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Calif. GOP convention to focus on gov. candidates
The Associated Press
INDIAN WELLS
Nearly a year ahead of their primary election, California Republicans are being asked to consider who would best represent their struggling party in a changing state with daunting challenges ahead.
With California mired in a perpetual cycle of budget deficits, all three candidates seeking to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he is termed out of office next year are trying to position themselves as the most responsible stewards of taxpayer money.
Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former congressman Tom Campbell are expected to focus on the area where they can find common ground with this weekend's delegates state fiscal policy.
Whitman, a political novice who officially launched her gubernatorial campaign this week after months of campaign events, faces the difficult challenge of trying to persuade the party faithful this weekend that she is a viable candidate.
The billionaire has already given her campaign $19 million and sought to curry favor with the party by giving it $250,000 from her personal fortune for voter-registration efforts.
But that donation became tinged with a sense of irony when, later in the week, The Sacramento Bee reported that Whitman had not been registered to vote before 2002 and that there was no evidence she had ever registered as a Republican before 2007. The embarrassing revelations prompted Whitman to apologize and take "responsibility for my mistake."
She is promising to slash an additional $15 billion in state spending and fire 40,000 state workers to cut state spending, although she has so far declined to detail how she would do that.
In a dinnertime speech Friday night, Campbell blasted both his opponents for failing to provide specifics as they pledge to streamline state government.
He challenged voters to question those who claim they will pay for government programs by eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse," as Whitman said she will do.
"We should never accept that phrase as a substitute for actual numbers," he said.
In a dig to Poizner, he added, "The second candidate has not identified a single dollar of specific cuts. Not one dime!"
Campbell has his own detailed budget proposal, including a temporary 32-cent-a-gallon gas tax to help shore up the state budget during the recession and last week released a plan he said would provide health insurance coverage to another 2 million Californians without any additional cost to taxpayers.
Campbell challenged his fellow Republicans on Friday to do some soul-searching about the party's future. Republican registration in California has slipped to 31 percent of voters, compared to nearly 45 percent for Democrats, and its lawmakers are in the minority in both houses of the Legislature.
The GOP also has had difficulty attracting the 20 percent of California voters registered as independents.
Campbell called on Republicans to carefully consider who has the best chance against a likely Democratic nominee with years of government service. He noted his five terms in Congress, his years teaching economic policy at several universities, and his short tenure as Schwarzenegger's budget director.
"More than any other candidate running for this office, with the exception of Jerry Brown, who actually was governor, I can say that I know what it takes to pass a balanced budget in government," her said.
Brown, the current attorney general, has hinted that he may seek the Democratic nomination in 2010, but has yet to announce a run.
Poizner, who was scheduled to speak Saturday night, released a plan to cut taxes then appeared on a conservative Los Angeles talk radio show, where he signed a pledge saying he would never raise taxes. The pledge has been promoted to lawmakers nationwide by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, whose name has been floated as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, and Fred Barnes, the executive editor of the Weekly Standard, also will address the convention Saturday.
The Associated Press
INDIAN WELLS
Nearly a year ahead of their primary election, California Republicans are being asked to consider who would best represent their struggling party in a changing state with daunting challenges ahead.
With California mired in a perpetual cycle of budget deficits, all three candidates seeking to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger when he is termed out of office next year are trying to position themselves as the most responsible stewards of taxpayer money.
Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner and former congressman Tom Campbell are expected to focus on the area where they can find common ground with this weekend's delegates state fiscal policy.
Whitman, a political novice who officially launched her gubernatorial campaign this week after months of campaign events, faces the difficult challenge of trying to persuade the party faithful this weekend that she is a viable candidate.
The billionaire has already given her campaign $19 million and sought to curry favor with the party by giving it $250,000 from her personal fortune for voter-registration efforts.
But that donation became tinged with a sense of irony when, later in the week, The Sacramento Bee reported that Whitman had not been registered to vote before 2002 and that there was no evidence she had ever registered as a Republican before 2007. The embarrassing revelations prompted Whitman to apologize and take "responsibility for my mistake."
She is promising to slash an additional $15 billion in state spending and fire 40,000 state workers to cut state spending, although she has so far declined to detail how she would do that.
In a dinnertime speech Friday night, Campbell blasted both his opponents for failing to provide specifics as they pledge to streamline state government.
He challenged voters to question those who claim they will pay for government programs by eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse," as Whitman said she will do.
"We should never accept that phrase as a substitute for actual numbers," he said.
In a dig to Poizner, he added, "The second candidate has not identified a single dollar of specific cuts. Not one dime!"
Campbell has his own detailed budget proposal, including a temporary 32-cent-a-gallon gas tax to help shore up the state budget during the recession and last week released a plan he said would provide health insurance coverage to another 2 million Californians without any additional cost to taxpayers.
Campbell challenged his fellow Republicans on Friday to do some soul-searching about the party's future. Republican registration in California has slipped to 31 percent of voters, compared to nearly 45 percent for Democrats, and its lawmakers are in the minority in both houses of the Legislature.
The GOP also has had difficulty attracting the 20 percent of California voters registered as independents.
Campbell called on Republicans to carefully consider who has the best chance against a likely Democratic nominee with years of government service. He noted his five terms in Congress, his years teaching economic policy at several universities, and his short tenure as Schwarzenegger's budget director.
"More than any other candidate running for this office, with the exception of Jerry Brown, who actually was governor, I can say that I know what it takes to pass a balanced budget in government," her said.
Brown, the current attorney general, has hinted that he may seek the Democratic nomination in 2010, but has yet to announce a run.
Poizner, who was scheduled to speak Saturday night, released a plan to cut taxes then appeared on a conservative Los Angeles talk radio show, where he signed a pledge saying he would never raise taxes. The pledge has been promoted to lawmakers nationwide by anti-tax activist Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, whose name has been floated as a possible presidential candidate in 2012, and Fred Barnes, the executive editor of the Weekly Standard, also will address the convention Saturday.