Free Republic

At his post-victory news conference Wednesday morning, Governor elect Jerry Brown showed why he won the election with a million votes to spare. He's steeped in the issues, he listens to what is happening on the ground, and he's not afraid to mix it up. Now, I don't agree with Brown on a number of issues. But in the course of the campaign, I rarely got the feeling that Meg Whitman was listening to anyone other than her consultants or that she was even curious. California needs a strong governor; Whitman showed them a wind-up doll. Worse, the former eBay...

After defeating Steve Poizner in the Republican primary, it looked as though Meg Whitman would simply steamroll the Democrat candidate. Meg Whitman had been the CEO of e-Bay and became a billionaire in the process. The idea of a successful businesswoman running California had a strong appeal, but an over-managed campaign by inept advisers and Whitman’s inability to take a stand on key issues of the greatest importance to California doomed her campaign to failure. The individual running against Meg Whitman is none other than aging hippie retread, Jerry Brown, the same bungler who allowed California state workers to unionize,...

LOS ANGELES -- Democrat Jerry Brown has moved into a narrow lead over Republican Meg Whitman in their fractious contest for California governor, while his party colleague Barbara Boxer has opened a wider margin over GOP nominee Carly Fiorina in the race for U.S. Senate, a new Los Angeles Times/USC poll has found. The Democratic candidates were benefiting from their party's dominance in California and the continued popularity here of President Barack Obama, who has retained most of his strength in the state even as he has weakened in other parts of the country. Support for Obama may play a...

Move aside, Michael Bloomberg. California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has just surpassed your record in personal spending on an election. After giving her campaign another $15 million Tuesday, the Republican former eBay Inc. chief executive has now spent $119 million in the Golden State race. (You can view her campaign-finance records here.) Bloomberg spent $110 million of his own money to win a third term as New York City’s mayor last year. Whitman’s Democratic opponent, former California governor and current state attorney general Jerry Brown, has attacked the Republican’s lavishness. Brown spokesman Sterling Clifford said Whitman is running a...

Young voter trends have fascinated me ever since the Obama-McCain bloodbath of 2008. As bleak as the statistics were two years ago, I've been building a case that Obama's youth landslide did not, and will not, guarantee permanent electoral or ideological doom for conservatives among Millenials. Virginia offers a case in point. In 2008, voters 18-29 in Virginia backed Obama over McCain by a 21-point margin. One year later, the same cohort supported conservative Republican Bob McDonnell for Governor by ten points--a 31-point (D) to (R) swing. Last week, the New York Times ran a piece describing younger voters' disenchantment...

The tie is broken for now, with Republican Meg Whitman, coming off last weekend’s state GOP Convention, moving out to her best showing yet in the race to be the next governor of California. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in California finds Whitman earning 48% support, while Democrat Jerry Brown picks up 40% of the vote. Six percent (6%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and six percent (6%) are undecided. When leaners are included in the new totals, Whitman posts a 51% to 43% lead over Brown. Leaners are those who initially indicate no...

Since Republican Meg Whitman and Democrat Jerry Brown won their parties' nominations in June, tens of millions of dollars have been spent trying to break the statistical tie that's gripped the race for months. Whitman, in particular, has blanketed the state in radio and TV ads touting her corporate experience and depicting Brown as a failed career politician. Brown hasn't spent anything on advertising yet, but his union allies have aired commercials attacking Whitman as the heartless former CEO of the online auction firm eBay. With the general election season now at its halfway point, 10 weeks from the primary...

It took Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman less than two weeks to hang up her hard line on immigration and to go on Spanish-language TV catering to the Latino vote. It was but one step toward middle ground for a candidate pulled right in the primary. Forget that endorsement from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and those robo calls from former Vice President Dick Cheney. And don't expect to hear any more from former Gov. Pete Wilson, who pleased GOP voters in the Republican primary when he said Whitman would be "tough as nails on illegal immigration," but who is...