Experts Expound

“Is this 2002 redux? Are Dems intervening in the GOP gubernatorial primary to back Poizner and whack Whitman? Is this a winner or does it backfire?”

If you’re going to intervene in the other party’s primary, you better do it with more resources than $60,000 in radio ads on rightwing talk shows that plead for more money.  Davis spent $9 million over five weeks taking out Riordan.  If you’re going to sting the bear, you’d better kill the bear.

It is a repeat.  It is a smart strategy.  Rasmussen has Whitman and Brown in a dead heat at 45 percent.  Her ads are having an impact and with Brown not official and sitting back, interested groups need to start to stem the tide.  The only way to do that is to answer Whitman’s strategy and force her to get more specific on what she would do and who she is.  That will have an impact on the Republican primary.  The market buy was very deliberate.

I’ve met Steve Poizner. Steve Poizner is a friend of mine. Steve, you’re no Bill Simon.

So the Dems slam Whitman to boost Poizner so Jerry will have a weaker opponent in the general. Seems destined to backfire. It worked in 2002 with Simon and Riordan, but Poizner and Whitman are a lot smarter.

Maybe it’s an attempt at a 2002 rerun but history might not repeat itself.  Despite her real flaws, Whitman is stronger and smarter than the gaffe-prone Riordan.  Poizner is much more credible than Bill Simon.  In any case, it may backfire.  Let’s recap:  Rich supporters of a former governor are copying a tactic of his former chief of staff, who in turn was repudiated by the voters in 2003.  Is that really a smart move in an anti-insider year?

The middle-of-the-road Poizner is a proven vote-getter with a statewide win under his belt, unlike the rookie conservative Simon vs Riordan. Even if the Dem gambit worked, Poizner would be riding high as a national figure who could spend $150 million of his own money against The Moonbeam and never miss it. Potential Backfire City. 
 
Whether its the IE or Meg’s TV saturation — all the attention on her early is not good for the Meg campaign. The analogy is more 1998 than 2002. Al Checchi showed the dangers of voter over-saturation.

Someone’s got to do it. Meg Whitman is untested, inexperienced, and not realistic about what it means to be governor. Someone has got to speak truth to her millions.

It looks like a mirror thing to me – same-o, same-o. It worked before, why won’t it work again? Of course she could afford to bury him in clever anti-Brown ads, feature his famous flip-flopping and exalted Gov. Moonbeam status: “He couldn’t run state government then, what makes you think he can now?” But in the primary with a party opponent? That’s why the Dems’ strategy probably works. A footnote: Even though it worked before,  we ended up with a recalled governor.

Democrats would be lucky to get Poizner in the general election. He doesn’t connect with ordinary people or donors and doesn’t actually have the personal wealth needed to carry the election on his back.

The questioner has it backwards. The Dems are clearly more worried about Poizner than Whitman, hence the publicity around fighting Whitman. What politicians want to make us think by talking to reporters is frequently more subtle than obvious.

Well somebody  has to define Whitman other than Whitman, and Poizner is acting like he is politically paralyzed. Whitman has the airwaves all to herself and she is blowing Poizner out of the water and creeping up on JB. It is time to push back. JB doesn’t care about Poizner; he cares about the November outcome.

All the Dem’s horses and all the Dem’s men, cannot give Steve Poizner a win.

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