Experts Expound

“What has been the most significant, single event or issue thus far in the gubernatorial campaign? Why?”

Nicky.  Jerry should pledge Gloria Allred the first appointment to the Supreme Court.  That’s a woman who knows how to win a governor’s race.

Steve Poizner’s move to go public with Mike Murphy’s threat and stay in the race. It forced Meg to move to the crazy right on immigration. And then came Nicky.
Nannygate. It shifted 20 points away from Whitman among Latinos and reinforced her image as the Nasty Aunt among other voters.

Meg Whitman being booed by 15,000 women at the women’s conference.

Hate to say it, but Nannygate may have been the most significant event because it threw the Whitman campaign off its scripted game and forced her and her handlers to deal with a situation they could not control. Needless to say, she (and they) didn’t handle it well, exposing some of the more unappealing aspects of her personality and slamming the brakes on any momentum she may have been gaining among Latino voters.

Without a doubt, Nicky Diaz.  It gave us a rare glimpse into Meg Whitman’s unscripted soul – and it wasn’t particularly heartwarming.

Housekeepergate.  It stopped and possibly reversed what had been a Whitman trajectory to win a very close race based on her superior GOTV capabilities. This was a more determinative development than anything Brown did on his own behalf during the entire campaign.  If he wins, it will be primarily because of Nicky Diaz and an unprecedented $30-plus million in labor IEs.

The emergence of the fired maid. It gave the first unvarnished look at Meg Whitman, the person. It appears to have galvanized women, Latino and independent voters. Whatever momentum she had in this blue state was flat-out stopped.

Nicky – She was the first real blow that Whitman took during the general election campaign and she never recovered.

The way Meg’s campaign guys grabbed all those millions from her without doing a lick of original new work, but instead just resurrecting tired old crap from Arnold’s, Wilson’s, and Deukmejian’s campaigns. (Rose Bird! Rose Bird!) Say what you will, these guys are damned good at one thing: Separating inexperienced, rich Republicans from their money.
The illegal immigrant issue because it demonstrates a billionaire’s callousness….

Meg Whitman’s misrepresentations and attack ads have been the most significant issue and the reason is because it raised her negatives so high as to cost her the election. Her highly overpaid campaign strategy team should not only be totally embarrassed, they should give her a refund. Of course, the second most telling event was refusing to go positive when Brown said he would. It shows that she’s too stupid to be governor.

Nicky Diaz.  That issue showed, not just to Latinos but to all Californians, the true character of Meg Whitman.

Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Morgan Crinklaw, J Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Mike Donovan, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Jason Kinney, Greg Lucas, Mike Madrid, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio,  Adam Mendelsohn, Barbara O’Connor, Bill Packer, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ralph Simoni, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, & Garry South.