Carly Fiorina gave a very good Republican response today on health care. It cannot be denied. I am glad she is on our side.

I do not dislike Carly Fiorina. I don’t really know her, though we’ve met a couple times. She seems like a very nice person. One day I’m sure she will be an excellent elected or appointed official.

Today is not that day in my mind.

I have tried to stay out of California. My gut tells me California is a sink hole that Republicans will not get out of. Barbara Boxer, as obnoxious as she is, is probably safe, though I understand the rationale of giving her a run for her money to distract the DSCC. However, as the NRSC has already broadcast that this is their goal, the DSCC will probably not be distracted.

Carly Fiorina gave a very good speech today, but I think it was inappropriate of the Republicans to put her, a candidate in a highly contested primary, up as their spokesman on health care.

The NRSC has, every time anyone has pointed out they have endorsed Fiorina, said they have not. They have. Frankly, I haven’t blamed them. I thought Fiorina was a good recruit and I have said so.

But I think Chuck DeVore has done everything he has needed to do to be treated as a credible candidate. His fundraising is good. His message is solid. His support is growing. His polling is equal to Fiorina’s.

The NRSC has not learned its lesson. The Republican establishment has not learned its lesson. Mitch McConnell, in his effort to lose the health care debate by making Olympia Snowe the foundation for victory, John Cornyn, who claims to want conservatives, but keeps supporting moderates, and a host of other Senators have come out for Fiorina.

Where the establishment goes, we should all be worried. Just as they led us from 55 seats to 40 seats in the Senate and just as they are leading us off a cliff in the Senate through failed messaging tactics, the establishment is going to lead us off a cliff in 2010.

I just can’t keep my mouth shut on this one. I have no problem with Fiorina, but my heart and mind are with Chuck DeVore. He is one of us. He will be a leader, not a Mitch McConnell follower. DeVore will stand with Jim DeMint. Fiorina would be no better and no worse than Kay Bailey Hutchison, drifting with the present failed Senate GOP leadership.

Friends, we need men and women of action. Chuck DeVore fits the bill. I know there are some here who will support Fiorina. That is fine by me. California is not my hill to die on. But as we fight our way back to power, I stand with Chuck DeVore because Chuck DeVore stands with me.

He can win this primary. He can give Barbara Boxer a tough race. But we must help. And better still, a DeVore victory means the GOP Establishment will not deserve and will not get any credit.

Join me. Stand with Chuck DeVore for California.

Matt Lewis has post up at Townhall about the implosion of Barbara Boxer, perhaps the most detestable of all United States Senators.

Boxer, who ironically has a five letter last name that starts with a “B” just like the word that most accurately describes her, wants to use congressional power to harass the people who leaked the climategate emails. She does not, however, want to review just how damaging those emails are to the Church of Global Warming.

Likewise, Boxer has been screwing up talking points on health care in ways not helpful to her own cause.

The woman is a dolt. Her last remaining claim to fame is being a High Priestess of the Church of the Butchered Baby, but even her pro-abortion stance is not saving her.

As Lewis notes, “Boxer has been incapable, thus far, of garnering more than 50% support for her re-election in major polls. The two main figures vying for a chance to replace her, ex-Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, have been doing plenty to put a dent in Boxer’s odds of winning a fourth term. ”

Good riddance.

Chuck DeVore has hit a major milestone in his campaign fundraising. In the year since he announced his bid for Senate, he has raised (dramatic music) one million dollars. Do we think he’s a viable candidate yet?

Meanwhile Carly Fiorina, who’s only recently announced her candidacy, announced early that she would not fund her campaign out of her own deep pockets. However she’s already gone back on that and is loaning her campaign some money. She has to do this because her NRSC-backed announcement, rushed out the door as a reaction to the Jim DeMint endorsement of DeVore, has clearly gone far below her budgetary expectations. Do we finally see that she’s not the candidate we’ve been promised?

California statewide races are tough for Republicans. We need somebody who can fight hard, raise money, and keep the Democrats honest. Carly Fiorina can’t do it. Chuck DeVore is already proving that he can. Chuck DeVore is not just the better candidate on the issues. He’s also the better candidate on practical and technical grounds.

