Pete Peterson: A Conservative Idealist, Winning in California

breitbart.com ^ | 4/17/14 | Joel Pollack

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Amidst the general gloom about Republican electoral fortunes in California, past and present, came some good news last week: Pete Peterson, director of the Davenport Institute for Public Engagement and Civic Leadership at Pepperdine University, is leading the race for Secretary of State by double digits.

Moreover, Peterson was ahead even before rival State Sen. Leland Yee (D) was hit with federal charges of corruption and gun-running.

No one was more surprised than Peterson himself. His campaign, which he says has raised about $175,000 so far, had not done any polling yet. And yet he was not only ahead of the second-place contender, State Sen. Alex Padilla, by double digits, but he was also ahead of all other candidates combined.

Peterson, whom I met Thursday at the Coffee Bean at the Malibu Country Mart, ascribes his poll strength to his relative outsider status.

"It's part of the advantage of not being a state senator," he says. "There's a strong desire among California voters to find qualified people to do the job who aren't necessarily in office already, and who aren't part of the rotation in Sacramento."

Unlike his rivals, he says, and unlike term-limited incumbent Debra Bowen, he does not see the office of Secretary of State as a political sinecure, or as a stepping stone to higher political ambitions in the state.