Free Republic

Responding to criticism that she has sidestepped media, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman held an unprecedented, hourlong conversation with news reporters Friday, laying out her positions on state pension reform, prisons and immigration while taking shots at Democrat Jerry Brown and Republican rival Steve Poizner. The billionaire former eBay CEO had her most in-depth exchange with political reporters since she entered the race last year, after arriving to cheers at the state GOP convention at the Santa Clara Hyatt. She later spoke to several hundred delegates after being introduced by former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Whitman proposed major reforms to...

Meg Whitman Endorsed Vice President Al Gore For President For over a year, Meg Whitman has masqueraded as a “darn good Republican” while running for governor. However, she’s conveniently avoided telling California’s conservative voters that she endorsed Sen. Barbara Boxer’s 2004 campaign and said she was a “huge fan” of radical activist Van Jones. But the biggest surprise that she’s hidden from voters is her prominent endorsement of Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign in 2000. Whitman was among a small group of technology executives who backed the global warming crusader’s campaign against George W. Bush. As early as August...

Democrat Activist Runs Whitman Campaign Meg Whitman’s top campaign aide is Henry Gomez, a former Democratic National Committee operative who worked against President Ronald Reagan’s policies in the 1980s. Gomez, a registered Democrat, has a “front-and-center role” in as the “hands-on campaign gatekeeper” of the Whitman campaign. Placing an ardent liberal in such a high position on the campaign raises serious questions about who is calling the shots on Whitman’s campaign. Raising further skepticism is the timing of Gomez’s political contributions. Gomez already gave $1,000 to Obama’s presidential primary campaign in March 2008. He then proceeded to give $1,800 to...

After two successive elections that have exposed the Republican Party to ridicule for its lack of diversity and narrow demographic appeal, the GOP suddenly finds itself with an unexpected bounty. From the West Coast to the East Coast, in some of the smallest and largest states in the nation, the party is currently fielding an unusually diverse crop of serious statewide candidates drawn from the seemingly endless list of constituencies the GOP lost in 2008—notably women, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans and young people. Electing just a few of these prospects would give the party a dramatic facelift and go...