, his net cash on hand is $142,710.
DeVore’s poor showing in fundraising should re-ignite the rumors that he will soon drop out of the race.
DeVore’s campaign statement is here.
The only questions at this point are how much will Carly Fiorina be able to raise, how much will she and her husband self-fund and when will she begin to spend her campaign cash on advertising.
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: Carly_Fiorina, Chuck_DeVore, Tom_Campbell
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CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore’s Money BOMB
When I saw similar tweets last night, I thought that with Scott Brown’s election in Massachusetts and his ability to raise massive amounts of campaign cash online and at the last minute, Chuck DeVore had finally hit on a way to bolster his anemic fundraising.
From Chuck DeVore Campaign’s online media staffer, Justin Hart’s twitter stream
But, no.The money bomb effort is just another WEAK fundraising effort. So, with all of the hoopla and spam-like tweeting it is to raise a mere 60K.
Doesn’t DeVore understand that ONE week for California television advertising costs up to $3 million? California statewide direct mail to millions of voters costs a ton? And, that DeVore has only a few hundred of thousands in the bank (although the official report will not be out until next week) even though he has been campaigning for the United States Senate for over a year. For example, DeVore’s Republican opponent Carly Fiorina has raised $1.1 million in just two months of candidacy and Marco Rubio in Florida raised $1.75 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Look at how DeVore’s money bomb has been doing (as of last night):
DeVore is not even half-way to his $60K goal.This morning he is up to a whopping $26,008. Not much movement there, folks.
With California Field Poll numbers at 6 per cent compared to Carly Fiorina at 25 per cent and Tom Campbell at 30 per cent, DeVore must be able to adverrtise in order to win. Add this with the fact that Californians do NOT know who he is – the same Field Poll has 81 per cent of Republicans have NO OPINION on his candidacy, he must spend the money to campaign advertise.
While DeVore’s money bomb appears to be a BOMB, more power to him, if he can successfully fundraise. If not, then Chuck DeVore WILL be beat like a drum come June election time.
Maybe Chuck should withdraw from this race and not waste his time and his donor’s money on a fruitless pursuit of election?
Technorati Tags: Chuck_DeVore
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CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore’s BIRTHER Repositioning
California Republican Assemblyman Chuck DeVore and Candidate for California U.S. Senate
Looks like Chuck DeVore is repositioning himself away from his Obama Birther connections. You remember the FLAP.
Chuck, your Obama birther connections are bad enough.
It draws the links between Chuck’s support last year of Floyd Brown, an architect of the famous 1988 Willie Horton campaign against Michael Dukakis. Last year, Brown created a campaign to attack then Democratic Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Said Brown: “It is absolutely critical that Obama’s negatives go up with Republicans.â€
Brown’s ad focused on a 2001 vote by then-Illinois state senator Obama. He opposed a bill that would have expanded the use of the death penalty if the perp was in a gang.
However, Chuck’s pals at Time magazine described the ad’s “links between Obama’s vote on that issue and the deaths of three Chicago resident’s are indirect and tenuous.â€
And, I assume you do not repudiate Floyd Brown since you gave him money.
And, remember the Devore said this:
Nonetheless, asked what he thought of Brown’s ideas, DeVore didn’t take the chance to denounce “birther†rumors or the movement itself–which has been heavily active in California.
“The president is doing himself no favors by spending millions of dollars to block the release of documents surrounding his birth certificate,†said DeVore. “As long as the president keeps fighting tooth and nail to prevent the release of such things, people are going to remain skeptical.†The door was left open, said DeVore, because Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign didn’t go after Obama’s qualifications when it had the chance, and because there were no statutory requirements for verifying a candidate’s citizenship.
But, now in a profile today DeVore has apparently “repositioned himself” with the Birther issue.
Steinhauser dismissed any correlation between Tea Partiers and birthers in the state. “That issue is a distraction,” said Steinhauser, who believes Obama was born in the United States.
DeVore does, too. But in 2008, he led (and gave $1,000 to) Citizens for a Safe and Prosperous America, a political action committee. There, DeVore teamed with high-profile birther Floyd Brown to run an ad campaign against then-presidential candidates Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton that criticized their positions on taxes and immigration.
So, Chuck, a little flip-flop or do you simply have two sets of answers? Or is your past Obama birtherism becoming a political liability/embarassment?
Technorati Tags: Chuck_DeVore
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CA-Sen Field Poll: What Does It Mean for Tom Campbell, Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore?
