For someone whose latest claim to fame is collecting smutty photos of a disgraced male congressman and threatening to post them online, Andrew Breitbart sure gets a lot of love from Orange County conservatives. Breitbart returned from Weinerville Thursday night to promote his book at the Tea Room at the Newport Beach Golf Course. Breitbart played right into the arms of the crowd which gave him a standing ovation before he even mentioned the title of his book. more ›

Ron Paul, 75, will once again play the role of pissed-off anti-establishment candidate, ironically not as an Independent or third-party candidate but on the GOP ballot. He's the second GOP candidate to officially announce candidacy after Newt Gingrich. "Time has come around to the point where the people are agreeing with much of what I've been saying for 30 years," Paul told George Stephanopoulos on Good Morning America. more ›

Unemployment benefits are set to expire for many today and 2 million people are expected to lose unemployment benefits by Christmas without another extension by Congress, says the U.S. Labor Department. KTLA reports, "the pending loss of benefits will affect up to 450,000 jobless in CA alone," who receive on average $300 per week. Republicans contend unemployment benefits encourage the jobless to stay jobless while Democrats argue that with 9% of the population out of work, there are not enough jobs available. more ›

Several news sources are predicting that Republicans will take control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Although not all races are called, the party is holding a lead in enough for a takeover. Says the The New York Times' FiveThirtyEight blog: "Frankly, this night is looking slightly anticlimactic, with both the House and the Senate having moved in relatively clear directions so far." They predict a 1% chance Republicans will take the Senate. more ›

Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger went on the defense for the president yesterday, calling out Republican's hypocrisy when it came to the stimulus package. more ›

"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," finds Fox and Hounds Daily, a blog about the state's politics and business. Is this a sign of the times or because more people are deciding to register as "Decline to State" or was this predictable when assembly districts were gerrymandered in 2001? Maybe that theory of three Californian states is now dissipating. (h/t, LA Observed). more ›

"Nobody move or the state gets it!" That's the latest text from a Sacramento Bee polical cartoon showing a Republican holding a gun to the state of Califiornia. more ›

Right-winged mouthpiece Ann Coulter's recent gum flappings as a result of being "bumped from a scheduled NBC appearance" seems to have gotten "her and her new book more press than if she’d gone on air as originally planned." The OC Register's Total Buzz blog notes that Coulter has managed to draw a sell-out crowd for an upcoming Orange County appearance. Coulter is scheduled to make a February 5th stop at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda on her promo tour for her latest tome, Guilty: Liberal ‘Victims’ and Their Assault on America. Following public statements from NBC saying Coulter's anti-Obama stance was a real "downer," the opinionated Ann remarked on her website today that her book actually happens to be "the downer America has been waiting for." more ›

Alicia Dwyer, a filmmaker from Los Angeles who has directed, edited and produced an Academy award winning documentary and an Emmy-award winning series, recently travelled to Ohio not to film a documentary but to direct and produce advertisements. She produced ads for Local Voices for Obama, an innovative campaign to broadcast local ads featuring local voices and attitudes in swing states. LAist sat down to talk to Alicia Dwyer about her experience. more ›

The Log Cabin Republicans rolled out a new website last Friday called Republicans Against 8 (it should be noted that it's still in its early stages of development). Proposition 8, which will appear on this November's ballot, seeks to eliminate same sex marriages in California, which have been legal since June. A statement from the group said their "message to California Republican voters is simple: 'Opposing Proposition 8 is the conservative thing to do.'" more ›

