[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

State Senator Carole Migden (left), coming out of a harsh rebuke from party activists who refused to endorse her re-election, can at least run a legitimate campaignnow that a judge has allowed her to spend $640,000 in left-over funds,the San Francisco Chronicle reports. She still faces an uphill battleagainst Assembly members Mark Leno and Joe Nation though.

When Bill Clinton told convention-goers to last Sunday to "chill out"over the on-going race between his wife Hillary and Barack Obama, he could well have been talking to himself, according to the Chronicle. Prior to taking the stage, Bill had one ofhis meltdowns, turning red in the face and screaming over BillRichardson's endorsement of Obama.

Former Congressman Doug Ose is hitting primary opponent Tom McClintock hard for "carpetbagging"in a new campaign ad high-lighted by the Sacramento Bee. In the ad, anarrator accuses McClintock of shopping for a new job in the NorthernCalifornia Congressional district being vacated by John Doolittlerather than running in Ventura County, which he represented in theState Senate. Conviently missing: Ose doesn't live in the districteither. Details, details.

There's more... 

by David Dayen [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

The other shoe is already dropping with the announced retirement of corrupt Congressman John Doolittle. Former Sacramento-area Congressman Doug Ose is weighing getting into the race to challenge the expected entry of former State Sen. Rico Oller.
 
There is no love lost between the two. Oller faced off against Doug Ose's sister, Mary, when she tried to succeed him for the Congressional seat he retired from. The race was won by now-Congressman Dan Lungren, who benefitted from the nasty head-to-head combat between the politically ambitious Oller and newcomer Ose. Years later, there are still hard feelings between the camps -- enough that might fuel an Ose run.
 
Ose represents the more moderate wing (or what's left of it) of the Republican Party, much of which still exists in this district. If Oller jumps in and is joined by GOP Assemblyman Ted Gaines, also from the ultra-right wing of the spectrum, Ose has an excellent shot of winning. He also has significant name ID in the district from his years of service in Congress (Oller doesn't even live in the district), not to mention deep pockets that would make it a very expensive primary.
 
A bitter primary, of course, would certainly help Democrat Charlie Brown in the race.

[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

Embattled Congressman John Doolittle, the focus of a federal corruption probe, will announce that he will not seek re-election paving the way for former State Sen. Rico Oller for the 4th District Congressional seat, the California Majority Report has learned. The move, first noted back in November in the Stockton Record, could come as early as this week.
 
Oller served in the Assembly and for one-term in the Senate before narrowly losing a brutal GOP primary for the neighboring Third Congressional seat in 2004 against now-Congressman Dan Lungren and Mary Ose, sister of former Congressman Doug Ose. Oller is a slick ultra-right conservative cut from the same cloth as Doolittle. In his last race for Congress, Oller enjoyed strong support from religious conservatives, anti-tax zealots, and the NRA. Oller has considerable personal wealth to fund his campaign, and owns property in the 4th District.
 
But Oller's toughest GOP challenger may be Assemblymember/Insurance Agent Ted Gaines of Roseville, who was a two-term member of the Placer County Board of Supervisors before being elected to the legislature in 2006. Gaines has been an ineffective legislator, but, like Oller, has conservative credentials. His goal in the legislature, according to his website: "I look forward to working to make sure our state is not overrun by the liberals from San Francisco and Los Angeles."