Just when I think I’ve seen every possible trick to raise campaign bucks, this comes along  …

For a mere $50, you can attend the GOP 2009 Senate House Dinner on Monday without the pesky hassle and expense of actually flying to Washington, D.C.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is offering a $50 virtual attendee package, which allows you to watch from your computer at home or in your office all the very important Republican leaders like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich enjoy a banquet meal and deliver speeches Monday night about the state of national affairs.

But here’s my question: Does the virtual ticket come with a virtual rubber chicken dinner?

Lots of mainstream media outlets, liberal bloggers and others have been talking about the Republican Party’s decline as a viable political force as fewer and fewer people self-identify as Republicans, yet it sure looks as if the GOP has succeeded in framing several crucial debates in the past few weeks.

Rather than the nation moving forward with probes of whether the Bush Administration used torture to shore up a weak case for the war in Iraq, and whether those who authorized torture should be held accountable, the GOP has framed the debate as being about what Nancy Pelosi knew and when she knew it.

Instead of focusing on President Obama’s promise to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror detainees – a move encouraged by human rights leaders, the international community and a fair number of U.S. military officials including Bush-appointed Defense Secretary Robert Gates – the GOP (with a handful of Democrats) has framed the debate so that it’s about imbuing U.S. communities with NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) fears that detainees brought stateside will somehow break out of a maximum-security prison to threaten your Main Street.

As debate begins this week on the Waxman-Markey clean energy bill – which advocates say would create new jobs, save consumers money, move the nation away from dependence on foreign oil and reduce global warming pollution – the GOP seeks to frame the debate as being about “a national energy tax on middle-class families and small businesses” despite evidence to the contrary.

And instead of having a serious debate about whether California needs more tax revenue to support the schools, universities, health programs, public safety and prisons it needs and deserves, the GOP has framed the debate as being about where next to make bone-deep cuts.

Seems like the GOP is getting its message out just fine.

So Mike Villines, R-Clovis, has stepped down as Assembly Republican Leader, making way for Sam Blakeslee, R-San Luis Obispo. How do the Bay Area’s Assembly members feel about that?

“I have the utmost respect for Mike Villines and think he did a tremendous job in some difficult times,” Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, told me this morning, noting even tougher times are ahead.

“We are headed into some very difficult economic times here in Sacramento over the next few months, no matter what happens with the initiatives,” he said, facing one of the worst cash crises in California history, even worse than the one we narrowly escaped a few months ago.

Blakeslee, he said, is “a great choice because he’s a problem-solver and he understands, as many of us do, that the solutions aren’t Democratic or Republican, the decisions have to be tough choices that move California forward, that are largely bipartisan or nonpartisan. I think Mr. Blakeslee brings that to the job.”

Torrico said he has watched Blakeslee’s work as the Assembly Republican Floor Manager and credits his “demeanor and thoughtfulness in running a very smooth operation over the last year and a half.”

Conservatives had blasted Villines for agreeing to $12 billion in new taxes as part of the budget deal legislative leaders hammered out in February, but Torrico insists he believes Villines stepped down voluntarily “because he didn’t want to be a distraction for this initiative vote;” to spend more time with his family; and to give Blakeslee a head-start on leadership before budget negotiations start in earnest later this month.

More (or less) from the Bay Area Assembly delegation, after the jump…
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Patrick Dorinson

Former GOP communications chief and Foxes and Hounds blog founder Patrick Dorinson offers on Fox Forum today a cowboy’s plain-spoken advice on how the Republicans can save themselves.

Here are a couple of my personal favorites:

Only a Buzzard Feeds on His Friends

You need to stop this “conservative” vs. “moderate” civil war. The only folks it helps is Democrats. Ronald Reagan would be appalled if he saw how you all have torn the party apart. He believed in “big tent” Republicanism. If you keep this up, the next sign you will see on the political road will read, “This way to the Whig Convention.”

Broaden the base don’t shrink it.

