Listening to the torturous half-hour in-studio interview of Meg Whitman on the John and Ken Show last week was not easy to do. At first blush it would seem difficult to imagine a candidate with so much money and so many consultants doesn’t understand the electorate or John and Ken.
Whitman supporter Ventura County Supervisor Peter Foy published a thoughtful column in the San Diego Union Tribune explaining some of the problems with her campaign’s strategy, which appeared on the same day of the John and Ken interview debacle. And he was on the mark. But there is more.
It amazes me that up in Sacramento, where many of the consultants live, they just don’t understand the phenomenon of the Los Angeles based-John and Ken. Before I became a “spokeshole” (A John and Ken term), I had several opportunities to be on the show and actually did on-site shows in various locations to gather petition signatures on the issue of illegal immigration.
A few mistakes the consultants make relative to John and Ken are as follows.
- Thinking John and Ken are or should be Republican hacks. Memo: they aren’t and they don’t care about Republicans or the Grand Old Party. They are radio hosts that want to be successful. Their path is not to read the talking points memo put out from the GOP. It just doesn’t happen. In that sense they are more populist. But also what has been good for ratings is also exposing Republicans that say one thing, like pledging not to raise taxes, and then doing another. That is a Republican Party problem, not John and Ken’s.
- Underestimating their appeal. In the Capitol, I was always surprised by how many people would say, “I don’t know why people say they should worry about John and Ken. Who listens to them anyways?" I don’t know. How about the estimated listening audience of over a million people during peak drive times? Lets say it is half that. Not to shabby. I represented my boss at a meeting with 40 people. It was a heck of a meeting but not thousands. John and Ken’s daily listeners could fill the Rose Bowl — over and over and over!
- Thinking if they don’t win, they don’t have an impact. Some of the projects that John and Ken adopt don’t pan out. An initiative isn’t qualified or a person isn’t recalled. Major League batters don’t hit a home run at every at-bat. John and Ken have a pretty good batting average and do make a difference. Especially in a close race.
That brings us to Meg Whitman, who they now call Nutmeg. John and Ken say they don’t want Jerry Brown as Governor. I know I don’t want Jerry Brown to be Governor. I suffered through that once.
John and Ken are putting voice to a very real concern that I have heard from many conservatives — who are upset enough that I would call it a big problem. They can’t be blackmailed into voting for the Republican nominee anymore. Twenty years ago it went like this, "Pete Wilson isn’t good on everything, but we need him for reapportionment, judges etc…"
In 2003 and 2006, it was, "Look Schwarzenegger isn’t good on everything, but if Bustamante or Angelides become governor we would get higher taxes, bigger government, Harvey Milk Day, regulations on ammo, same-sex marriage, Democratic judges, horrendous environmental regulations, high unemployment, huge budget deficits, massive increases in bond debt, businesses leaving the state, dogs and cats living together…" At least we didn’t get the cats and dogs.
So that is the problem. In 2010 the blackmail doesn’t work. The nuances or “triangulation” that candidates used successfully in prior elections doesn’t cut it. That is why you see Poizner and McClintock and others are not racing to the Whitman campaign — and Foy, who is supporting Whitman, boldly challenging her strategies in a major daily newspaper. That is the message of many that sympathize with the Tea Party movement.
What people want in 2010 is boldness, clarity and courage. Even if they don’t agree with every position, the boldness will be rewarded. This isn’t like past elections.
John and Ken tap that knowledge for their radio program. GOP candidates, especially Meg Whitman, should tap into it for votes.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
How is Whitman going to get the pro-gun vote given her years of antigun statements and practices in EBay+PayPal?
CA Sportsmen are gonna stay home at best – and the single-issue gun voters I know are likely to veer to Brown since he reigned in the DOJ Firearms Bureau excesses and filed a pro-gun brief to the Supreme Ct in support of “incorporation” or the 2nd Amendment.
