Free Republic

SAN DIEGO— Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman on Thursday offered a lengthy explanation of her past support for Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer — something opponent Steve Poizner has repeatedly attacked her over. During a town hall meeting at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, the former eBay CEO said that she and other Silicon Valley entrepreneurs endorsed Boxer and donated to her campaign for re-election in 2004 because of the California Democrat’s opposition to taxing Internet sales. She said Internet taxation was “the most important issue to eBay sellers and to technology in the Silicon Valley.” “Sometimes when you’re...

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman is running a TV ad accusing rival Steve Poizner of taking liberal positions on a variety of issues. Following is the text of the ad and an analysis by Jack Chang of The Bee's Capitol Bureau:TextHow liberal is Steve Poizner? Poizner supported partial-birth abortion. Taxpayer-funded abortion. Received a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood. Opposed the Bush tax cuts. Gave $10,000 to Al Gore's recount. Wants to eliminate the two-thirds vote required for the Legislature to increase spending. Sided with unions attacking Prop. 13. Increased his department's budget nearly 14 percent. Steve Poizner. Liberal on...

For a long time, Meg Whitman rode high in the polls in her effort to win the Republican nomination in California for Governor. Over the last month, her position has suddenly eroded, according to a new Survey USA poll, and now she finds herself in a dead heat with insurance commissioner Steve Poizner. Now the former eBay CEO has to fight hard to hold onto a nomination that most people assumed she would win, with the primary just around the corner: Not long ago Meg Whitman had such a huge lead – 50 points – over Steve Poizner for the...

Former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, co-chair of the Republican Leadership Council, said Monday that GOP candidates in the current election cycle must reject the "the party of no" profile and the idea that "compromise is a dirty word" -- and endorsed former Rep. Tom Campbell in California's hotly contested GOP U.S. Senate race. "We feel he is the candidate which, besides being able to win in the fall...also brings those kinds of characteristics to play to the office that will make him a very effective Senator, and one that can start to solve problems,'' Whitman said in a...

In the California governor's race, Steve Poizner goes very, very hard at Meg Whitman on immigration, drawing a sharp difference on an issue that plays in his favor in a Republican primary, but which Republicans worry could backfire in a general election.

Madame "Too Busy To Vote Even Though I Had A Household Staff" isn't holding up well now that the people who do vote are paying attention. Meg Whitman would be an absolute disaster for California. At best, she's Arnold Schwarzenegger in drag. At worst, she's a more masculine version of Jerry Brown.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman said in San Diego on Thursday she opposes the Arizona anti-illegal immigration legislation and would veto such a bill if it were sent to her desk as governor. “I understand the frustrations that Arizonans have with the abject failure of the federal government to secure the border of the United States,” she said. “However, if such a law came to me as governor of California, I would oppose it. And the reason is I think I have a better plan to solve this most urgent problem.” Whitman’s opponent for the Republican nomination, state Insurance...

Republican gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman have feuded over which one is a real conservative, but check the expiration date on that label.Whoever emerges from the June 8 primary must pivot away from the conservative tag in the months that follow. Winning the general election will require substantial support from independent voters in California, with GOP voter registration below 31 percent.Poizner has a tougher challenge in appealing to centrists after spending the primary race trying to establish conservative credentials on issues from immigration to the environment. Whitman had more freedom to take moderate positions with a primary lead...

"Meg 2010, Building a New California," the glossy 40-plus page "policy agenda" for former eBay CEO and GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, is so slick that it sat on my desk for weeks before I could finish it. I would pick it up, think that like her candidacy, it is overly packaged, and toss it back on the pile of papers that litter my desk. It does a great job of laying out California's financial woes and suggesting possible reforms - but it leaves out how she'll get things done in Sacramento. I could not help but think about Meg...

California voters will likely be asked in the November general election if the state's greenhouse gas law should be put on hold for rosier economic times.

Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman traveled remarkably similar paths to becoming candidates for governor of California. Born and educated in other states, they made their way to California's Silicon Valley and stunning success – he in adapting GPS technology to cell phones, she in creating a new retail marketplace in the ether. Both came late to politics but, not surprisingly, adopted the Silicon Valley model of capitalistic, but pragmatic, social moderation. Both had that image, one potentially salable to the state's fickle electorate, as they began to seek the Republican nomination. Billionaire Whitman opted for political blitzkrieg, spending tens of...

SAN JOSE – Trying to climb back from a double-digit deficit in polls, Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner used virtually every opportunity to attack front-runner Meg Whitman in their second and final scheduled debate Sunday night. Poizner, the state insurance commissioner, assailed Whitman from the outset by questioning her investments with embattled Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs and attempting to connect her to high-profile Democrats. The hourlong debate at the Tech Museum in San Jose was marked by sharp barbs over which one had stronger conservative credentials. "Who are you, really?" Poizner said to Whitman. "The Republican base is looking...

The Republican Meg Whitman, running for governor in California said Arizona is taking the wrong approach....

"As a band of noisy nurses derided her as "Queen Meg," Republican gubernatorial front-runner Meg Whitman brought a quartet of GOP heavy-hitters to the Peninsula on Friday night to raise a half-million dollars for her candidacy. U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State George Shultz praised the former eBay CEO as a smart and pragmatic woman who would keep California from plunging over a cliff. "She can get the job done," said Shultz, now a fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution."

National Republican leaders lined up behind GOP gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman at a $1,000-a-plate fundraiser Friday night, with stars such as U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz joining Whitman on the stage of the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City. The event, however, hit a few bumps before it got started, with a running protest organized by the California Nurses Association crashing the fundraiser. Dozens of demonstrators, many wearing blond wigs modeled after Whitman's cut, surprised the well-dressed attendees by descending from the hotel's...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) ― Republican gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman wrapped up a week of fundraising Friday with help from some big GOP names while facing protests about the amount of money she is spending on her quest for California's highest office. Whitman's political mentor, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, joined her at a donors-only luncheon in Sacramento, where tickets started at $1,000 and went up to $25,900. In the evening, Whitman ended her weeklong fundraising tour at a gala in Redwood City with Romney, former Republican presidential nominee John McCain, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and former Secretary of State...

Whitman gave $8,000 to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer's reelection effort in 2003, a total that includes a contribution to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Along with 16 other tech leaders, she signed a letter that said, "Barbara Boxer is a courageous leader and friend of California's technology industry." Poizner wrote checks for a total of at least $21,000 forAl Gore's campaign, Gore's recount expenses, and the Democratic National Committee in 2000. Here are the excuses each candidate offers for being generous with the wrong people, starting with Whitman – who was CEO of eBay when she made the donation. "Meg...

A fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman today at the Sutter Club in Sacramento drew the second installment of the nurses union's traveling Queen Meg protest road show, which debuted last night in Beverly Hills. As Whitman, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and their supporters met in the club, several dozen nurses, state employees and others made a ruckus on the sidewalk, holding signs reading "Queen Meg, Rich Enough to Rule! 2010." Sacramento resident Renee Lee, a call center representative at the Franchise Tax Board who participated, said she objected to Whitman's calls to cut 40,000 state worker positions,...

With Republican Meg Whitman poised to spend a record $150 million on her gubernatorial bid this election year, Democrats will be counting more than ever on a reliable and powerful ally to pull them through what promises to be a bruising campaign. The state's unions promise to jump into the election with extra gusto this year, as tens of thousands of members get set to knock on voters' doors, work phone banks and otherwise attempt to neutralize the flood of TV and radio ads Whitman will unleash if she wins the Republican nomination. In other words, "It's people vs. money,"...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Several Republican heavyweights will join gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman in California for a series of campaign fundraisers. Her political mentor and previous boss, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, will join Whitman at events this week in Irvine, Los Angeles, Sacramento and Redwood City. She also will be joined at some of the events by former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. John McCain.