You Don’t Need Decorated Words to Make Your Meanin’ Clear. Say It Plain and Leave Some Breath for Breathin’

When I hear you guys talk, I gotta tell you I can’t understand what the hell you are trying to say. You have learned to speak “government” fluently.

If you want to make English the official language of the United States, start by speaking it yourselves.

Don’t Piss on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Rainin’

You say you are against profligate spending and earmarks, but for the last eight years you held the purse strings and did just that. Now you say you want your fiscal virginity back, but you also want to stay pregnant and keep the baby. Getting on your high horse about earmarks and spending and then making sure you got yours is cattle crap. And the voters know it.

California GOP Chairman Ron Nehring has issued a verbal smack on the heads of those who used an anti-Semitic graphic to promote an anti-tax tea parties in San Mateo county.

As of a minute ago, the graphic (shown on the right) was still posted on the Ron Paul web site, http://ronpaul.meetup.com/18/calendar/10156083/

Here’s what Nehring sent out a few minutes ago:

SACRAMENTO - Citing the importance of the taxpayer movement in California, California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring today strongly condemned the use of anti-Semitic material used to promote the recent April 15 TEA party in San Mateo County.

“The taxpayer movement is incredibly important for California, and we applaud the success of the tea parties that took place across the state on April 15. Because we remain intensely interested in the growth and success of the mainstream taxpayer movement, we strongly condemn the use of anti-Semitic imagery in the promotion of the recent event in San Mateo County. Read the rest of this entry »

Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton

The National Republican Congressional Committee announced a robocall campaign in the district of Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Pleasanton.

It’s part of the NRCC”s plan to target 43 members they view as vulnerable in the 2010 election.

McNerney’s district is slated for robocalls while the NRCC intends to spend in other states more bucks on television and radio ads.  (Click here to read The Hill’s Briefing Blog, which has a nice outline of the NRCC’s campaign.)

The automated calls criticize McNerney’s recent vote in favor of the federal budget and attempt to link him to the Republican’s arch nemesis, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Of course, none of this angst will amount to much if the Republicans don’t find a viable opponent in District 11. So far, the field of potential challengers remains curiously blank. The 2008 Republican nominee, Dean Andal, dropped out of contention a few month ago.

Read on for the NRCC’s press release but keep in mind, the verbiage comes from an office where people are paid to spin: Read the rest of this entry »

Target Book co-author Allen Hoffenblum wrote a very interesting piece for conservative blog site Foxes and Hounds about the decline of Republican registration in California to historic lows.

Here are the first few graphs and you can click through to Foxes and Hounds to see the rest of it:

Going into the 2010 election cycle — the last election in which candidates will run in districts drawn in 2001 - the biggest story is the plummeting Republican voter registration throughout California.

Not only is the current statewide Republican registration of 31% a historic low, but for the first time there is not a single congressional, state senate or assembly district that has a majority Republican registration.

Back in 2001, when the redistricting mapmakers gerrymandered the 80 assembly districts in an attempt to keep the status quo of 50 safe Democratic districts and 30 safe Republican seats, five of the assembly districts had solid Republican majorities and an additional five had a GOP registration of between 48 - 50 percent. Today, it’s zero majority districts and only two with GOP registration over 48 percent (Jean Fuller, AD32; Jeff Miller, AD71).

On the congressional level, there were three Republican majority districts in 2001 and an additional four with GOP registration between 48 - 50 percent. Today, zero majority districts and only one district between 48 and 50 percent (Kevin McCarthy, CD22).

California Republican Party Vice Chairman Tom Del Beccaro of Lafayette today is helping to launch a new PAC, the “First Amendment Now Campaign,” to combat what he says are Democratic efforts to curtail conservative political speech.

The main issue is the Fairness Doctrine, a Federal Communications Commission policy dating from 1949 but abolished in 1987 that required broadcast license holders to present controversial issues of public importance in a way the FCC considered honest, equitable and balanced.

