Free Republic

MAY 20, 2010 Whitman's Lead Narrows in California Race BY STU WOO Meg Whitman appears to have lost much of her wide lead in the race to be the Republican contender in California's November gubernatorial election. Two months ago, Ms. Whitman looked to be cruising toward the Republican nomination. Polls showed the former eBay Inc. chief executive leading her main opponent, state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, by 50 percentage points. With three weeks to go before the June 8 primary, Mr. Poizner is pulling off an unexpected rally. A survey to be released Thursday shows Ms. Whitman's advantage dwindling to...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed California gubernatorial candidate and ex-eBay CEO Meg Whitman on Sunday, writing in an op-ed in the Orange County Register that she reminds him of another Golden State Republican hero – the late President Ronald Reagan. "Meg's conservatism is rooted in the optimism that people can achieve great things if government doesn't stand in their way. As I have come to know her better, I have been reminded of another great leader from California. As a young congressman from Wyoming in the 1980s, I was an unabashed foot soldier in the Reagan Revolution. I saw...

Natural experiments are rare in politics, but few are as instructive as the prototype for ObamaCare that Massachusetts set in motion in 2006. The bills for "universal coverage" are now coming due, and it appears the state political class is prepared to do lasting damage to one of America's top-flight health-care systems. Last month, Democratic Governor Deval Patrick landed a neutron bomb, proposing hard price controls across almost all Massachusetts health care. State regulators already have the power to cap insurance premiums, which Mr. Patrick is activating. He also filed a bill that would give state regulators the power to...

Those unversed in the arcana of Congressional procedure should familiarize themselves with "reconciliation." It's just another word for nothing left to lose—that is, it's the tactic Democrats seem increasingly likely to use to bypass the ordinary legislative rules and railroad Obama Care into law with a bare partisan majority of 50 Senators, plus Vice President Joe Biden. ...