Posted on 11/29/2008 11:18:08 AM PST by calcowgirl
There are plenty of good reasons why state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has the next Republican nomination for governor all but locked up. And there are a host of other reasons why the better-known Democrats now thinking of trying for their party's nod to run against him should not be taking victory for granted, despite the big Democratic voter registration edge that has made California a "blue" state in the last five presidential elections.
Yes, two other prominent Republicans apparently intend to make serious attempts to deprive Poizner of their party's nomination. Those would be former Silicon Valley Congressman and law school dean Tom Campbell and ex-eBay chief executive Meg Whitman.
But Campbell has failed twice in attempts at statewide office, while Whitman is a complete rookie - and rookies don't do well when going after top-of-the-ticket jobs in California unless they're movie stars like Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
So Poizner is the early favorite among Republicans and he knows it, even if polls don't yet reflect this very strongly. The geekish-looking billionaire put himself in that position by spending many millions of the dollars he acquired when selling off two high tech companies. His 2006 campaign for insurance commissioner cost him $12 million in personal funds. He spent another $6.7 million on an unsuccessful 2004 run for state Assembly in the Palo Alto area. He put up $2.75 million to support an unsuccessful legislative redistricting reform initiative the next year and he's invested more millions in a Republican Party voter registration drive, adding $5 per newly registered voter to the $3 previously paid by the party to local Republican clubs for each new voter they sign up.
All that, plus a host of speeches before local Republican fund-raising dinners and a firm no-new-taxes pledge, has made him popular among the GOP faithful, even though he differs with most of them by taking a pro-choice stance on abortion.
But it's his conduct as insurance commissioner that makes him a threat to Democrats. No commissioner since the office became elective in 1990 has done more for consumers. That's normally a Democratic distinction.
The $12 million Poizner spent on his 2006 campaign allowed him to refuse any contributions from the insurance companies he now regulates. Before that, they and their agents have consistently funded Republican candidates for insurance commissioner and then tried to exact favoritism from any winner they backed. That's what brought down the disgraced former commissioner, Chuck Quackenbush, who slinked out of California after being forced to resign, moving first to Hawaii and then Florida.
Poizner forced a 28 percent homeowners insurance rate cut from Allstate, the second-largest property insurer in the state. He compelled HealthNet to reinstate thousands of wrongly cancelled health insurance policies. He will shortly create a pay-by-the-mile car insurance rate option and is now enlisting some companies to write "green" homeowners policies, which allow owners of homes that burn or are otherwise destroyed to rebuild with the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly materials and appliances, even if they cost more than direct replacements of lost items.
These are all Democratic-sounding actions, but Poizner doesn't see it that way. "I have three priorities as commissioner," he said in an interview. "I want consumers to have lots of choices, which is a Republican thing. I want consumers to have more information and if insurance companies break the rules, I'll clobber them. So I guess that makes me a hybrid."
Hybrids are popular in California, as carmakers have discovered and Democrats just might.
Poizner also showed class by evincing no interest when it seemed possible he could take a short cut to the governor's office.
Another RAT, registered as a Republican, that doesn't have a clue as to what conservatism is.
A perfect candidate for the RAT infested California GOP and their "purple party" vision.
A self-funding social moderate with a record of success in business and government. Sounds like a good candidate.
What are the thoughts of CA Freepers? Is Poizner our best bet out there? I think the fact that he is pro-choice is irrelevant. Abortion restrictions will never be passed by the legislature in CA. As long as Poizner is solidly pro-growth and pro-individual liberty, I think conservatives will be happy. That alone would be a big improvement over faux-conservative Arnold Schwarzenegger.
While he may be on the Moderate Side of the Party, the quote you choose to bash him on, merely proves that he does have some Republican Credentials. Choice in Economics is a Republican/Conservative Thing. After all in Massachusetts we have Socialized Auto Insurance, There is NO CHOICE!! All the rates are the same! Who was the product of such a system...Democrats.
At least at Insurance Commissioner, Poizner pushed for choices.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
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And a rodent will still win even if Poizner does. He was a fluke win, anyhow, namely because he managed to be less unpopular than Lt Gov Bustamante running for this office.
I haven’t met Poizner, but have met Tom Campbell. He lives near me, and you can regularly run into him at the grocery store. He’s very pro charter schools, and I think he would probably support homeschooling.
I think he is fiscally conservative, but socially liberal.
I personally like Campbell. He helped me out personally. We were having problems with San Jose Unified trying to close our kids school, and he actually tried to help the parents out.
The quote she used makes this horrible RINO sound just like Ralph Nader and the rest of the California Association of Consumerist Attornies (CACA)!!!
Don't you guys ever listen to Rush? Don't you understand that we'll NEVER AGAIN get to conservatism in CA by trying to swallow hard and maneuver to the left in hopes of winning the left over to our side???
All of us have to come to grips with the fact that we can't make the left like us! They are ALL as convinced that we are ALL TERMINAL, bigotted, racist, sexist, meanie homophobes, out to take all the fun out of LIFE as Maxine Waters is!!!
If we keep sucking hard on this worthless pragmatic sounding false hope, we'll continue to be surrounded by this CONservative idea and make zero progress toward the great traditional genuine conservative ideals that make this nation great... count on it!!!
There ain't no magic bullets, or easy ways out of the current situation we find outselves in. Supporting Mr. Poisoner would put us further in reverse and sink our ship of state even deeper in the Demonicrat abyss!!!
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
-PJ
Is he better or worse than Poizner?
Either one will probably lose to a democrat. That’s the nature of the beast.
In California, I don’t think anyone socially conservative will ever win. I do think someone fiscally conservative could win. Even democrats are getting pissed off about our states economic problems.
This is a ridiculous account of what Quackenbush did!!! He tried to out Demicrat the Demicrats by following the example of Willie Brown in setting up Non-Profits for laundering contributions to run for higher office.
In fact he was so good at it that it scared the hell out of Sacremento Demicrats and their buddies at the BEE, and they HAD to crucify him and drive him out of paradise into paradise in Hawaii, then Florida!!!
The minute something the slightest bit "embarrassing" is smeared all over a Republican that is done all the time by Demicrats, everybody in the Repellican Party runs for cover and loudly disses the individual, still trying desperately to look good to the left, trying to prove that Republicans are not bad people just because the Demicrats say so!!!
In that it is CA, I wonder if the Republican gubernatorial nomination is worth very much at all.
The people of CA will love it and thrive on it, again!!! The reason I believe this so fervently is that the debt crisis is getting so damned deep that almost any idiot that can communicate reasonably well will finally be able to explain to CA's voters that we have a spending, not a revenue problem and that no one can spend a government into prosperity!!!
And we can't have choice without Government imposing it as a requirement of business?
Businesses should be required to pay insurance proceeds to advance a "green" agenda?
Making businesses provide a pay-by-the-mile car insurance rate is a conservative thing?
I'd like to have more fresh local produce in my grocery store. Perhaps the State Ag Committee can get to work on that one, too. /s
From all accounts, Tom Campbell is a nice guy.
But I find him to be liberal on all accounts. He was Arnie’s budget director during the period of record spending increases. He was the one that pushed for massive borrowing in the state. He supports doing away with the electoral college in favor of the national popular vote. Recently, he has been pushing for open primaries.
During his stint in Congress, he was endorsed by the Log Cabin Republicans, supported gay adoptions, voted for anti-gun legislation, voted for prescription drug program, supported physician-assisted suicide, etc. etc. etc.
He’s no better than Poizner. They’re both social democrats by ideology, IMO.
Thanks, SW. There appear to be way too many definitions of conservatism, IMO.
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