Last Friday I penned a column here on the FlashReport that focused on former eBay Chairman Meg Whitman, and the aggressive role that she is playing as a National Co-Chairman of the McCain for President Campaign. In that piece, I mentioned that Whitman is in the process of looking at a run for the Republican nomination for Governor in 2010.
Well, in a very clear sign that even though this year’s Presidential contest has yet to be resolved, many are already looking to 2010, since publishing my piece on Whitman, I have been literally barraged with e-mails from FR readers all around California letting me know that Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner has been out to their local community. In many instances, there have been glowing words of praise for Poizner as a candidate for Governor along with those e-mails.
After getting a slew of these “Steve was here/testimonial” e-mails, I thought I would reach out directly to “Team Poizner” to see exactly what Poizner, who has already announced the opening of an Exploratory Committee for Governor, has been up to. (Actually, the news of Poizner’s announcement first appeared on this website.).
To say that Poizner has been everywhere in California on behalf of GOP causes would be an understatement. I can’t begin to list off all of the nearly 80 appearances he has made. But I can generalize them in a summary fashion. He has appeared at over a dozen events to benefit the state and national GOP, has appeared at events with Senator McCain nearly as many times as that, he has been around California supporting central committees, volunteer organization chapters, and even many events for GOP fundraising groups such as Lincoln Clubs and New Majority chapters. Poizner has appeared for targeted federal and state legislative candidates, and just two weeks ago gave a speech at the Western Conservative Political Action Conference in Orange County, an event I attended as a conference Co-Chairman (FR was a major sponsor).
I spoke with Poizner last night (on his way home from an event for the Placer County Republican Assembly) who told me that he has for months been getting a lot of invitations to appear at events for GOP candidates and has tried wherever possible to accommodate. He said he’s been on the road a lot!
There is no doubt that Poizner has been building up a lot of good will amongst Republicans, moderate and conservative, around California as he helps them all to enhance their events and fundraising. It is certainly illustrative of one clear advantage that Poizner has, as an incumbent statewide officeholder, going into a potential GOP 2010 Gubernatorial primary.
FR readers know how much stock I placed in Poizner for having the moxie to lead the charge against former Assembly Speaker (soon to be former Assemblyman) Fabian Nunez’s shameful bid, Prop. 93, to weaken term-limits in California. One thing is clear, since winning that battle back in February, Poizner has only gotten busier. And, for him, this is just the beginning! While the status of a potential primary is still unclear (Campbell, Fiorina, Foy, Whitman all loom out there), taking on a Democrat in California (whether DiFi, Brown, Newsom or Villaraigosa) will be a daunting task.
As for me, as a Party officer, I don’t take official positions in GOP primaries. But you can be sure that we’ll be engaging all of the potential and official candidates for statewide office on the GOP side, and bringing you information on what they are doing, where they stand on the major issues of the day, and, of course, the cutting-edge analysis that you would expect!
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