Experience counts, and experience running a corporation’s share price into the ground isn’t what we need for the Republican party in a state where we already have problems. Experience winning elections is what we need, and Chuck DeVore is the candidate in this race who has the best chance to win this one. And I have one million reasons to back that up.

Carly Fiorina truly is panicked. The NRSC has been spooked by the Scozzafava/Hoffman/Owens race, and is more or less going to leave Fiorina out to dry. And while she got the support of conservative favorite Tom Coburn to match Chuck DeVore’s Jim DeMint, the rest of her supporters paint a different picture. Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Olympia Snowe, Lisa Murkowski: to many of us, these are what is wrong with the Republican Senate caucus.

So now she’s launched prematurely, shot the wad of endorsements she has in the middle of a week, rushed to pander to the right by appearing in the OC Register, but even that’s not enough. Now she’s making outrageous attacks on Chuck DeVore and the rest of us who favor an Internet free of burdensome government regulation.

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Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO-turned-McCain campaign advisor and surrogate, announced on Thursday the endorsements of eight Republican Senators, including conservative stalwart Senator Tom Coburn.

“Our nation is facing serious economic challenges because we keep rehiring the same failed career politicians who have proven themselves incapable of making hard choices,” read Coburn’s statement. “Carly’s common sense and fiscal conservatism will be a welcome addition to the United States Senate. I am glad to offer her my endorsement.”

Today’s announcement by Fiorina, who only formally announced her bid for Senate on Wednesday, comes on the heels of Senator Jim Demint’s endorsement of Fiorina’s Republican primary opponent, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.

In addition to Coburn, Senators Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham, Jon Kyl, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Lisa Murkowski, and Olympia Snowe endorsed the former Silicon Valley executive.

“I am humbled to have earned the endorsement of each one of these distinguished Republican Senators,” Fiorina said of today’s endorsements. “They are all dedicated public servants and it is a true honor to have their support.”

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We won the big statewide races yesterday, and now it’s back to work trying to win some more. The California Senate primary may not be until June, but when we’re faced with an entrenched incumbent like Barbara Boxer, we need all the lead time we can get.

Up until now, the DC types have all been supporting Carly Fiorina in our primary, even though she had not yet declared her candidacy, and had yet shown either an inability or an unwillingness to campaign to the Republican voters of this state. Thus, that early support had failed to move any dials as Assemblyman Chuck DeVore has raised money well, gained loyal grass roots support, and ran ahead of Fiorina against Boxer in polls. But now, with the fallout of Dede Scozzafava’s blowup spreading nationwide, events are moving more quickly.

The NRSC is conceding its positions in primaries, pulling a crutch out from under Fiorina’s already-limping campaign. Conservative DC types are taking advantage of the new neutrality, too, starting with Senator Jim DeMint endorsing DeVore, while Fiorina has the backing of South Carolina’s other Senator, Lindsey Graham.

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It’s going to be late before we know anything about Harmer in CA-10.

As for the rest, it looks like the love affair is over. In 2008, the American public voted for Barack Obama to prove they weren’t racist and in 2010 the same public is voting for Republicans to prove they aren’t socialist.

For the 2nd time in history, the GOP swept Virginia’s statewide races, picking up Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attorney General.

It looks like Christie is going to win New Jersey barring some last minute miracles for Corzine.

It is also looking good for Hoffman in NY-23.

We still won’t know about New Jersey and New York for a while, but the trend lines are good.

UPDATE: RNC Chairman Michael Steele just hopped a plane to New Jersey. Signs are pointing to a Christie victory.

UPDATE 2: Keep in mind on Doug Hoffman that 3 counties will not report their results online and one county, Fulton, has had a machine breakdown and will not report its results until tomorrow.

Josh Marshall says the GOP is going to fire up the vote fraud stories. Of course, Josh Marshall already has logged into the TPM queue mass stories of voter suppression that he will blame on the GOP.

Because, you know, the GOP always suppresses black turn out, but ACORN never commits fraud.