Poll graphic courtesy of the Sacramento BeeI posted the California Field Poll results for the California United States Senate race earlier this morning. It is 30% for Tom Campbell, 25% for Carly Fiorina and 6% for Chuck DeVore. Those are the raw numbers.Let’s look at some more (the cross tabulations are here):
And, now the favorability numbers:
But, what do all of the numbers mean for Republicans Tom Campbell, Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore?The California Field poll is a
vulnerablevenerable polling organization that is reputable for accurate results. But, there are a number of factors that should be pointed out.- I doubt MOST Californians are paying attention to a United States Senate primary election in June.
- The poll was conducted partly before Tom Campbell switched last week from running for California Governor to U.S. Senate.
Tom Campbell – the leader for now:
Campbell the former Congressman from Northern California has run statewide for the United States Senate twice before. Until last week he has been campaigning for many months against Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner for the Republican Governor nomination statewide.
It is obvious that Campbell has good name identification and with a generic sounding name it is easy to pick him in answering a polling interview.
However, Campbell is a very socially liberal Republican. For example, he is pro-abortion, supports government funding of abortion and was against California’s Proposition 8 that restored the traditional definition of marriage – in other words Campbell supports gay marriage. Campbell has also been active in legalizing marijuana for medicinal use and there may be some question as to whether he favors further decriminalization of marijuana laws or even outright legalization.
On fiscal matters, he has not hesitated to support tax increases, including supporting California Proposition 1A (which I voted against and was defeated), and supporting a gas tax increase of 32 cents while Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Finance Director. Moreover, Campbell has refused to sign a no-tax pledge.
When informed of these facts by either Fiorina and/or DeVore, Caliifornia voter support will likely fall like a stone. Add this with the fact that Campbell has absolutely NO campaign cash since he could not transfer his California Governor’s campaign account to the Senate campaign, he will be unable to advertise for months.
Then, there is the major problem of his campaign. Campbell is a political campaign harlot who has hopped from one bed to another to just get elected to office. Look at his CV and his political career. When informed that Campbell is just another typical politician anda harlot at that, the 30 per cent he received in this poll may be his high water mark.
Chuck DeVore – last place and why is he continuing in this race?
Chuck DeVore, an obscure California Assemblyman from Orange County (and a very safe Republican district) has never run before for statewide office BUT has been running for United States Senate for over a year. And, he receives only 6 per cent! Frankly, nobody knows who the hell this guy is and that is reflected in the poll result above.
I have illustrated and posted a number of times that DeVore has been unable to raise any substantial campaign cash and although he has more on hand than Campbell at the moment, he is already behind Fiorina by almost $ 3 Million. He has no funds to do any type of media campaign, including televison. And, with only 6 % he is unlikely to be able to pry more money out of the hands of the few donors he has captured.
The only question for the DeVore campaign is when to gracefully withdraw or beg for it to be over whichever occurs first. If DeVore stays in the race look for about a 15 per cent showing at the polls – maybe 20 at most.
Carly Fiorina – second place but attacked by Campbell and DeVore and Boxer – oh my!
The former CEO of Hewlett-Packard is a well-known California corporate leader who was a major surrogate for John McCain’s Presidential campaign last year. Carly has been seen on Fox News and the other cable news and business channels ALOT.
But, Carly developed breast cancer last year and underwent both radiation and chemotherapy for much of the Spring and Summer 2009. She only declared her candidacy in November when she secured the endorsements of most Republican incumbent U.S. Senators, including John McCain and Tom Coburn.
Her fundraising has been good but not outstanding in the two months she has been a candidate. But, the Christmas holidays may have slowed her down a bit – so she reached into her own pocket and pulled out $2.5 million. Carly can reach for more and in a few conversations with her it is my impression that money is not really a concern for her. Resources will not be a problem for Carly.
So, why is Carly who is in second place in the above polling attacked so much? She is attacked by DeVore for being a RINO (Republican in Name Only) and not being conservative enough (Carly is pro-life and against gay marriage) – so wrong there Chuckles.
She is attacked by Campbell for having a campaign in disarray. Well, at least she has a communication team and has some campaign funds, unlike Campbell who just returned from Panama and extensive Spanish lessons. Fiorina is lead by Marty Wilson who has a pretty good track record in electing major California politicians. Do the names Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger stand out? Wilson’s fundraisers will raise mega-bucks for Fiorina – hear the cash register now?
