California's Ills Aid Candidate

[question everything]

AUGUST 18, 2009

California's Ills Aid Candidate

By STU WOO
WSJ

SAN FRANCISCO -- California's fiscal crisis is giving Tom Campbell, an ex-congressman with few resources, a fighting chance to become the state's next governor. In a normal year, the 57-year-old would be a poor bet to win the 2010 Republican primary, political analysts say. Mr. Campbell lacks the riches of his GOP opponents, former Silicon Valley executives Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, who can tap their fortunes to get themselves elected. Yet analysts say Mr. Campbell has an equalizer: a state-budget mess that plays to his strengths as an economist. When Sacramento lawmakers this year slashed spending and raised taxes to close a cumulative $60 billion budget shortfall, the candidate traveled California to tout alternative solutions that rankle loyalists in both parties, but which he said are longer-lasting and less harmful to the state's economy.

Democrats scorn his ideas for permanent cuts to welfare and social services in lieu of one-time fixes, while Republicans strongly oppose his proposal for a steep increase in the state's gasoline tax. In a video on his campaign Web site, Mr. Campbell says his policies will be aimed at putting California in a position to "lead an economic recovery." An August Daily Kos poll gave Mr. Campbell 19% support among Republicans. That's behind the 24% for Ms. Whitman, the former chief executive of eBay Inc., and ahead of the 9% for Mr. Poizner, the state's elected insurance commissioner and a former technology entrepreneur.

In presenting himself as the candidate best suited to handle California's budget dilemmas, Mr. Campbell points to his résumé. Armed with a University of Chicago doctorate in economics and a Harvard Law School degree, he represented Silicon Valley for five terms in the U.S. House, served as business-school dean at the University of California, Berkeley, and also as the state's finance director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Analysts warn that Mr. Campbell's showing in early polls means little and that money will become a factor later. "Given the financial resources that the other candidates bring to the race, Tom starts as somewhat of an underdog," said Dan Schnur, a former GOP consultant who teaches at the University of Southern California.

Campaign-finance reports show Mr. Campbell raised $305,000 from January to June. Mr. Poizner collected $4.6 million in that period, while Ms. Whitman hauled in $10.8 million. And that was before she wrote herself a $15 million check in July. In an interview, Mr. Campbell said he is undaunted by his opponents' funds and that if he maintains his current standing in polls through January, donations will pick up for the stretch leading up to the June primary. Mr. Campbell, who lost U.S. Senate bids in 1992 and 2000, took a leave as Berkeley's business-school dean to launch his gubernatorial bid in July 2008.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125055558041838739.html (subscription)

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A6

[tularetom]

1. After the disaster of the past six years

These people are wasting their time. There is no way in hell CA is going to elect a republican governor in 2010 after enduring a year and a half of drastic budget cutting leading to spartan services.

The typical gop message of cut taxes isn't going to play well with people who are basically getting nothing for the tax dollars they already pay.

[Merlot]

2. I would LOVE to see this guy beat meg frightman in the primary

at least he's a real politician and economist instead of some one who got rich and ruined a company.