With just two weeks for voters to
decide which Republican should face off against Sen. Barbara Boxer in
November, candidates Chuck DeVore, Tom Campbell and Carly Fiorina
will make their pitches on KFI’s John and Ken Show.
The action starts at 2 p.m. and if past
shows are any indication, it should be a lively exchange.
“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.”
Folks with a keen interest in the race
for state superintendent for public instruction, and with a free
Friday night should check out what will likely be a lively debate
between the candidates.
The debate will actually take place
Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Sacramento Convention Center.
However, it will be taped and broadcast at 7 p.m. that night on the California
Channel.
Sen. Gloria Romero and Assemblyman Tom
Torlakson will face off in the debate, and controversial education
reforms backed by President Barack Obama are likely to take center
stage. Romero is for them; Torlakson is not.
Former school superintendent Larry
Aceves and teacher Diane Lenning will also participate in the debate.
The debate is co-sponsored by California’s PTA and the
League of Women Voters of California Education Fund.
If you don’t catch the Friday night
showing, visit www.calchannel.com
for a rebroadcast schedule.
In the race to spend personal money on
gubernatorial campaigns, Meg Whitman is beating every other person
who ran for governor in the country in 2007 and 2008. Combined. By
far.
California Watch has an interesting
look at the historic extent of Whitman’s spending, based on a study
by the National Institute on Money in State Politics. She announced
this week she would give her campaign another $20 million, bringing
her self donations to $59 million.
Check out California Watch’s story
here:
The California Republican Party attempted to get some digs in on Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown today as he celebrates his 72nd birthday. A few of the intended quips come close to the mark, most, not so much.
The list:
TOP TEN WAYS JERRY BROWN SAYS HE’S
CELEBRATING HIS 72nd BIRTHDAY
(A Top 10 list so inside…it’s
outside.)
10. Watching “Matlock” reruns with
my union buddies.
9. Asking Gray Davis to pick up my
laundry, you know, like the good old days.
8. Checking FPPC reports to see how
much John Burton spent on my “Grumpy Old Men” DVD set.
7. Expressing a transcendent political
philosophy that creates an alternate reality for California’s
degenerative economic system. At least that’s what my guru says.
6. Challenging that MoveOn.org guy to a
chin-up contest.
5. Listening to audio version of
The Power of Many ’cause I secretly dig the way Meg says,
“economy.”
4. Jacques Barzaghi stopping by–we’re
gonna party like it’s 1979!
3. Raising money by selling my
autographed Linda Ronstadt albums on eBay.
2. Changing my Facebook status to
“Jerry Brown is…suing you for violating your FarmVille expansion
requirements.”
1. Switching my campaign insurance to
Geico.
U.S. Senate hopefuls Chuck DeVore and Tom Campbell will face off tonight at a debate in Brandman University in Irvine, but the third GOP competitor in the race, Carly Fiorina, has opted out.
Apparently Fiorina’s camp doesn’t think the debate’s moderator, Brandman assistant professor Mike Moodian, would be impartial, so they declined the invite.
Judge for yourself by watching the debate from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/
In an act of total defiance against health care reform, an opponent filled a toilet in Rep. Adam Schiff’s Pasadena office with tea bags, causing it to overflow.
While some Democrats who voted in favor of health care reform have faced serious threats and vandalism from opponents of the legislation, Schiff called the act of opposition in his office “downright silly.”
“It was a minor nuisance,” he said.
Schiff said the “vast majority” of correspondence and calls to his office have been thoughtful and respectful in tone.
“There have been exceptions, some have been
downright vile, racist, others have been vaguely threatening – you
are going to pay in more ways the one kind of language, but nothing I
consider a security issue… and those are the aberrations.”
Still, Schiff said he is concerned
about the nationwide tone that has “gone from bad to worse” since
the vote.
“It’s been a gradual degradation of
the civil dialogue of the last several years, where people feel like
it’s okay to say anything when they are in opposition to a point of
view. You see it on the House floor – people calling the president
‘liar’ and yelling ‘baby killer’ and outside, with people spitting on
members of Congress, and yelling racial epithets,” Schiff said.
“Everyone needs to take a deep breath
and remember what this country was founded on: an ideal of
competition in the marketplace of ideas,” he continued.
In case you missed it, billionaire candidate Meg Whitman is shattering campaign spending records – spending $27.2 million in the first 11 weeks of this year alone.
Combined with the $19.4 million she spent last year, that’s a total of 46.6 million, and the primary is still more than two months away. All but some $8 million of that came from her own pocket, the San Jose Mercury News is reporting.
And with only $4.5 million on hand, she is probably going to have to cut herself another check soon, the paper reports.
Read the full story at:
Former Covina Mayor Walt Allen is the latest GOP politico to endorse former eBay CEO Meg Whitman for governor, Whitman’s camp announced today.
Allen, who is also former Assistant Secretary of the Office of Correctional Safety for the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), switched his earlier endorsement for Poizner.
Allen’s reason:
“Meg Whitman is the
best candidate to turn California around. More than anyone
else running, Meg believes the safety of our communities and our
families can never be sacrificed. She will work closely with local law
enforcement to make certain justice is delivered fairly and quickly,” he said.