Then, Carly is attacked by Boxer and the left for having bankrupted Hewlett-Packard and shipping jobs overseas. Both are false and Hewlett-Packard is the largest computer manufacturer in the country now and is thriving. With the corporate campaign rules being chnged today by the U.S. Supreme Court lets see how much American business disfavors Fiorina. I think she will be able to raise a ton of money – like on the order of $10 million in independent expenditures alone – maybe more.
So, what does the Field Poll mean?
In short, Carly Fiorina WILL win by beating Tom Campbell handily in June with Chuck DeVore withdrawing sometime after the California GOP Convention in March.
Stay tuned……
Technorati Tags: Carly_Fiorina, Chuck_DeVore, Tom_Campbell
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BREAKING: CA-Sen: Tom Campbell 30% Carly Fiorina 25% Chuck DeVore 6%
Apparently the San Diego Union broke the 6 AM PST embargo on the poll. So, I will report it now.
A week after dropping his bid for governor and switching to the U.S. Senate race, former Rep. Tom Campbell has taken the lead in what is now a three-way Republican field, a new Field Poll shows.
The poll shows Campbell leading among likely voters in the June 8 Republican primary election with 30 percent to 25 percent for former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and 6 percent for Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine. The remaining 39 percent were undecided.
The winner will face three-term Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer in November.
“It demonstrates the relative weakness of the Fiorina and DeVore candidacies up to this point,†said Field Poll director Mark DiCamillo.
The GOP Senate race remains largely unfocused, even among the Republicans considered most likely to vote, according to the poll, which has a high margin of error.
The vast majority of Republican voters said they did not know enough about any of the candidates to have an opinion about them.
Republicans have a favorable opinion of Campbell at 26 percent to 11 percent, but 63 percent have no opinion at all. Likewise, Fiorina is regarded positively, 20 percent to 10 percent, but 70 percent have no opinion.
The most unknown quantity is DeVore, with 81 percent of the Republican primary voters having no opinion about him. Of those who do, 8 percent are favorable and 11 percent unfavorable.
Stay tuned, as I will have more later.
Technorati Tags: Carly_Fiorina, Tom Campbell, Chuck_DeVore
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CA-Sen Poll Watch: Boxer 46% Vs. Fiorina 43%
Poll Summary Chart Screenshot on January 17, 2010
The California U.S. Senate campaign for Carly Fiorina should be happy this morning – look at the trend line above. After all, the latest poll from Rasmussen has her trailing incumbent Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer by only three points.
Rasmussen PollingThe latest poll results are within the margin of error unlike California Assemblyman Chuck DeVore who after campaigning for over a year does twice as poorly as Fiorina.Tom Campbell who until this past week has been campaigning for California Governor polls better by DeVore but is very close to the margin of error which is 4.5%.
It is apparent from his anemic fundraising and poor polling that DeVore’s campaign is doing the worst in this race with a too early to tell being given to Tom Campbell (I mean how many times has he run for California public office – many).
Fiorina who only announced her candidacy in early November has the most campaign cash on hand and an impressive list of California and national Republican Senators/donors. Then, there is her personal wealth which she can tap from time to time.
There are little prospects of any sustained advertising campaign from either DeVore or Campbell (who cannot transfer any funds raised in his Governor campaign and whose donorts must abide by federal campaign donation limits). When Fiorina starts to drop the direct mail, goes on the radio and does some limited television advertising one would expect her poll numbers to improve and differentiate herself from both DeVore and Campbell.
But, it is anyone’s guess how voters will perceive a three-way GOP primary election. With the Democrats unlikey to have a contested race this June with the concomitant draw of independent voters who may vote in the Republican primary, the race will depend on turn-out. Fiorina should have the advantage here.
The California Field poll is in the field and will be released next week. For now, the Fiorina campaign must be pleased at her progress (after all, Carly spent last spring and summer battling breast cancer – there was a question whether she would EVEN be a candidate).
I know someone who is not, however – Senator Barbara Boxer.
Previous:CA-Sen Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer in Trouble for Re-Election in 2010
Technorati Tags: Barbara_Boxer, Carly_Fiorina, Chuck_DeVore, Tom_Campbell
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CA-Sen Poll Watch: Barbara Boxer in Trouble for Re-Election in 2010
California U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina addressing the Conejo Valley Republican Women candidate’s luncheon todayBad news for Democrat California U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer from the Rasmussen polling folks this afternoon.