And we know that given what is happening on the ground right now, the GOP just might sweep. New Jersey is going to be close, but then there have already been a few Democrats alleging voter fraud in municipal elections.

In any event, while Josh is waiting for the voter fraud stories he will work overtime to disprove as credibly as he failed to disprove Bobby Jindal’s hurricane story [Note to Josh: Moving the goal posts with every draft is not actually disproving the facts], he’s going to have to work closely with Media Matters and the DNC to also create a flurry of stories about the evil GOP suppressing the vote.

It’ll be a busy night for TPM’s overworked narrative.

Everybody wants to talk about the VA/NJ races, or NY-23, which makes sense: they’re gripping. But all the way over in CA-10 is a race between Republican David Harmer and Democrat Lt Gov. John Garamendi; one that Garamendi seems determined to win pretty much in spite of himself. It’s a hard district for a Republican to win, being D+11; but Harmer isn’t running as anything except a Republican. If he goes down, he goes down swinging.

If you have the time, his campaign wouldn’t mind you giving some of it tomorrow. If you can vote in CA-10, go ye hence and vote in CA-10. Bring as many of your friends as you can along, too.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

(h/t: Instapundit) California’s come up with another way to ensure that when the state finally crashes, it’s really going to crash:

California to withhold a bigger chunk of paychecks
The amount goes up 10% on Sunday as Sacramento borrows from taxpayers. Technically, it’s not an income tax increase: You’ll get the money back eventually.

Reporting from Los Angeles and Sacramento - Starting Sunday, cash-strapped California will dig deeper into the pocketbooks of wage earners — holding back 10% more than it already does in state income taxes just as the biggest shopping season of the year kicks into gear.

Technically, it’s not a tax increase, even though it may feel like one when your next paycheck arrives. As part of a bundle of budget patches adopted in the summer, the state is taking more money now in withholding, even though workers’ annual tax bills won’t change.

If I ever become a convert to Objectivism, it’ll be because of California: that state seems determined to ignore the elementary fiscal rule of Don’t spend money that you don’t have, you idjits. I realize that this sounds like a simplistic solution to what is a very complicated problem, but so is Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Except that in this case it’s more like Robbing Peter and Paul while telling them that they’ll be getting the money back.  Unless they need to make the robbing permanent.  Which they probably will, because they got away with it in the first place, right?

I admit that this is harder to memorize.

Moe Lane

PS: Another bit of elementary fiscal wisdom: It is absurd to think that you can transfer 1.8 billion in funding from things that generate wealth (business) to things that consume it (government) without it having an effect on the larger economy. I mention this because said wisdom has unaccountably eluded everybody defending this policy as being not being all that bad.

PPS: Hey, do you know that a top Californian state official - Lt. Governor John Garamendi - is actually within the reach of at least one CD’s worth of voters?  He is, he is.  If you live in CA-10, by all means: show your disapproval by voting for David Harmer on Tuesday.

Crossposted to Moe Lane.

As most of us watch the special election in New York, we still have a Senate primary in California to deal with. It’s the same old story, though. There are two kinds of Republicans.

One kind celebrates big government and progressive control over America. Carly Fiorina, like Dede Scozzafava, is one of those:

While some of us are fighting hard against the Obama push to nationalize the Internet, Fiorina goes behind our backs and joins them, just as Scozzafava will work with ACORN and Planned Parenthood. Meanwhile, Chuck DeVore knows the score and endorses Doug Hoffman.

There are two kinds of Republicans. Some are on our side. Some are more interested in the left. I know which I prefer to represent our party.

I’ve written about David Harmer before. He is in a very close election out in CA-10, running in a special election to replace former Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher.

As Jim Geraghty noted yesterday, Harmer is running full steam ahead into the public option in his district, which leans blue, but in which Harmer is polling very, very well against a state wide elected Democrat — California’s Lieutenant Governor.

Harmer could use some last minute help. Things are looking good for him, but money and volunteers remain in short supply.

