Posted on 02/21/2010 8:21:00 AM PST by SmithL
This month, former Gov. Pete Wilson sent out a letter calling on good Republicans to "unite" behind former eBay CEO Meg Whitman's bid for governor. A largely Democratic effort had been formed to raise $40 million to defeat the billionaire candidate, which Wilson argued forced Team Whitman to launch its general election campaign early.
It was an arrogant move - calling the GOP primary before a single voter has cast a ballot in the June 8 election. Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is still in the race. No wonder Poizner recently told me, "She wants to be ordained."
After pouring $39 million of her own money into her campaign, Whitman has blanketed the airwaves with commercials and, as a result, has been trouncing Poizner in the polls. Poizner, who is also rich and put about $19 million into his effort, has preferred to campaign using free media, including debates with former rival Tom Campbell. (Which Whitman skipped.) Poizner wants to debate at the GOP convention in March. Whitman says no.
I reached Wilson on his cell phone Wednesday to ask: How can a candidate who never has run for office, and ducked every debate to date, dare to try to elbow out of the primary the one candidate who has won statewide office?
Wilson answered that even though Whitman is skipping a debate at the March GOP convention, she has agreed to a later debate. I should understand, he said, that Whitman is doing what all savvy candidates, including the likely Democratic nominee, Attorney General Jerry Brown, do - limiting debates and press interviews. "You don't accept every one," Wilson explained, using his why-do-I-even-have-to-say-this voice. "I think this is small potatoes, Debra."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Pete Wilson and Meg Whitman epitomize everything that’s wrong with the current Republican Party.
Political candidates will debate only when it is their interest to debate. Politics 101.
I haven’t heard anything good about the Insurance Commissioner anyway.
She’s 110% bovine poop!
I stopped reading Debra Saunders when she used her column to chide those of us who cheer the slow demise of newspapers. She posited that yes, the media had been really tough and even unfair to then majority Republicans and George Bush. She said give them a chance to show how tough they could be on the Dems. Well, we all know how that turned out. Debra Saunders is a tool.
Michael Bloomberg, circa 2001, says “Hello”.
The guy had been a Democrat all his life, changes to “become a Republican” just before the primaries (because he had zero chance of getting the Democratic Party nomination), had never run for public office in his life, and yet not only did he grab the Republican nomination, he used his vast wealth to simply CRUSH his Democratic Party opponent, Mark Green, who was by far the favorite to win, even with just 2 months to go to the elections.
RINOs endorsing RINOs will not build the GOP in California. I wish the California Republican Party would finally “get it.” California would be a Republican state if those people would simply look at Ronald Reagan for the example and follow his philosophies, principles and policies. But no...they think they have to look, sound and act like Democrats to get elected. It fails every single time.
I have a list of about 10 Republican Conservatives who lost big time, including Tom McClintock. You are engaging in wishful thinking.
California ain’t Alabama.
Who’s the Tea Party Conservative?
Pray for America and California
Bloomberg’s IT company created dozens of billionaires and several thousand millionaires living in NYC all to different degrees indebted to Bloomberg’s revolutionary terminal trading and data services.
I don’t think EBay will bring about the same level of gravitas in the CA community for Whitman.
The demographics of California have changed so significantly in the last 30 years, that Ronald Reagan couldn't get elected in California, following his own example. That's just the practical political reality.
Scott Brown (who's a conventional Republican, but not an orthodox conservative) got elected in MA (and McDonnell in VA) by not talking about any social issues and focusing entirely on jobs, reducing the deficit by reducing spending, and not treating international terrorists like common shoplifters. I don't know what the candidates are talking about in Cali, but that should be where they start and stop.
We don't need a salesperson, we need a leader who is honest and able.
Pete "gave" us Arnold. Why he thinks we should listen to him ever again is beyond me.
Whitman has been so concerned with the fate of the republic, I understand the woman HASN’T EVEN VOTED for DECADES!!!
She MUST BE REJECTED.
So should Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer and Waxjob but then I remembered this is kahlifornya - land of fruits and nuts.
Probably the single most destructive and vicious thing ever done to a fellow GOP primary Rival ! Poizner has not spent a Dime yet and he is the one wanting the nomination or coronation without spending a dime of his own money!
Poizner needs to disappear.
Tom McClintock came within a few thousand votes of winning statewide office in California just a few years ago. The main reason he lost is that he was effectively disowned by the CAGOP.
That story by the Sac Leftist Bee was retracted.
The Dem party operative at the Sac Bee Lied.
The leftist tried to pull voting records and the records were destroyed but they reported that there was no proof she voted ! Well if the records were destroyed then there is no proof anyone voted in the election .
Hugh Hewitt nailed the Sac Bee editor on air about that!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.