[courtesy of The California Majority Report]

It's a crowded field in the 34th AD Republican primary, but if Assembly Republican candidate Bob Smith bests his opponents on June 3rd, he'll bring with him the mutual embrace of the highly controversial vigilante anti-immigration group, the Minuteman Civil Defenses Corps.

Reports the Visalia Times-Delta:

"California Assembly candidate Bob Smith is getting some help in his campaign from a Minuteman.

Specifically, the help is coming from Chris Simcox, founder and president of the controversial Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a group of private citizens that, among other things, regularly patrols portions of the U.S.-Mexico border looking for undocumented immigrants trying to cross unnoticed by U.S. Border Patrol officers. ...

There's more...

by Bob Brigham [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Disclosure: MySpace paid is paying my travel

MANCHESTER-Following John Edwards and Barack Obama, tonight (7PM eastern) John McCain will be the first Republican candidate to participate in a MySpace/MTV interactive forum.

It should be an interesting night. On one had, New Hampshire's same day registration provision allows candidates on both sides of the aisle potential for a youth surge not showing up in the polls -- which could be a substantive boost in the expectations spin. For McCain specifically, he has been bleeding market share in the MySpace friends primary. I'll be looking to the interactive perspective as it fascinates me. What do you think I should be looking for during the event?

by Brian Leubitz [courtesy of Calitics - Front Page]

Over the flip you'll find the weekly 50 (more or less) state roundup. Thanks to Betsy of BlueNC for this week's roundup.

New Mexico 
   The greatest YouTube video you will ever see, featuring Republican candidate for House in NM-01, Darren White.  He's telling us to just say no.  Impossible not to watch more than once.

Virginia 
http://img164.imageshack.us/img164/344/design3bdr7.jpg " align = "center" height= "50">   How Virginia Won't Close Its Budget Gap, and How It Should How Virginia Won't Close Its Budget Gap, and How It ShouldHow Virginia Won't Close Its Budget Gap, and How It Should

California 
   CA-12: Tom Lantos could get a challenge from former state senator Jackie Speier.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

In the California Field Poll released today, leading Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani has dropped 10 points to 25% of the likely primary voters, down from 35% in Field's August survey.

There has not been any statistically significant change in the last two months for the pack following him, with Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Fred Thompson in the 12 to 13% range. Undecided voters have ticked up in the Republican primary for President with 22% saying they haven't made up their minds compared with 20% in August and 15% in March. There also is a slight increase overall in the numbers of Republican voters in the state supporting the "second tier" candidates, although none are above 4%.

Giuliani appears to have a slight lead over Romney in the self identified "strongly conservative" Republicans who are expected to make up roughly half of those who will vote and has much of his lead from moderately conservative or liberal Republican voters who make up the other half--where he gets 26% to Romney's 7% and McCain's 15%.

by Rick Stabile [courtesy of Blog for America]

I thought you all would be interested in an online tool (created for the capitalist tool, Forbes Magazine) that helps you figure what Democratic or Republican candidate is most in-line with your beliefs and ideals:

http://www.forbes.com/candidates

Skip the intro ad, and answer the questions that follow. It's pretty nifty, even if it doesn't include Green Party candidates like Jared Ball (http://www.voxunion.com/jaredball/) or Kent Mesplay (http://mesplay.org/).

My ideal candidates are Dennis Kucinich, Mike Gravel, and John Edwards.

What a surprise. :-)

by Bob Mulholland [courtesy of Party Line]