To donate folks can go to the website:

http://www.harmerforcongress.com/

To volunteer, people should call the campaign headquarters:

500 Ygnacio Valley Road, Ste 360
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(925) 979-5813

Walnut Creek is around 20 miles due east of San Francisco. CA-10 includes parts of Contra Costa, Solano and Alameda counties. This could be a pick up for us and those of you out west could really help turn this district.

Full steam ahead.

There could be a serious upset in a congressional special election this year and it is going under the radar. John Fund took notice of it yesterday.

David Harmer is the Republican running in a special election to fill Ellen Tauscher’s seat in Congress. The Democrat, Lt. Governor John Garamendi, is favored to win, but is only polling 41% to Harmer’s 34%.

Interestingly, poling in the area shows the favorability of the GOP is skyrocketing in that district. Nonetheless, the GOP would rather support a pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, pro-union, ACORN supported Dede Scozzafava in New York’s 23rd Congressional District than spend any time or money on David Harmer’s race.

Having dug into the race, I can’t really add to what John Fund reported. The district is a Democrat leaning district, but the negativity toward the Democrats in the district is overwhelming.

David Harmer is a good candidate, but he needs money to get across the finish line. With the NRCC anticipating a black eye in New York’s 23rd, they won’t fully engage this race because they are fearful of two black eyes. Don’t get me wrong — the NRCC has done some work helping the candidate get up to steam, but right now the focus and money is going to Dede.

Polling, however, suggests this might really be the upset John Fund thinks it is. If you are a California Republican or anyone else who wants to take credit away from the GOP establishment by helping get a good guy elected without their help, you might want to consider sending David Harmer a few bucks or go lend a hand.

When these seats start falling into GOP hands, it will thoroughly destroy the last ounces of political capital that Barack Obama has.

In September, the Chuck DeVore campaign had a goal of raising $50,000 dollars online. Last night, that goal was met. Adding in offline donations, Chuck DeVore is averaging $100,000 raised every month in recent months, and has already outraised every California Republican candidate for Senate in the last decade.

The Chuck DeVore phenomenon is tapping into the grassroots energy that Republicans will need to cripple Barack Obama and the Congressional Democrats in 2010. He is a fighter who is right on the issues and is raising money. Chuck is California’s best hope to harry the menace to liberty and common sense that is Senator Barbara Boxer. It is for that reason that we, the undersigned, individual RedState.com editors, do endorse Chuck DeVore to be the Republican nominee to unseat Senator Boxer.

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Does Carly Fiorina care what Republicans think at all? The very day after rejecting the option of taking day trips or making video addresses to Republicans gathered for the state party convention in Indian Wells, Carly Fiorina has begun making day trips to raise money. While this is a natural step for somebody who refuses to reach into her own deep pockets to fund her campaign, this does represent yet another stumble for a campaign that can’t seem to go a day without making a mistake.

It’s no wonder that polls show her running against Barbara Boxer no better than Chuck DeVore, despite Fiorina’s wide reputation of being a pro-abortion “social moderate.” One would think that a candidate who, in the public eye, neutralizes Boxer’s key issue of abortion would do better in the polling, but Fiorina’s failure to achieve anything in the polls is a testament to her failure to campaign effectively and to reach out to the Republican base. Republicans would be critical to her fight against the united front of the Democrat party, the unions, and the press. If she can’t get us on her side, she can’t win.

So why, then, does she snub us and instead turn to the deep pockets? Does she intend to run as a Schwarzenegger-ite “post-partisan?” Does she even have a plan for victory? Even Meg Whitman showed up to Indian Wells, made good speeches, and earned respect even from supporters of other candidates. She put pressure on her opponents, and Steve Poizner did not impress when he replied.

Senator Boxer will have to make a mistake if a Republican is going to beat her in 2010. I doubt Carly Fiorina is capable of applying the pressure to Boxer it will take to make that happen.

I’m writing you from the floor of the Califorina Republican Party’s (CRP) convention in Indian Wells, CA. For you non-Californians, the CRP holds two conventions every year — usually in February and September. The September convention before an election year is the de facto kickoff for the various campaigns. That’s why we’ve got here the various contenders for the CA GOP nomination out in force here: most notably Poizner, Whitman, and Campbell for Governor, and DeVore and Fiorina for U.S. Senate.

