And The Gloves Can Come Off!

The California Governor’s race has gotten a shake up in the last few weeks as Tom Campbell dropped out, to make a run instead for Barbara Boxer’s Senate seat.

Folks, things are about to get ugly! (Isn’t it exciting?!)

As noted in a San Jose Mercury News article this week, “Before, Whitman and Poizner would have had to keep a lid on nastiness for fear the famously genteel Campbell would ‘slip through the middle’ as the public became repulsed by multimillion-dollar mudslinging.” (http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14251951?source=most_viewed&nclick_check=1)

Now why does that scenario sound familiar? Not that long ago, in the 1998 race for the Governor’s seat, when we elected none other than recently ousted Former Governor Gray Davis. The poor man in the race, Davis eked by while airline mogul Al Checchi and Rep. Jane Harman from Southern California spent massive amounts of their personal wealth attacking each other.

Afraid of a historical repeat, Whitman and Poizner have, thus far, run a cordial race. However, with Campbell out of the running, the mitts can come off.

Whitman, worth an estimated $1.3 billion, has already donated $29 million to her own war chest while Poizner, who is refraining from disclosing his personal net worth, has only given himself $15 million. Not surprisingly, since he (or she) with the most money wins, Whitman is currently leading the Republican primary race 45 percent to Poizner’s 17 percent. I know, I can do math, 38 percent of voters are still undecided.

To see whether or not the candidate’s have any actual differences in their platforms, check out this cute little chart: http://www.mercurynews.com/portlet/article/html/imageDisplay.jsp?contentItemRelationshipId=2832973