Posted on 02/11/2010 11:46:32 AM PST by CautiouslyHopeful
Political speculation swirls. Meg Whitman, billionaire former eBay CEO and leading candidate for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in California, supposedly prefers not to run in tandem with Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard, who is seeking the Republican Senate nomination to run against the three-term Democrat Barbara Boxer.
....
When addressing Tea Party audiences, DeVore asks how many of his listeners have ever been politically active before. Only about 10 percent raise their hands. Conservatives everywhere were dispirited by the Bush administration; California conservatives are doubly demoralized as the failed Schwarzenegger experiment expires. Politics is supposed to be fun, and for California conservatives, voting for DeVore would be the first fun in many a moon.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Got my ten signatures for DeVore and will be delivering them to the County Clerk tomorrow.
California is going to implode. It's unavoidable. Their tax receipts just won't cover their liabilities, and the political dysfunction in the state won't allow anyone to fix the problem. So, when California finally goes belly-up - which will be sooner rather than later - I would much rather have a Democrat at the helm of the quickly sinking ship, rather than a Republican, or a conservative. It's bad enough that Schwarzenegger has so badly damaged the Republican brand in that state with his anemic and feckless leadership.
Republicans and conservatives shouldn't walk away from California, they should run away like they're on fire.
George Will is a one visit wonder. He has no idea what is going on out here and he should stay inside the beltway.
We will probably be voting straight ticket Republican. As Churchill advised, we never give up. Giving up is for cowards and losers.
“With all due respect to George Will, I sincerely hope that a Democrat wins the gubernatorial race in California.”
And I sincerely hope that your house catches on fire.
I think Custer said something similar. I fighting retreat is a acceptable tactic in a time of war. Pick your battles wisely. It might be easier to rebuild California from the rubble that will be financial insolvency.
I’m pretty sure Meg Whitman will win. She is running a very smart campaign and is clearly willing to spend whatever it takes. She has been running radio ads for months, and more recently TV ads, hammering away at three simple ideas: reducing government (she wants to fire 30,000 state workers), reducing burdens on business to create jobs, and reforming education (pretty vague on that one). Whether she could actually do any of that as governor with the RATS and unions controlling the legislature is doubtful, but that doesn’t mean it won’t play with voters, given a 12% unemployment rate (over 20% effective rate). And if she can’t get it done she may be better able to blame the RATS and the unions and get initiatives passed than Arnold was.
Further, her opposition is pretty weak. Poisner has been running a pathetic non-campaign, and crippled himself with his bizzare, whiney press conference where he accused Whitman’s aides of “threatening” him, and asked none other than the Attorney General and presumptive Democrat nominee, Jerry Brown, to investigate! As for Brown, most voters are too young to remember him as Governor Moonbeam, but they probably aren’t going to be thrilled by a septagenarian Democrat retread, pushing the same old Democrat ideas.
That's the key, isn't it? Given the ridiculous 2/3rds requirement to pass a budget, I just don't see how California can be fixed. While the state seems willing to elect Republican governors every now and again, it's completely futile so long as the Dems have such a tight grip on the Legislature.
With the ballot initiative process, and the legislative requirements, I just don't see the position of governor in that state, as one powerful enough to effect meaningful and necessary change.
A tactical retreat is not the same as giving up. I’m sure Winston could have explained that to you.
You changed the headline. That is not the headline at the link. Now some poor sap is going to look for it, it won’t turn up in the search, they will repost it and get zapped.
I’m not sure who changed the headline or why.
True. The only ace in the hole the governor has is the intitiative process. Arnold tried that, putting up 5 reform intitiatives a year after he was elected. Unfortunately, he got no support from the other Pubs, who were more concerned about their own perks and gerrymandered districts, and the unions spent 30 million to convince voters that they were evil Republican schemes to hurt poor teachers and nurses. When they lost he pretty much gave up trying to please conservatives, and decided to cooperate with the Democrats instead.
Meg seems like she could do a much better job, and people are far angrier at the public employee unions than they were in 2004.
Never surrender!
I’m not giving up the richest state in the Union!
All we need to do is sell some oil leases. Then real estate will recover. Then our tax base will shoot up. Cut all the confiscatory taxes, and we will be roaring again.
We already ended the gerrymandering. The effects of this repair should be felt in about a year.
Amen!
I’m not running either, but I’d be lying if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind in recent years.
Nobody is surrendering, and you not being able to understand that doesn’t change things.
I live in the state, and if you think having a Republican in the Governor’s chair over the last seven years has helped Conservatives get the state back on track, you’re one seriously confused person.
I voted for Schwarzenegger hoping he would do the right thing. He didn’t. He turned wimp on us and helped the Dems seriously damage the state.
-Winston Churchill
“Given the ridiculous 2/3rds requirement to pass a budget, I just don’t see how California can be fixed.”
This is a good, and therefore not “ridiculous” thing.
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