U.S. Senate Run for Oceanside Latino Republican?
A Latino Republican from Oceanside is forming a committee to test the waters for a run for U.S. Senate. Rocky Chavez is former assemblyman and U.S. Marine Corps Colonel.
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U.S. Senate Run for Oceanside Latino Republican? - Video
What Is the Republican Plan for Medicare? Budget Committee amp; Economic Council (2011)
On May 21, 2008, Ryan introduced H.R. 6110, the Roadmap for America #39;s Future Act of 2008, commonly referred to as the Ryan budget. This proposed legislatio. Republican congressman Paul Ryan...
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What Is the Republican Plan for Medicare? Budget Committee & Economic Council (2011) - Video
TIME Politics 2016 Election T.J. KirkpatrickGetty Images Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) reacts to U.S. President Barack Obama's announcement about revising policies on U.S.-Cuba relations on December 17, 2014 in Washington, DC.
The path to the White House does not lead through Congressional gridlock.
As Congress heads toward a showdown over immigration and the budget for the Department of Homeland Security, the three Republican Senators who are considering running for president are staying on the sidelines.
Sens. Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz are hanging back from the fight, letting others like Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions lead the strategy and take the megaphone. Top national Republican strategists say thats a smart move, given the difficulty of scoring a clean win in this legislative mess.
The main disadvantage of being a sitting senator is that your opponents and the media force you to own every controversy during every legislative fight, even though some outcomes are usually out of your control, said Kevin Madden, a senior aide in former Gov. Mitt Romneys presidential campaigns.
The Homeland Security funding fight is also a particularly bad one to champion. The current Republican strategy is to risk a shutdown of the agency in an attempt to force President Obama to override his own executive actions to defer deportations for millions in the U.S. illegally. But many of the related programs are paid for by fees, which means a shutdown wont affect them, while polls show the public will blame Republicans for a shutdown.
This is working out exactly the way the President and Democrats want it to work out, says Rob Jesmer, a top member of FWD.us, a pro-immigration reform group, and former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Were not going to look very good, he added of Republicans. No one is going to look very good. The sooner this gets behind us the better it is.
The fight has already caused headaches for one potential White House suitor. After he simply noted that Republicans dont have enough votes in the Senate to pass a bill override Obamas executive actions, Rubio faced headlines in conservative media that said he had caved, folded and retreated, even though he had stopped short of actually calling for a spending bill without conditions.
Paul and Cruz, meantime, havent paid any price back home for laying low.
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Republican Presidential Hopefuls Stay Out of Senate Fight on Immigration
SACRAMENTO When it comes to the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by long-serving Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, the California Republican Party faces the same problem it faces with all statewide races it has virtually no chance of winning given the lopsided nature of voter registration. The GOP can win legislative and mayoral races even in some Democratic-leaning districts, but it has a long way to go before it can capture a constitutional office or a Senate seat.
Following Boxers announcement, the buzz has understandably focused on internal Democratic Party politics. Attorney General Kamala Harris is the pick of the state establishment and theres some frustration among Southern California party officials that a Latino candidate might be getting the short shrift. The common wisdom holds, given the states relatively new Top Two primary system, that the general election will feature two Democrats. Of course, if the Democrats engage in internecine warfare that maybe a longshot Republican can snatch the No. 2 slot.
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is mulling a run, but recent polls show him polling below U.S. Rep. Loretta Sanchez of Santa Ana, and some other Democrats who may or may not be running. The best-polling name is former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a Republican who says shes definitely not considering a run.
But some Republicans are weighing a run, albeit none of them are high-profile candidates. Assemblyman Rocky Chavez of Oceanside is exploring a race, although it seems like more of an effort to raise his statewide profile than to wage a serious contest.
Former California Republican Party Chairman Tom Del Beccaro today told this column that he has officially started an exploratory committee for a Senate run. Del Beccaro, an attorney who writes for Forbes magazine and is author of a forthcoming book ("The Divided Era"), has never won political office, but sees his run as a means to discuss important conservative political issues.
Its not a certainty that he will run, but it looks likely.
The combination of the California state and federal economic policies, including lopsided income tax codes and environmental policies that have gone too far, are resulting in economic stagnation for too many Californians, he told me. We need a better balance of regulations and pro-growth policies designed to encourage the private sector to promote economic growth throughout the state. If I run, I intend to offer those policies.
Can he raise enough money to be competitive? That, too, sounds like a longshot, but it would be nice to have a race that focused more on issues, and less on ethnic divisions and intra-party disputes.
Greenhut is the California columnist for U-T San Diego. Contact him at steven.greenhut@utsandiego.com.
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Republican explores race for Senate seat
WASHINGTON Republican governors meeting in Washington this weekend said financial conditions in their states have deteriorated so much that they must raise taxes, even if it means crossing their own party.
In the face of a historical antipathy deepened by the tea party movement, chief executives in Alabama, Nevada and Michigan among other states are proposing increases this year to address shortfalls or to spend more on faltering schools and infrastructure. They advocate higher levies on businesses, tobacco, alcohol and gasoline, in some cases casting the increases as user fees.
The governors are at a crossroads. They are choosing between the path of Gov. Sam Brownback in Kansas, who has refused to change course even after tax cuts provoked furious opposition, and that of Alabamas Robert Bentley, who has said the states perennially precarious budget has reached the breaking point.
I dont want to raise taxes, but I also know that we need to pay our debts, Bentley said in an interview. We dont have any choice.
Governors in about 10 states, many led by Republicans, are proposing increases this year, said Brian Sigritz, director of state fiscal studies for the National Association of State Budget Officers in Washington. Several plans involve raising fuel taxes to pay for crumbling roads and bridges, while Republicans including John Kasich in Ohio and Maines Paul LePage want higher sales or other levies to offset income-tax cuts. The burden of such taxes falls more heavily on the poor, who spend a larger proportion of their income.
In Nevada, two-term Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has proposed $1.1 billion in new or continued business, tobacco and other taxes to pay for education and initiatives such as expanding full-day kindergarten.
He said he has no choice with a shortfall caused by declining mining and gambling revenue, as well as a need to spend more on an education system that has the worst high-school graduation rate in the U.S.
His proposal has drawn opposition from Republican officials such as Treasurer Dan Schwartz, who said voters rejected two similar proposals in November and that Sandoval has divorced himself from state Republicans.
Sandoval said there are Republicans who support his plan, and that business leaders want better-educated workers.
I knew going in that I was going to receive criticism, Sandoval said in an interview. Thats why its important for me to explain the why, and the why is to improve education in Nevada.
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Tax increases much-regretted necessity for Republican governors