California Senator Barbara Boxer is now the latest Democratic incumbent to find herself in a tightening race for reelection.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely California voters finds Boxer with narrow leads over her three leading Republican challengers, including newcomer Tom Campbell.
As in much of the country, the story may turn in part on the health care plan proposed by President Obama and congressional Democrats, even though support for it is higher in California than nationally.
In California, 49% favor the health care plan, while 48% oppose it. But as in other states, the emotion is on the side of the opponents: Just 25% of California voters Strongly Favor the plan while 39% Strongly Oppose it.
Perhaps even more significantly, 55% of California voters rate the U.S. economy as poor, while just seven percent (7%) think it’s good or excellent. Golden State voters are evenly divided over whether the economy is improving: 36% say it’s getter better, while 35% say it’s getting worse. Twenty-five percent (25%) believe it’s staying about the same.
“Any incumbent who polls below 50% at this point in the season is considered potentially vulnerable,†noted Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports. “However, vulnerable incumbents still have the power of their office and still have a decent chance of winning. The Democratic leaning political gravity of California will certainly give Senator Boxer a boost in that effort.â€
Here are the poll results:
Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is only behind by three points after having announced her candidacy in November 2009. Tom Campbell who until this week was running for California Governor and who has twice before run for the U.S. Senate is behind by 4 points. Chuck DeVore who has been running against Boxer for over a year trails by 6 points.As Rasmussen points out, this polling is more about Boxer than it is the three GOP challengers. But, the significance of this poll is that for whatever reasons Boxer and the Democrats will have to spend her $6 million campaign war chest in order to defend this seat.
A clear advanatge goes to Carly Fiorina who has amassed campaign cash far in excess of her two competitors. There is little doubt that with a contested seat that she will be able to call upon her national Republican supporters to provide more. And, then there is also her substantial personal wealth which in a close race can always be called upon.
I attended the Conejo Valley Republican Woman candidate’s luncheon today where Carly Fiorina addressed the faithful. I will have more on this later, including my brief interview with Carly.
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: Barbara Boxer, Carly_Fiorina, Chuck_DeVore, Tom Campbell
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CA-Sen: Chuck DeVore Boosts Up Carly Fiorina With HIS OWN Opposition Research
California Assemblyman and U.S. Senate candidate Chuck DeVore Tweeting
Oops Josh Trevino, Chuck DeVore’s spokeshole has done it again.Campaign spokesman Josh Trevino alerted Chuck DeVore’s legions of followers and fans to a piece in the Washington Independent on the entry of Tom Campbell into the U.S. Senate race that seemingly provides ammunition to Carly Fiorina’s camp.
Trevino latched onto reporter Dave Weigel’s characterization of Campbell’s Senate candidacy as a “vote of no-confidence” in the Fiorina campaign.
The piece notes that Campbell, as finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger, “helped muscle through” the 2005 budget. Legislative analysis noted, “that expenditures are projected to grow from $81.7 billion in 2004-05 to $90 billion in 2005-06, an increase of over 10 percent.”
So naturally one would assume DeVore stood opposed in all his conservative glory. But he actually joined with the Democrats and voted for the budget that also included funding for abortion.
This is pretty funny stuff. Chuck DeVore’s campaign bolstering the argument that Carly Fiorina is better on the issue of fiscal responsibility than himself. Every California voter knows the last few California budgets have been a disaster for the economy here.
It is almost as funny as DeVore’s op-ed today in the Washington Times on the issue of Afghanistan – where he flip-flops.
“As a result of culture and geography, Mr. Obama’s Afghan surge will likely fall short of its objectives while spending $40 billion per year. Employing conventional forces in pursuit of terrorists and guerrilla forces is always an expensive proposition. Attempting to build nations on soil not yet fertile to the concepts of democracy and national unity is even more problematic. Neither is needed to produce the result we want: deadly consequences for attacking Americans. This can be done with special forces, drones and better human intelligence.” (emphasis added)
Remember what DeVore said previously in a statement where he bashed President Obama speaking at West Point:
“The first reason is that the number of Americans is insufficient for the task at hand and added incrementally as to give the Taliban a chance to adjust.”
Gee, I am no foreign policy expert but I know a flip when I read one. Or, was Chuck simply dancing around the issue to see if an Afghan “surge” would be successful, then he could claim being right on the issue. So, what is it Chuck?
Want to bet whether Carly Fiorina will be using this DeVore OPPO research?
Technorati Tags: Chuck_DeVore, Josh_Trevino, Carly_Fiorina