“Meg Whitman can do for California
what Ronald Reagan did for America,” or so claims former Vice
President Dick Cheney, who announced his support over the weekend for
GOP gubernatorial candidate Whitman.

In an editorial in the Orange County Register, Cheney also questioned the conservative
bona fides of her Republican rival, Steve Poizner, and said “Meg
Whitman is the Republican the Democrats fear the most in this
election.”

More excerpts:

Meg is a leader who will not shy away
from confronting the public employee unions. She has put pension
reform at the center of her agenda. She is a firm believer in the
power of tax cuts to strengthen small businesses and create jobs. She
knows that welfare must be a temporary hand-up and not a way of life.
She is committed to local control of education, and she has a strong
and practical approach to securing the border and addressing the
problems associated with illegal immigration…

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 an inspirational leader lift the nation out of the malaise left
behind by Jimmy Carter’s liberalism. I believe Meg Whitman can do for
California what Ronald Reagan did for America.

While I
am always mindful of President Reagan’s 11th Commandment, there are
issues of judgment that voters should consider before they cast their
ballots in the Republican primary. I admire the success that Steve
Poizner has had in the private sector and believe his commitment to
public service is sincere. But I have concerns about whether he truly
adheres to the conservative principles of our party.

He also
broke ranks with our party on national security and the “war on
terror.” Mr. Poizner opposed the war in Iraq. To amplify his
opposition to the national security policies of the Bush
administration, he invited Richard Clarke to campaign for him in
California.

At the time, Mr. Clarke, a former staff member of
the National Security Council, was making the rounds on cable
television to market a book that blamed the Bush administration for
mismanaging the terrorist threat and enabling the Sept. 11 attacks
against our nation. There was a clear purpose behind the Clarke
campaign visit. Mr. Poizner was breaking from the Bush-Cheney ticket
and our policy goals because he thought it helped his political
ambitions.

Senate candidate Carly Fiorina won a much-desired endorsement in her bid to replace Sen. Barbara Boxer, that of former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Fiorina has in the past said she shares Palin’s values, and apparently Palin agrees.

From the press release:

“Carly is the Commonsense
Conservative that California needs and our country could sure use in
these trying times. She’s not a career politician. She’s a
businesswoman who has run a major corporation. She knows how to
really incentivize job creation. Her fiscal conservatism is rooted in
real life experience. She knows that when government grows, the
private sector shrinks under the burden of debt and deficits. We can
trust Carly to do the right thing for America’s economy and to make
the principled decisions she has throughout her professional career,”
said Governor Palin. “Please consider that Carly is the
conservative who has the potential to beat California’s liberal
senator, Barbara Boxer, in November. I’m a huge proponent of
contested primaries, so I’m glad to see the contest in California’s
GOP, but I support Carly as she fights through a tough primary
against a liberal member of the GOP who seems to bear almost no
difference to Boxer, one of the most leftwing members of the Senate.”