• There is more information about the Wilmington shooting Thursday night that left one suspect dead and another in critical condition. "He just came out and decided, 'This is what I'm going to do today,'" one of the officers said. I think someone needed a hobby.
• Are you tired of the current crop of movies at the Arclight in Sherman Oaks? Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican who has recently criticized some Bush Administration policies, aims to put your boredom on ice April 10, when he is scheduled to appear at the theater during Zocalo's public lecture series.
• Why the hell are so many people stockpiling weapons in Southern California? We told you about the Torrance man who had a ridiculous barrage of guns n ammo last week. Now a man in Anaheim has been arrested after police discovered a live artillery round in his back seat. It can't be the water.
• One man is in the hospital after he was allegedly stabbed by another man outside the Velvet Margarita Cantina in Hollywood shortly before midnight last night. The two were arguing and one pulled a knife. I blame Pres. Bush.
• OK, no more violence. Let's talk about administrative futility. Teachers and school workers continue to find fault with the new $95 million payroll system LAUSD enacted in January. One woman continued to receive her mother's checks, though the woman died in December 2006 and thousands of teachers and other workers were paid the wrong amount or not at all. It's a good thing Villaraigosa is tackling the woes of education in Los Angeles and not campaigning for Hillary Clinton.
• Enjoy sipping that St. Patrick's Day green gin and juice, but beware: DUI stings are set for this weekend throughout the southland. Checkpoints are planned in a number of communities, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, Covina, Glendale, Hawthorne, Irwindale and Monterey Park. more ›

• A steady stream of Koreans moving into the northwest San Fernando Valley suburbs is giving the traditional K-Town in LA City a run for its money. Now you Valley-ists might not have to travel over the hill for karaoke bars.
• Japanese and Los Angeles police detectives solved a 26-year-old case of a Japanese business man who allegedly shot his wife while the two were on vacation here. Apparently, the long arm of the law uses chopsticks.
• Following Steven Spielberg's diss to the Chinese government when he refused to work with them in the run up to the Beijing Olympics, the state-run media there is returning the favor.
• So much pork was secured by California state legislators last year you would be remiss if you thought Sacramento was a meat packing town. More than $1 billion in pork barrel spending was set aside for pet projects by California lawmakers last year who funneled money to their district. Thirty-five Democrats collectively secured about twice as much money as California's 19 Republicans, but many of the state's individual GOP lawmakers received more money than their counterparts in the majority.
• A man fired a gun into his neighbors home in North Hollywood today, killing him. While the gunman was subdued, a witness stabbed him. How's that for poetic justice?
• Is Hillary Clinton losing it? At a rally today in Ohio, a "visibly angry" Clinton chided Obama for putting out materials she said he knows are "blatantly false." She also derided Obama for having "speeches and the big rallies." "Hillary knows it's over," LA Daily Blog said. The polls are very close in Texas while Clinton maintains a larger lead in Ohio, where both states will vote March 4, which Bill Schneider of CNN called "an end-game" for Clinton.
• Tonight SNL's newest cast member, Casey Wilson, who honed her skills at the Los Angeles Upright Citizen's Brigade, will make her debut, and just in time to play Hillary Clinton. Good Luck Casey!

Mitt Romney, a Republican Governor from a Democratic state, quit the presidential race today following huge gains made by John McCain on Super Tuesday. more ›

In a quite quickly put-together press conference slated for 2:00 p.m. today at the First Street Steps at City Hall, Councilmen Eric Garcetti and Dennis Zine will be reminding voters that if you're nonpartisan or 'decline to state,' you must mark the box at the top of the ballot if you want to vote for an American Independent or Democratic candidate. more ›

We're getting reports of problems from readers, writers and the media. John Ennis, one of the founders of Video the Vote, gave LAist this update. Most of the confusion today is over people who are not registered as Democrat or Republican who want to vote in the primaries. The issue might be that they moved and they thought they were up to date. If you are a non-partisan voter, all you have to do is go to either a Democratic or Republican voting booth. Other than a few precincts not opening on time, Ennis says things seem to be running smooth, but it's early in the day he warned. To report a bad voting experience, call Video the Vote at 866-OUR-VOTE more ›

While the remaining Republican candidates converged on Simi Valley yesterday to debate who was most like Ronald Reagan and the two Democratic candidates still standing in the race meet in Los Angeles later today to hash out who is most unlike Reagan, other political news sent shock waves through Washington D.C. that did not portend well for the Grand Ol' Party. more ›

Our crack political team is projecting "reason to believe" that both Rudy Giuliani and Gov. Schwarzenegger will endorse John McCain for the Republican nomination very soon. more ›

