INSIDE SCOOPS

When Orange County Republicans gathered in Santa Ana to watch George

W. Bush accept his party’s presidential nomination recently, they got a

surprise treat.

Dana Rohrabacher, the 45th district congressman, popped by to give a

quick stump speech for Bush before zipping off to appear on “Politically

Incorrect with Bill Maher.�

Rohrabacher’s take on Bush? He said it is important to get him into

the White House in order to get conservative Supreme Court justices

appointed. The alternative, he declared, was “left-wing kooks� from Al

Gore.

FULL DISCLOSURE

Special kudos to the always-diligent Orange Coast College public

relations department.

They’ve always been the best at letting the Pilot know what’s going on

there, sending press releases almost daily.

But recently, they went beyond the norm. They sent us a credit card

payment.

LATE BLOOMER

Costa Mesa Councilwoman Heather Somers, who plans to run for another

term, squeezed her application for candidacy into City Hall just 20

minutes before the deadline.

A simple Friday traffic jam almost kept her from running again. Except

that her colleague Councilman Joe Erickson decided not to run for

reelection -- bumping the filing deadline to Wednesday. So in fact,

Somers submitted her application four days and 20 minutes early.