Looks like chasing unicorns paid off for legislative Republicans after all.
The minority party scored a rare Capitol victory today when Senate GOP leader Bob Dutton's entrant won the 37th annual Capitol frog jumping contest.
Team Dutton's frog Unicorn -- the name is a reference to Assembly Budget Chair Bob Blumenfield's likening GOP budget proposals to chasing the mythical creature -- covered an impressive 10 feet 5 inches in three jumps when prodded by a Dutton staffer on the east Capitol lawn.
Not all the participants fared as well in the contest, which is a precursor to this month's Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee.
GOP Sen. Ted Gaines, who emceed the event as Calaveras County's representative, expressed discontent with his Tax Cutting Toad's 5-foot-9-inch performance.
"Whew -- that's weak, man!" the Roseville Republican exclaimed after his frog's jump.
While Dutton aide Michelle Clarke took home the trophy for the main event, the real winner may have been the frog competing for GOP Assemblywoman Diane Harkey's office. HSF: High-Speed Frog rocketed out of the contest bounds and escaped into a nearby toad pond.
Perhaps the creature overheard the question jokingly posed by one legislator participating in the event.
"Do we get to eat them later?" asked freshman Assemblyman David Valadao, R-Hanford.
The answer, of course, was no.
See how Sen. Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, (top) and Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, (bottom) fared in videos posted below:
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