Although President Barack Obama repeatedly has said he opposes reinstating it – see here and here - and the U.S. Senate last month overwhelmingly approved an amendment nixing it, conservatives have continued to rally against it, leading some critics – see here, here and here – to wonder whether it’s an intentional effort to dangle some red meat as a distraction from other issues.

Still, Del Beccaro, California Political News and Views publisher Steve Frank and state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, along with a bunch of conservative talk radio personalities, are launching this new organization, asking for donations of $17.76 “to preserve our freedom.”

Besides the Fairness Doctrine, they say, they’re concerned about President Obama’s calls for “localism,” or requiring broadcast license holders to dedicate some of their airtime to the interests of their local community – obviously a concern for a conservative station such as KSFO-AM/560 that’s located in an overwhelmingly liberal place such as San Francisco.

And they’re also worried about President Obama’s calls for broadcast media ownership diversity, dating back to 2007 and echoed now in Congress. The President and supporters claim they’re concerned about a lack of female and minority ownership in the broadcast media, but opponents claim it’s just another back-door way to undercut conservative free speech.

So expect to hear a lot about this all across your AM radio dial as this new organization holds a kickoff rally next Tuesday, March 24 on the State Capitol’s north steps, and then as it moves forward with an effort to gather a million petition signatures it can present to U.S. Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. The PAC promises to use its money “to preserve the First Amendment; to oppose the Fairness Doctrine, government-imposed diversity and localism; and to oppose candidates that favor the Fairness Doctrine.”

First up: Me.

California Republican Party Vice Chairman Tom Del Beccaro was kind enough to invite me to participate in a panel discussion on California politics at 7 p.m. tomorrow night, Wednesday, March 18, along with Chronicle columnist Phil Matier, state GOP communications director Hector Barajas and Steve Frank, publisher of the conservative California Political News and Views site. It’s at the Contra Costa Country Club, 801 Golf Club Road in Pleasant Hill. Tickets are $25 each; email tom@politicalvanguard.com or director@contracostagop.com for reservations.

Lots more happening in coming days, after the jump…
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Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele today announced that California Republican Party Chairman Ron Nehring will chair the RNC State Chairmen’s Committee, which aims to build the GOP state by state by serving as an information clearinghouse on what’s working best.

“Ron’s experience and dedication makes him a valuable member of our team,” Steele said in a news release. “I have no doubt that he will help bring the voice of every Republican state party to the national table.”

Nehring said the mission “is to promote the rapid growth and expansion of our party by sharing ideas and best practices across all of our state parties so innovation in one state can be quickly picked up in others. Whether it’s making the Republican Party the national leader in the use of new technologies, building coalitions into communities that don’t yet benefit from Republican leadership, or training a new generation of Republican activists, our vision of strong party organizations in every state and territory will be our focus.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, not terribly popular with his own party these days, praised Nehring’s appointment nonetheless: “He is committed to moving this party forward and will represent California Republicans well in this new role.”

Yet there are those who believe Nehring’s California GOP hardly epitomizes best practices in party-building. American Prospect editor-at-large and Washington Post op-ed columnist Harold Meyerson wrote a piece in today’s Los Angeles Times likening California’s Republican lawmakers – who voted against the economic stimulus package in Congress, and held up the state budget to the brink of disaster and perhaps beyond in Sacramento – to Wile E. Coyote, saying there’ll come a moment when they’re “looking down and realizing that they’ve run off a cliff. But Wile E. Coyote moments always come too late.”

Meyerson’s point is that voter-registration growth among traditionally Democratic demographics, combined with suburban sprawl, mean these lawmakers might not be as safe as they think as they stick to staunchly conservative ideology.

Nehring has encouraged that avoidance of moderation. And Nehring himself hasn’t had a cakewalk as state GOP chairman, publicly taking flak for the party’s GOP’s financial and staffing woes.

Best practices? I guess we’ll see.