Chuck Devore

At the election night party of "tea party" favorite Chuck DeVore in Tustin, Carole Mullner and her daughter Stephanie Perez were among the first to arrive. Outfitted in red T-shirts branding them as "insurgents" for DeVore, they enjoyed a rare moment of calm after months of campaigning for the Republican Senate candidate. Mullner, an artist and member of the West Covina Tea Partiers, set aside her work in January to hunt down volunteers and raise money as DeVore's "ambassador" for the cities along the 210 Freeway.

At the election night party of "tea party" favorite Chuck DeVore in Tustin, Carole Mullner and her daughter Stephanie Perez were among the first to arrive. Outfitted in red T-shirts branding them as "insurgents" for DeVore, they enjoyed a rare moment of calm after months of campaigning for the Republican Senate candidate. Mullner, an artist and member of the West Covina Tea Partiers, set aside her work in January to hunt down volunteers and raise money as DeVore's "ambassador" for the cities along the 210 Freeway.

Chuck DeVore Party: Republican. Occupation: California Assemblyman Age: 48, born in Seattle City of residence: Irvine Personal: wife Diane DeVore, two daughters. Education: Bachelor of arts degree, strategic studies, Claremont McKenna College. Career highlights: U.S. Army Reserve and California National Guard, 1983-2007, retiring as a lieutenant colonel; Pentagon congressional liaison for Reagan administration, 1986-88; Vice President of Communications and Research for Newport Beach-based aerospace company SM&A, 1991-2004; California assemblyman, 2005 to present.

In a tiny Santa Ana office one recent evening, campaign volunteer Linda Barnes hit a prime target in her third hour of calls: a voter, torn between Republican Senate candidates Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore, who was actually willing to hear her pitch. Jammed between a banner printer and a drafting table in a corner of another supporter's architectural firm, Barnes cupped her hands around her cellphone to drown out the sounds of the other DeVore volunteers around her and breezed through the highlights of the candidate's biography.

Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore is a darling of the "tea party" movement. He has been endorsed by influential conservatives, was fawned over by superstar commentator Glenn Beck on Fox News and has a deeply energized base of supporters. These credentials, coupled with DeVore's single-minded focus on limited government and the Constitution, should make him a picture-perfect match to the political winds that are tilting Republican primaries across the nation. But in California, none of this is paying dividends in the two areas that matter most: the polls and DeVore's campaign account.

As hundreds of "tea partyers" filtered into a gymnasium in El Dorado Hills last week for rare back-to-back appearances by Republican Senate candidates Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore, Barbara Brown sat alone on the wooden bleachers studying a flier contrasting the candidates. Brown, a member of the Motherlode Tea Party of Amador County, said she had been leaning toward DeVore, but was looking for someone "who can go for the jugular" against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). She liked Fiorina's "fight" in interview snippets she'd seen.

The three major Republican candidates for U.S. Senate jousted Thursday over which would be the most effective steward of conservative principles, covering territory from Afghanistan to gun rights in their first face-to-face debate of the primary season. Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore repeatedly questioned the conservative credentials of former Rep. Tom Campbell and sought to cast Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, as inconsistent on issues such as immigration and the Wall Street bailout.

Several California Republican political candidates, including Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, were scheduled to share the stage this week with one of the leaders of the "birther" movement that claims President Obama was not born in this country and is thus ineligible for his elected office. Orly Taitz, an Orange County attorney who has gone to court many times to try to disqualify Obama, was invited to speak Thursday at a Tax Day Tea Party rally in Pleasanton, Calif., that is expected to draw thousands of people.

In a tiny Santa Ana office one recent evening, campaign volunteer Linda Barnes hit a prime target in her third hour of calls: a voter, torn between Republican Senate candidates Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore, who was actually willing to hear her pitch. Jammed between a banner printer and a drafting table in a corner of another supporter's architectural firm, Barnes cupped her hands around her cellphone to drown out the sounds of the other DeVore volunteers around her and breezed through the highlights of the candidate's biography.