Bill Wiese
San Jose CA
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Hopefully, someone from Meg’s campaign will read this.
She is Norcal. I don’t know if any of her campaign is from Socal.
If she wins, it will be because Socal Republicans, not Norcal Democrats.
Instead of opening up a campaign office in East LA, move campaign headquarters to Orange County.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I meant that someone’s from Meg’s campaign should read Mike’s article.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I have always been amazed by the campaigns that tell me the other guy is so bad you have to vote for me. I have options and Dale Ogden, Libertarian is one. Either that or I go with the 1990 protest vote and write in Jeff Greene!
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I know I listen to John and Ken. I start with Rush on KFI and end with John and Ken. I live in Roseville.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
The thing is, you don’t have to agree with John & Ken on every issue to gain their respect. But, you do need to be a straight shooter. Which she and her campaign have not been. You cannot put out Spanish language ads which say one thing, and English language ads which contradict them.
And, you have to have some common sense. How could any right-thinking Republican or business person be opposed to the passage of Proposition 23? The idea of incinerating California’s economy by soldiering on with increasingly stringent global warming regulations while surrounding states are moving in the opposite direction is NUTS! Even if you believe the global warming propaganda, you can’t really think that CA can do anything about it alone. Passing that legislation was crazy, and not suspending it in the face of 13% unemployment is insane!
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Poizner would have been responsive to conservative common sense.
eMeg may have a tough time in turning this around because a grilling by John and Ken will peal back the layers of a candidate, exposing who they really are.
If you are a real dyed in the wool conservative, John and Ken would get you to confess your sins, and start sobbing that all you want in the world is a government that can fit into the back of an F-250.
What they uncovered is unpleasant, disappointing and disturbing.At this point I can only hope that eMeg will watch Reagan’s speech at the 1980 Republican convention on you tube. Doing so would show her everything that Government should and could be and everything near and dear to every conservative’s heart, a compelling vision of government that had our founding fathers sitting up in their graves to salute.
To the Republic.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Mike is spot on with this column. I don’t know how many times I have told Republican staffers or campaign consultants that John & Ken matter and they better start listening. Their response was to always po po what I said.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
How about the larger issue that is: she can’t answer “our” talking points because she is not one of us (I mean “Republican”)
Big deal that she registered as Republican (bet can’t seem to participate even as a voter until she decided to run for Gov), she is not in concert with the party…and certainly not with the VOTERS.
She doesn’t support Prop 23? No kidding? (big /SARC from me)…she is a true Greenie. Oh, misleading one side or the other on illegal immigration? Well, how-dee-do!
Yet, we are supposed to TRUST HER (that she really is “one of us”)?
FTR- I live in So Cal but do not listen to J&K…or Rush, or any talk radio. But I sure have been getting LOTS of calls from people who do.
The BIGGER problem is that now Republican voters are likely to sit this one out, when HER WINNING is not the only (or even most important, at this point) issue. There are other races that are equally important and propositions to pass or defeat. Meg is not just hurting Meg…she is hurting the overall effort.
My vote is going 3rd party for the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE…but probably not the last. But I still will go out and cast that vote and many others on Nov 2nd. We cannot allow HER RACE to dominate the “conversation”…dump/dodge the Meg-wagon and shift it to the things that really matter.
August 11th, 2010 at 12:00 am
Well well – looks like Jerry Brown is a shoo-in. And it’s hello higher taxes, more regulations and increasing welfare for California. Good going, “conservatives.”
August 12th, 2010 at 12:00 am
If it was up to the party to select the nominee, they would have not chose eMeg. There was no stopping her unlimited money to buy the office.
I am not voting for a third party candidate, because in doing so, I would only make it easier for Brown to win.
It does not matter how good a third party candidate maybe and would indeed be a good governor, I would have to jump off a bridge if Brown won by one vote.
To the Republic,
August 24th, 2010 at 12:00 am
I have not neard how well or not eMeg was recieved at the CRP Convention.