Carly Fiorina is the only major candidate who isn’t attending this convention. Her reason, as explained to Jon Fleischman in the Flash Report and Karen Tumulty at Time (yeah, I know), is that her cancer treatments preclude her from coming. Well, okay — but as RedState noted, she was certainly able to videoconference in with Elizabeth Edwards a few weeks back, and she’s planning on keynoting the Web 2.0 Summit in a couple of weeks. Oh, and she’s also jetting off to conferences in Milan and Sao Paolo shortly after that.

The Fiorina campaign is not pleased that a Rasmussen poll released on the convention’s first day shows Chuck DeVore as the stronger candidate against Barbara Boxer. Pretty tough when all that cash and name recognition buys you a solid second place.

But that’s not why I’m writing. I’m not even writing to tell you that they’ve plastered the convention hotel with “CARLYFORNIA DREAMIN’!!!” placards, complete with the three exclamation points. I’m not even writing to tell you that Carly’s staff are walking around blaming high-priced Hollywood-flack McCain-’08-veteran Fred Davis for their disastrous website. No.

I’m writing to tell you about the loose talk here about Carly and the NRSC, emanating from the friends of Larry Elder.

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Recently I and others have questioned Carly Fiorina’s commitment to the race to defeat Barbara Boxer in 2010. She won’t fund her own race with her deep pockets, which was supposed to be a key reason to nominate her. She also won’t show up to the California Republican Party meeting in Indian Wells this month (starting today, in fact)*. Her candidacy so far has been characterized as “amateurish”.

Fiorina now says cancer treatment is the reason for her evasiveness so far. And while nobody wishes she would skimp on her cancer treatment, or hope for anything less than a full recovery for her, I join Pejman Yousefzadeh in being skeptical of this explanation.

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There are two candidates who have a chance to win the Republican nomination for Senate in June 2010. One is Chuck DeVore. One of our Fighting Four candidates this primary season, he announced last November his candidacy to defeat Senator Barbara Boxer. Term-limited from his state Assembly seat, he’s committed to victory.

The other is Carly Fiorina. A political novice, never having run for office before, she doesn’t even know if she’s running for this office yet. In big, black letters her own, brand-new website asks “Coming Soon?” It’s no wonder she won’t even fund her own campaign. Why spend that money when she might not even run?

Chuck DeVore is on Facebook. Chuck DeVore is on Twitter, and he’s active on both. Carly Fiorina’s webpage has placeholder, non-functional links to both services. She may, or may not, show up to engage Republicans, and will do so only when it’s convenient for her.

We have two choices in June, but only one candidate is there for us and committed to fighting Barbara Boxer, the dumbest member of the US Senate. The clear choice is Chuck DeVore. I hope we can give to him and good conservatives like him to help him fight for us and win.

When we allow government to grow large, and especially large and unionized, the effects on our society are greater than just the weight of the government yoke on the backs of the American people. There are other, hidden effects to consider when such concentrations of left-wing power are brought together.

That is a lesson all Americans can take from the latest from the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, CalPERS. Consider what will be ahead for CalPERS if Muriel Strand, a candidate for the CalPERS Board of Administration, gets her way:

I believe retirees’ real economic needs - clean air and water, healthy food, and warmth - are more important that strictly financial benefits, which could conceivably fall short of what’s needed even with the COLA.

That’s right; she’s ready, willing, and able to sacrifice the people she’s charged with looking out for, by sacrificing their retirements in order to push her radical left-wing political agenda. There’s no guarantee she’ll win, but her words are already in line with long-standing CalPERS trends.

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California’s race for the Senate is easy for people all across the country to care about, but we’re also going to elect a new Governor next year. Term limited or not, Governor Schwarzenegger has burned his bridges with most of the party and likely will never seek elective office again.

So it’s an open seat, and an open field for both parties this time around. Let’s start with the Democrats. It’s less depressing that way.

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