Republican candidates for Congress are latching onto Scott Brown's bolt-from-the-blue win this week in the Massachusetts Senate race, with political outsiders and longtime office-holders alike casting themselves in a similar mold -- or seeing him in their image. Brown was a fairly obscure state senator who shocked the Democratic favorite, Martha Coakley, in the race to replace the late Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) by employing a tightly focused, populist, anti-Washington message.

As hundreds of "tea partyers" filtered into a gymnasium in El Dorado Hills last week for rare back-to-back appearances by Republican Senate candidates Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore, Barbara Brown sat alone on the wooden bleachers studying a flier contrasting the candidates. Brown, a member of the Motherlode Tea Party of Amador County, said she had been leaning toward DeVore, but was looking for someone "who can go for the jugular" against Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). She liked Fiorina's "fight" in interview snippets she'd seen.

Oil questions Re " 'A confluence of unfortunate events,' " May 23 "A single flaw in [the cement] seal, perhaps a crack the size of a human hair, can be enough to unleash a volcano of petroleum"? And how many offshore wells do we have? And how many deepwater wells, which may "involve risks that no technology can anticipate"? And now we want to drill in the Arctic? Are we nuts? Crista Worthy Los Angeles Why doesn't the United States government have the capacity to stop an oil leak?

Chuck DeVore Party: Republican. Occupation: California Assemblyman Age: 48, born in Seattle City of residence: Irvine Personal: wife Diane DeVore, two daughters. Education: Bachelor of arts degree, strategic studies, Claremont McKenna College. Career highlights: U.S. Army Reserve and California National Guard, 1983-2007, retiring as a lieutenant colonel; Pentagon congressional liaison for Reagan administration, 1986-88; Vice President of Communications and Research for Newport Beach-based aerospace company SM&A, 1991-2004; California assemblyman, 2005 to present.

So let me get this straight: Some guy is deemed too dangerous to be allowed aboard an airplane, but he can leave the terminal and buy an AK-47? After all, he hasn't actually committed an act of terrorism. We wouldn't want to "infringe" on anyone's 2nd Amendment rights. The National Rifle Assn. might get upset and retaliate against any politician who allowed that. But like most policy issues, this is not all black and white. There is a reasonable argument for letting the fellow arm himself.

The three major Republican candidates for U.S. Senate jousted Thursday over which would be the most effective steward of conservative principles, covering territory from Afghanistan to gun rights in their first face-to-face debate of the primary season. Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore repeatedly questioned the conservative credentials of former Rep. Tom Campbell and sought to cast Carly Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, as inconsistent on issues such as immigration and the Wall Street bailout.

Republican Senate candidate Chuck DeVore is a darling of the "tea party" movement. He has been endorsed by influential conservatives, was fawned over by superstar commentator Glenn Beck on Fox News and has a deeply energized base of supporters. These credentials, coupled with DeVore's single-minded focus on limited government and the Constitution, should make him a picture-perfect match to the political winds that are tilting Republican primaries across the nation. But in California, none of this is paying dividends in the two areas that matter most: the polls and DeVore's campaign account.

Irvine author Chuck DeVore knew his techno-thriller about a sudden Chinese attack on Taiwan would strike a chord. But even he was surprised by the response to the novel's controversial premise after one of Taiwan's largest newspapers ran a story on "China Attacks." DeVore and co-author Steven Mosher's Web site, http://www.ChinaThreat.

Last week's Los Angeles Times/USC poll spilled a flood of pessimism from California voters about their state: They're troubled by its direction, upset at its politicians and sure that nothing will wrest California from the abyss. That was about it, when it came to agreement. One always presumes a fair amount of communal thought in a state, even one this large. But apart from a shared disdain for the governor and the Legislature, there is hardly anything communal anymore in California politics.

Several California Republican political candidates, including Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina, were scheduled to share the stage this week with one of the leaders of the "birther" movement that claims President Obama was not born in this country and is thus ineligible for his elected office. Orly Taitz, an Orange County attorney who has gone to court many times to try to disqualify Obama, was invited to speak Thursday at a Tax Day Tea Party rally in Pleasanton, Calif., that is expected to draw thousands of people.