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 ...
*ping*
She is an idiot who hitch her wagon to the most slanted slim filled propaganda rag in the state and that includes the LA Slime .
Oh really? How "big time" was that?
Post the tabulated results or I'll call you a liar now.
Who cares what names you call? You are acting like a first grader.
Wanna bet?
Look, the days of liberal state “demographics” and all that is long gone. We are looking at California turning into another Greece and facing financial collapse. You'd be surprised how people's minds are sharpened and their survival instincts take over when they are facing disaster.
” That's just the practical political reality.”
The most practical reality is that California could soon go bankrupt. Where are they going to get money from, to finance their profligate spending habits then?
“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.”
He also campaigned on being the 41st vote to stop 0bamacare, and against the economy killing cap and trade. Even in super liberal Massachusetts, that message resonated with voters. If Massachusetts is against 0bamacare and cap and trade, I don't see why the same thing couldn't happen in California. Barbara Boxer is currently only 4 points ahead of the top Republican in her run for the US Senate. That's a bad sign for her if ever I saw one.
AS for the Van Jones heavily edited video crap, Whitman was the CEO of a Bay area business and made a speech as CEO to the bay area black community and it was written for her.
Have you ever been the CEO of a billionaire dollar company ?
Thanks for the correction.
But the BIGGER question is why does Whitman appear to be HIDING FROM THESE DEBATES? Does she really think she can BUY THE GOVERNERSHIP OUT THERE? My guess is that since everything ELSE out there will be for sale pretty soon to pay off the state debt, she does.
I’d appreciate your thoughts on that one as well.
I don't like her. She can't win. She looks and sounds like an uninspired old woman. She's wasting her money.
Jerry Brown is the ACCORN/ SEIU love child.
Brown created the spending and radical State union and evil nurses union messes during his last term in the Governor office .
Brown has refused to investigate the SEIU or Accorn or the Kevin Johnsons /Walpin scandal.
Poizner actions show if he can't be handed the nomination without spending his own Billions then he rather let Moonbeam Brown win.
I think she has the stature and presence to beat Jerry Brown for Governor. The other candidate is Steve Pozner is closer to my political philosophy but is too nerdy to win. He doesn’t have the necessary charisma.
Wilson’s endorsement is a big minus.
Meg Whitman: Romney handpicked me and "I'm A Huge Fan Of Van Jones"
She has since repudiated Van Jones, of course.
Why don’t you run for Governor of California and I will vote for you.
In Maine we have a field of 6 or 7 Pubbies running for Gov. One (Paul LePage) is a true conservative with a business and political track record (very successful 3 term mayor of Waterville) and a wonderful personal story. Then there are several rinos but the state apparatus is backing Susan Collins’ former chief of staff Steve Abbott. Here’s a guy with no experience except a mediocre and brief career in law and 12 years as a Collins bootlicker.
One person actually said that all of the other GOP candidates should just step aside so Abbott could get his message out without being distracted.
I heard this guy speak a week or so ago and I was expecting a polished professional given his Harvard Law background. No way. Needed notes, minimal eye contact, no real agenda beyond some platitudes.
The Maine State GOP doesn’t have a clue.
Steve, Meg’s ads are on TV more often than “Leave It To Beavah” reruns. You...ahem...prefer free media. Meg is kicking your butt. What does this suggest you need to start doing? Take your time, I’ll wait.
Could he have won the recall?
Here is the last USA Today/CNN/GALLUP poll before the recall.
"6. If the choice were between Cruz Bustamante, the Democrat and Tom McClintock, the Republican, who would you be more likely to vote for: Cruz Bustamante or Tom McClintock?"
September 25-27
Registered Voters
McClintock 49%
Bustamante 42%
Probable Voters
McClintock 56%
Bustamante 37%
In short, had REPUBLICANS voted their preference in that race, the conservative would have won. Our problem is more with "he can win" RINOs than it is with the left, and always has been.
The personal attacks against me during the primary finally became so heavy that the state Republican chairman, Gaylord Parkinson, postulated what he called the Eleventh Commandment: Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican. It's a rule I followed during that campaign and have ever since. Ronald Reagan
"We don't intend to turn the Republican Party over to the traitors in the battle just ended. We will have no more of those candidates who are pledged to the same goals of our opposition and who seek our support. Turning the party over to the so-called moderates wouldn't make any sense at all." - Ronald Reagan
Do we want Jerry Brown to win here?
Is this the real agenda ?
I don't either. My point was that if someone could replicate the "Scott Brown" model, then they'd have a fighting chance in California. But, it's also true that there are plenty of people who think Scott Brown is a RINO. I don't. I actually think Brown is a fairly conventional Republican, if not a conventional Conservative, at least on some social issues.
My only point about Reagan and demographics is with respect to racial demographics. MA is a much "whiter" state than California, and Reagan's California was much "whiter" than today's California. There was a disturbing PPP poll out this week that said, while whites are leaving Obama en mass, minority support hasn't wavered much at all. That's troubling. Unless minorities begin to have the same fears as whites do about budget deficits and profligate government spending, it's going to hard for a fiscally conservative Republican to win in Cali, assuming of course that minority turn out in Cali is the same that it's been the last several elections.
With all these “lesser of two evil” races STILL shaping up, I’m reminded of the remark made by our late friend, Governor Lester Maddox — who despite his demonization as a racist by the media decades ago WAS NOT A RACIST and, in fact, put more blacks into high state jobs here in Georgia.
When his prison director advised him of the violence within the Georgia prison system, offered that “What we need is a better class of criminal.”
Guess that goes for candidates as well.
The fact Poizner donated $10,000 to the Al Gore recount and then when he was caught blamed his wife makes me wonder about this guy ?
Then the guy cries like a baby and files a pathetic formal complaint against Whitman to Jerry Brown really makes me wonder which side he is on.
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.