Yesterday, I found an example of the national media understanding the situation in California in Hendrick Hertzberg’s article in the August 24 issue of the New Yorker. It didn’t take long to remind me that he’s the exception to the rule.
Take today’s Wall Street Journal. I practically fell out of my chair when I read this:
California’s fiscal crisis is giving Tom Campbell, an ex-congressman with few resources, a fighting chance to become the state’s next governor. (WSJ 8/18/09)
Yes, that is a direct quote from what is supposed to be one of the world’s leading newspapers. But, apparently the Wall Street Journal didn’t bother to check the financial reports. A serious candidate doesn’t have $317K in their bank account at this point. (And lest you think there’s big money coming in since the report…let’s dispel that now.) Considering that Meg Whitman has somewhere over $20 million in the bank, you just can’t compete in California without raising more money.
I will give Campbell some props for the DailyKos/R2K poll numbers. The fact that he’s only down 5 points is pretty astounding considering the money disparity. I think that poll might say more about Steve Poizner’s unpopularity in the GOP electorate more than anything else (9 pts? ouch!).
Would Campbell be a strong competitor in the general election? Probably. If he could raise the money, he has some interesting ideas that could capture a sizable chunk of the Decline to State crowd. Is he more moderate than Whitman and Poizner? Sure, but it’s not like that takes a lot. Poizner is running a campaign to defund California. And Whitman has some issues with the gayz as well as slave labor.
The Wall Street Journal may not understand the CA GOP electorate, but I do. Unless Campbell starts skewing hard to the right, the votes just won’t be there. In today’s Zombie Death Cult, “moderates” – or the slightly sane- just cannot win a statewide primary.
On another note, as I was cruising the virtual pages of the WSJ, I also came upon this article on mortgage lending. It was critical of Vermont for not letting their lenders give out crazy loans that brought down the economy. Seriously, they thought it would have been better if VT had played the game like everybody else and fed the bubble. Yes, ladies and gentleman, meet your media.