Much as we’ve seen on a national level, the California Republican Party is leaving its candidates on the side of the road and playing pure defense this cycle:

Democratic and Republican sources have informed CMR that the GOP has pulled the plug on future ads for Assemblymember Greg Aghazarian’s bid to replace termed out Democratic Senator Mike Machado in California’s 5th Senate District. Aghazarian’s Democratic opponent, Assemblymember Lois Wolk, is up around 20 points in internal polling, so Republicans have decided to cut their losses.

This means that there will be no more than 15 Republican Senators (and probably less) and no more than 32 Republican Assemblymembers (and probably a lot less).  They will not pick up a single seat at the state level.

Unless you think they can still win in AD-30, where an intra-party feud has left drama queen Yacht Dog Democrat Nicole Parra to endorse the Republican in the race between Danny Gilmore and Democrat Fran Florez.  Florez’ response ad to Parra’s endorsement is hilarious, check it out at the link.

The truth is that while AD-30 is competitive, it’s not a likely pick-up.  And the CRP had better get in the habit of cutting losses; a couple assembly seats are lost causes for them, too.

Here are some things happening around the state:

• CA-04: The most important debate evah is tonight!  No, not that Biden-Palin thing, it’s Calitics Match candidate Charlie Brown and Tom McClintock in Oroville.    Meanwhile, the air war has begun in earnest.  Brown is up with a 60-second ad featuring a local family as a third-party endorser, explaining their struggles to stay ahead in this economy and how Brown is the right choice.  I think it’ll play well (Brown has an American Jobs Plan which includes investments in infrastructure and green jobs, which is key to the needed reindustrialization of society).  On the other hand, Tom McClintock has decided to use Grandpa Fred.

“The financial crisis our nation faces is complicated, and I don’t think anybody’s got all the answers,” Thompson, a well-known actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee, says in the commercial. “But I’ll tell you one thing. I’ll feel a lot more confident with Tom McClintock working on it, rather than some amateur.”

Shorter Grandpa Fred: “All this book-learnin’ and financializin’ is hard to figger.  Pick the guy who’s never voted Yes on a budget in his entire career.”

• CA-11: If you want to know why Dean Andal isn’t getting any traction in his race against Rep. Jerry McNerney, this quote says it all:

Elected in 2006, McNerney is in a better position for reelection than many expected. But he sits in a district that gave President Bush 54 percent of the vote in 2004, a sure sign that the freshman Democrat ought to be looking over his shoulder.

His Republican opponent, former state Assemblyman Dean Andal, may not be in a position to capitalize, though. The Lodi News-Sentinel reported that an Andal spokesman took the curious position that “it would be inappropriate of Andal to comment on the bailout bill, because he is not in office.”

Yes, it would be terrible to actually give your viewpoints on national issues during a political campaign.

• CA-46: You know that Calitics Match candidate Debbie Cook is gaining traction in her race against nutjob Dana Rohrabacher by this – Rohrabacher has gone negative.  He’s sent an attack mailer that takes a Cook comment about gas prices out of context and really goes to great lengths to greenwash himself.  He mentions his sponsorship of a bill to completely eliminate environmental review for solar projects, which is irresponsible but which he is trying to cynically use as proof of his green energy bona fides.  It also calls Cook an extremist liberal who opposes drilling.

What’s hysterical is that Rohrabacher sent the mailer to everyone in the district but Democrats, meaning that Greens got it.  And I’m told by the Cook campaign that they received numerous calls from Green Party members saying that they were voting for Debbie BECAUSE of the mailer!

In other news, Rohrabacher is certifiably crazy.

According to a September 25, 2008, Pasadena Weekly article by Carl Kozlowski, Rohrabacher believes that the Los Angeles Police Department has for 40 years hidden the fact that Sirhan Sirhan, the lone man convicted of shooting Kennedy, worked as part of a “real conspiracy” of Arabs […]

In early 2007–39 years after the killing and right around the time that he blamed global warming on dinosaur flatulence, Rohrabacher decided to solve his murder mystery for “the Kennedy family.”

