California GOP worried over top-two governor race

mercurynews.com ^ | 5/14/14

[cotton1706]

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Republicans who have been trying to rebrand their party as more inclusive and attuned with the issues that Californians care about had hoped this year to offer a candidate for governor who fit that image.

Now, however, the party faces the prospect of a conservative gubernatorial nominee who is on probation for carrying a loaded gun into an airport, is accused of race-baiting and is best known for his opposition to gun control and any relaxation of immigration laws.

While Republicans do not expect to unseat Gov. Jerry Brown in November, tea party darling Tim Donnelly's rise over businessman Neel Kashkari has alarmed party leaders who worry that the assemblyman's candidacy is setting back the rebranding and could hurt other candidates on the ballot.

In this photo taken Tuesday, May 13, 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown, center, walks to a news conference to unveil his revised 2014-15 state budget at the Capitol In this photo taken Tuesday, May 13, 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown, center, walks to a news conference to unveil his revised 2014-15 state budget at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Brown is facing Republican challengers, Assemblyman Tim Donnelly and businessman Neel Kashkari, in his bid to win reelection this year.

"He will simply drag down massive numbers of Republicans who think they are safe today," said Tony Quinn, a Republican and co-editor of the Target Book, which analyzes legislative and congressional races in the state.

Donnelly's popularity in public opinion polls ahead of the June 3 primary had already elicited concern from Republicans when he began trying to link Kashkari, who is Indian-American and Hindu, to Islamic Shariah law.

[cotton1706]

God forbid a conservative should be the republican nominee in California!!

Tim Donnelly has moderates squealing, you know the ones who just LOVED loses Meg Whitman for governor and Carly Fiorina for senator.

And let's not for get that Karl Rove said that Neel Kashkari would be the best person to "lose to Jerry Brown."

Well, maybe conservatives actually would like to win the governorship, not just have fun running for it!

[cotton1706]

http://www.breitbart.com/Breitbart-California/2014/04/08/Rove-Kashkari-Is-Best-to-Lose-to-Jerry-Brown

[Gaffer]

.....more inclusive and attuned with the issues that Californians care about had hoped this year to offer a candidate for governor who fit that image.

Well, that just about says it all. Conservative? California? Don't make me laugh.

California at large, the one that embraces illegals, celebrity kooks, minority influenced politicians and general all-round liberal socialists does not want Republican RINOs much less any real conservative thought and responsible action.

Any real debate, planning or conjecture about this is pointless.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

-— he began trying to link Kashkari, who is Indian-American and Hindu, to Islamic Shariah law. -—

Not good, and very insulting.

OTOH, it’s ironic that liberals are complaining about this, since all religions are supposed to be the same.

Regardless, with Brown at the helm, California’s days are numbered. Mexico appears to be California’s future.

[Huskrrrr]

Many of those voters that are ready for a change in California politics have already voted with their feet and moved to another state.

[Catsrus]

But many of them just take their liberal viewpoints with them and pollute red states. I dunno.....you can take voters out of California, but can you take California out of the voters?

[AppyPappy]

Why would any Republican want to be governor of California? The media blames you for everything.

[Balding_Eagle]

If a Republican becomes governor it isn’t going to be a GOPe candidate.

Why vote for a poor imitation Republican Liberal when you can get the real thing by voting for the Democratic?

No, IF a Republican is elected, and it’s a long shot to be sure, it will be a Tea Party type candidate.

[fieldmarshaldj]

The CA GOP “rebranding” failed. Running left-wingers has been a complete disaster and has only allowed the CA Dems to move the state even further towards their Communist-Fascist Utopian hellhole.

[BillyBoy]

I’m enjoying watching Neel Kashkari crash and burn. The RINO establishment in CA got their way in the last election, and their “electable” RINO crashed and burned. Of course, if a conservative had lost to Brown, they’d be screaming from the rooftops that the GOP didn’t win the Governorship in 2010 because the candidate was “too conservative”.

At least Tim Donnelly will work to promote Republican issues to the electorate and advance those ideas to win over hearts and minds, regardless of whether he wins. Kashkari will just parrot Jerry Brown’s ideas but promise to do a better job of implementing his Marxist agenda.

And speaking of Donnelly, one of the reason he’s crushing the RINO is that even in ultra-liberal California, conservative groups have their act together and run decent candidates. If it was a state like Indiana or Kansas, the “true conservative” candidate anointed by the “tea party” to run against Kashkari would probably be some unknown businessman with zero political skills that campaigns on the idea that he’s Nancy Pelosi’s distant nephew that she’s never met, and therefore his election as Governor will “embarrass Pelosi” (and two months into the campaign, we’d find out this tea party savior that they didn’t vet has a history of donating to Harry Reid and got arrested in 2008 for indecent exposure)

[Impy]

The article fails to mention another GOP candidate, Laguna Hills Mayor Andrew Blount, who is also running AHEAD of Kashkari. I think it’s important to note that the crowned RINO is running third among Republicans, not second.