Red County, California

American Action Forum just finished polling in the West, including our own CA-47 currently represented by Loretta Sanchez.

Here’s something for Orange County conservatives to modestly whoop about:

Our polling, conducted for American Action Forum on August 23-26 & 28-29, 2010, with 400 likely general election voters, shows a competitive contest in the district. Despite Representative Loretta Sanchez having 96 percent name ID (with a 46 to 44 percent favorable-unfavorable rating) compared to challenger Van Tran’s 67 percent (26 to 18 percent favorable), Sanchez leads on the ballot by just a 45 to 43 percent margin.

Other key findings from the poll:

1. The economy is the most important issue in this district, although government spending and illegal immigration are also important.
2. Voters associate nearly all of the tested positive characteristics with Tran.
3. Sanchez’s votes for bailouts are her greatest tested weakness.
4. Voters in the district have a narrowly favorable view of Barack Obama, and a strongly unfavorable view of Nancy Pelosi.

No complacency, folks. If you have time or bucks, support Tran. Taking out one of the Sanchez sisters would be almost as satisfying as retiring Barbara Boxer.

(Hat tip: Jim Geraghty at Campaign Spot.)

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• Newt Gingrich Endorses Van Tran in CA-47 (cehwiedel.com)
• Rep. Sanchez eats lunch at the Playboy Mansion (thehill.com)
• Tea Party Express backs CA congressional candidate (sfgate.com)

Here is the reaction of John Fund at the WSJ Political Diary to the recent debate between California Senate candidates Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina:

Last night’s debate between California Senator Barbara Boxer and Carly Fiorina, her Republican opponent, was broadcast by eleven California television stations, plus CSPAN.

The potentially large audience had access to an entertaining, if not exactly educational, hour. Both candidates made it clear they don’t like each other with a series of personal attacks. Senator Boxer gnawed at Ms. Fiorina’s record as head of Hewlett Packard for six years, saying she “laid off 30,000 workers and shipped jobs to China.” Ms. Fiorina responded by calling her opponent a “bitterly partisan” senator with few accomplishments who is beholden “to elite environmental groups.”

In playing to their respective bases, Ms. Boxer proved capable of punching hard. She attacked Ms. Fiorina’s ties to “a wealthy, wealthy few” and “big oil and big coal.” When Ms. Fiorina said she was opposed to abortion but felt the issue should be decided at the state level, Ms. Boxer pounced by predicting that if Ms. Fiorina had her way “doctors would go to jail and women would die.”

Despite Ms. Boxer’s superior attack lines, the debate ultimately ended in a draw if for no other reason than the incumbent’s failure to explain how she would help make the economy improve. Ms. Fiorina effectively noted that federal stimulus spending has done nothing to halt the rise in the state’s unemployment rate. “Recovery summer,” Ms. Fiorina said, referencing the Obama White House’s recent economic slogan, “has become the summer of despair.”

The race is essentially tied, with Ms. Boxer holding a one-point lead in the Rasmussen Poll. The incumbent has an enormous cash advantage with over $11 million in the bank, but her 28 years in Congress make her a clear target for anti-incumbent sentiment. A July Field Poll found that 52% of respondents hold an unfavorable view of Senator Boxer. Her challenge between now and Election Day will be to make Ms. Fiorina, in the eyes of an even larger number of Californians, an unacceptable alternative.

Boxer’s abortion line is to laugh at — the equivalent of pointing and yelling, “Boogeyman!”

Regarding the “shipping jobs to China” accusation: imagine how expensive Hewlett-Packard printers* would be if manufactured using union labor in the United States. The tech industry would be in the same sorry shape as the automotive industry, and just as innovative.

Senator Boxer needs to become former Senator Boxer.

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• California Senate Debate Turns on Economy (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)
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• Round 1: Heavy Weight Boxer Knocks Light Weight Fiorina Out for the Count (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Economy tops 1st Boxer, Fiorina Senate debate (sfgate.com)
• Economy takes center stage in Boxer-Fiorina debate (marketwatch.com)

From the good folks at the city of Cypress:

left to right: Cypress Mayor Prakash Narain, M.D.; City Councilman Leroy Mill; and Mayor Pro Tem Doug Bailey.

Cypress Mayor Dr. Prakash Narain, Mayor Pro Tem Douglas Bailey, and Councilmember Leroy Mills have been appointed to serve their second four-year term on the Cypress City Council.

The City of Cypress had three open seats for the November 2, 2010 election. As of the close of the nomination period on August 6, 2010, there were no challengers to the incumbents. A special meeting was held on August 17, 2010 pursuant to the State Election Code to appoint the incumbents to their second terms.

“I am very honored to have the opportunity to serve this wonderful community for another term,” said Mayor Narain. “We will continue to move Cypress forward in keeping with our tradition as a community of progress,” added the Mayor. Mayor Pro Tem Bailey shared the Mayor’s sentiments. “I am very proud of what this Council has accomplished such as our quality recreational programs and infrastructure improvements. I can’t wait to see all the wonderful progress we will continue to make over the next four years,” said Mayor Pro Tem Bailey. “Our appointment to a second term speaks highly of the public’s confidence in the conservative and responsible leadership that we have provided in difficult economic times, especially the $1.9 million financial takeaway by Sacramento. It is a great privilege to continue to serve the residents of Cypress, our surrounding community, and the region at large for the next 4 years,” said Councilmember Mills.

The incumbents’ second and final term ends in 2014.

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Too early to look ahead to the 2012 primary election in California?

Think again!

California Secretary of State Debra Bowen just certified the second ballot initiative for the 2012 primary. It would slap more tax on cigarettes to pay for cancer research.

Here is the official description:

IMPOSES ADDITIONAL TAX ON CIGARETTES FOR CANCER RESEARCH. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Imposes additional five cent tax on each cigarette distributed ($1.00 per pack), and an equivalent tax increase on other tobacco products, to fund cancer research and other specified purposes. Requires tax revenues be deposited into a special fund to finance research and research facilities focused on detecting, preventing, treating, and curing cancer, heart disease, emphysema, and other tobacco-related diseases, and to finance prevention programs. Creates nine-member committee charged with administering the fund. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local government: Increase in new cigarette tax revenues of about $855 million annually by 2011-12, declining slightly annually thereafter, for various health research and tobacco-related programs. Increase of about $45 million annually to existing health, natural resources, and research programs funded by existing tobacco taxes. Increase

I recommend that everyone vote No.

Smoking cigarettes is bone-headed. Funding cancer research is good.

But the state of California should not be funding research at all. That’s beyond the scope of state government. It’s overreach.

The state of California can’t even pass a budget. California can’t keep a budget balanced. California can’t pay its existing obligations. It can’t be its future obligations.

California is bankrupt. It just can’t say so.

Bank-closure Friday finds the FDIC busy in California from north to south and from east to west:

• FDIC Closes Sonoma Valley Bank In Sonoma, CA
• FDIC Closes Los Padres Bank In Solvang, CA
• FDIC Closes Butte Community Bank In Chico, CA, & Pacific State Bank In Stockton, CA

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• Regulators shut 3 banks in Fla, Va (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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• FDIC Closes ShoreBank In Chicago, IL (cehwiedel.com)
• Regulators shut 5 banks as 2010 tally hits 78 (reuters.com)
• FDIC Closes Imperial Savings And Loan Association In Martinsville, VA (cehwiedel.com)
• Three bank failures bring 2010 total to 113 (marketwatch.com)