Anyone familiar with Rohrabacher knows this story is now headed for unadulterated, wacky bliss.

At some point, Sirhan sent Summer Reese, one of his lawyers, a letter telling her that “a Diana was coming to see him.”

Reese told Kozlowski, “Sirhan didn’t know it was the congressman because his visitor was presented as a woman.”

Rohrabacher. Undercover. In drag. Using the name Diana?

Perhaps this sheds light on why ex-Congressman Bob Dornan (R-Garden Grove) liked to call Rohrabacher “a fruitcake.”

I actually know Carl, maybe I’ll track him down and interview him about this.

• AD-26: I’ve noticed a lot of Republicans afraid to debate this year.  Here’s another example.

Stretching from Turlock to Stocton, the 26th Assembly District is fairly even in voter registration and is a target on both party’s lists. So why would one candidate take a pass on a critical opportunity to face his opponent and make his case to voters? That is the question being asked by Democratic candidate John Eisenhut who was at a League of Women Voters debate in Modesto Friday night. His Republican opponent, Bill Berryhill, had a “scheduling conflict.”

In a conversation with Eisenhut the night after the debate he said that Berryhill didn’t want to debate him. This in spite of Berryhill being quoted by the Modesto Bee saying,

“People deserve some dialogue and to know where we both stand.”

• AD-30: Fran Florez runs against Sacramento  in this solid new ad.  Is she also running against her own son, State Sen. Dean Florez?

Nicole Parra is about to make a huge mistake.  On Friday, she told pretty much anybody who would listen that she puts her personal vendetta against the Florez family over the well-being of the state and its citizens. How? Well, she plans on endorsing Republican Danny Gilmore in Assembly District 30:

“I will endorse Danny Gilmore in the near future and I will campaign for him and do commercials,” Parra said in an interview. Gilmore, a retired California Highway Patrol officer from Hanford, is running against Democrat Fran Florez, mother of state Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, a longtime Parra rival. (Fresno Bee 9/20/08)

Parra defeated Danny Gilmore by about 3% in 2006, and apparently she grew to be quite fond of the guy during their interactions. Either that or she can’t put an election loss in the past in the past and endorse our candidate, Fran Florez for the district.  Here’s some background on the situation.

At this point, it’s hard to imagine what else can be done to punish Nicole Parra. She’s not even in the Capitol building anymore, after being told to pack her stuff and move across the street when she declined to vote for the Democratic budget. There’s not much else that can really be taken from her. If she plans on switching parties, well, good luck finding a lobbying gig.  And if she plans on running in another election, well, prey tell me which primary she could possibly win at this point.

Nicole: Think about this. Seriously, it’s a bad idea.

• Some more new websites: John Eisenhut (AD-26) and Fran Florez(AD-30). I’ve been waiting for a website for Florez for a long time. Not a whole lot of content there yet, but I imagine that will change soon.

• Obama has a new ad about the Republican “Maverick” meme. It’s quite a joke that being corrupt, being repentent, and then not totally being in the bag for the tobacco lobby makes you a Maverick.  And in Palin’s case? She campaigned all over the state with an indicted Senator (Stevens) and an equally corrupt representative (Young), and gets labeled a “maverick”? What a joke.

• Arnold ain’t scared of a recall, and he even pokes a finger in the eye of former Gov. Davis. Stay Classy, Arnold.

“I will not be intimidated by anybody that is demanding more money than the state can afford and that demands deals more than the state is wanting to give,” Schwarzenegger said. “So the prison guard union is not going to intimidate me with their kind of action. This is a different governor sitting here,” he added. “I will not get intimidated.”

• OC Register has some info on some Yes on 8 hate contributors. Apparently Larry Shultz of Orange County believes that my marriage will somehow belittle his own. Hey Larry, just a tip, unless you have your own issues, my getting married won’t make a bit of difference to your marriage.

• One more thing: Props to DailyKos for starting a completely transparent tracking poll of the presidential race.  This interwebz thing isn’t going away folks.