The eyes of the nation are turning to the Ronald Reagan Library today, where debates for the Republican front-runners will begin. This is the last debate opportunity for the GOP before "Super Tuesday" next week (LAist is throwing an Election Party to celebrate). more ›

President Bush landed this morning at LAX for a Southland visit to promote the free trade agreements he mentioned in Monday's State of the Union address with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea. more ›

President George Bush delivered his final State of the Union address this evening. As we mercifully begin the transition out of the Bush era, let us examine the President's speech in typical Washington fashion: taking out a few lines here and there for the most opportune response. more ›

• With exactly one year to go until a new president is inaugurated (and one more year of Jon Stewart's hilarious Bush headlines), the field of Republican hopefuls just got smaller. After poor showings in, well, every primary, caucus and poll, San Diego Congressman Duncan Hunter is ditching the presidential race. No word on what he will do now, but rumors are flying that Hunter will continue to build that fence along the Mexican border he started months ago.
• And speaking of the election, Gov. Arnold is holding off on endorsing a Republican candidate, preferring to stay "neutral." For now. Some are postulating that Schwarzenegger is waiting to endorse someone in the Republican field to see if his friend and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an Independent, will enter the race.
• It's been a rough Saturday night/Sunday morning in LA County as 11 people have been shot at two separate parties in Long Beach and Compton. The first shooting happened late Saturday at a birthday party in Long Beach, when several gang members apparently crashed the party and started a fight. The second shooting took place early Sunday in Compton, when four or five men turned up to a party and started shooting partygoers, shooting eight and leaving three in critical condition.
• Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is expected to address the Chatsworth/Porter Ranch State of the Community Breakfast next month. It's the first time the mayor will speak to the group about issues affecting the area. Yawn. The interesting thing about this is that in the the Daily News headline, they referred to the mayor by his first name: "Antonio to speak to area chamber." I didn't know the Daily News and the mayor were such good friends.
• The Dodgers will play two March exhibition games against the Padres in Beijing. While some veteran players are privately saying they don't want to go, Matt Kemp sounds downright giddy about the trip. I hope the old versus young rift that ripped through the clubhouse late last season does not carry over into this season. Isn't this why we go Joe Torre?
• Several gay porn sites have posted pictures of under age water polo players from Orange, LA and San Diego counties without them knowing. Authorities think a campus police dispatcher may have played a role in taking the pictures. Gives a whole meaning to block that ball, doesn't it?

As the results of today's caucuses--including one being held at Caesar's Palace--in Nevada continue to stream in, most are projecting Senator Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney the winners of the Democratic and Republican races, respectively. more ›

WORDS more ›

Mitt Romney is the consummate, cookie-cutter, robot-like Republican. Forget about eliciting animation or human emotion from this wanna-be prez. Even his campaign henchmen lack the ability to opine on, well, just about anything, as evidenced below. more ›

After declaring a fiscal emergency in California, Governor Schwarzenegger yesterday unveiled his plan to close the gap in the state's budget through a 10 percent, across-the-board cut to state programs. more ›

This weekend marks the height of the "celebrity" dog-and-pony shows for the Democrats: Hillary Clinton brought daughter Chelsea (we wondered where she was) and her momma Dorothy Rodham on the campaign trail in Iowa. And Barack Obama brought out the big gun -- Oprah Winfrey -- to Iowa and South Carolina. But Republicans have friends in Hollywood, too. Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, also has his own celebrity endorsement: Chuck Norris. Yup. Walker... more ›

California is still a hue of royal blue in the bloody bruise that exemplifies partisan U.S. politics. But with the ludicrous and often homogeneous plans suggested by members of the so-called "right" and "left," California voters have only grown to embrace their right-to-choose in a people's democracy. Californians who choose not to register as a red, blue, or third-party voter -- "Decline to State" voters -- comprise nearly one-fifth of the state's registered voters according... more ›

With two months left until the Feb. 5 California Primary and 31 days until the Iowa Caucus, candidates from both parties are in full election cycle mode as they try to convince voters of their cause. more ›

more ›