It is deplorable that Nielsen did not have a credible primary challenger. It is even more deplorable that Nielsen was endorsed by many Conservative types and "taxpayer groups" as well.

Those of us familiar with his record know that Nielsen voted against California taxpayers so many times that Jerry Brown never attempted to attack him when he ran for re-election to the State Senate in the 1980's.

Nielsen was a reliable budget vote - and was one of the Republicans who banded together with the Democrats against Deukmejian's proposed tax rebate in the late 1980's.

Nielsen talked the talk to run for office again - but now at a recent meeting of the Northern California Sheriff's Association, Jim Nielsen espoused the need for Compromise regarding the State Budget. The meeting occurred in Red Bluff and recurrs regularly every quarter.

It begs one question - what the heck is Roger Niello there for? He's the Republican lead on the budget the last I checked... Nielsen has only been in office for a few weeks and he is already back to his old tricks.

Sam Aanestad proceeded to follow Nielsen, and he lit Nielsen up hard. Aanestad knows what compromise is a code word for - tax increases.

It looks like Dick Dickerson is still alive in Northern California.

One person who may be happy about this development is Anthony Adams, as he is now not the only Republican who is going to catch hell.

The difference - we knew Nielsen was weak before he got into office.

Please, someone credible run against Nielsen in the 2010 Primary.