Tom Campbell argued to Calbuzz on Thursday that his liberal stands on social issues will be rendered moot in the U.S. Senate race because “economic issues have never been more dominant,” making it likely he can win the Republican nomination.
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Uh, I don' think so, especially with Proposition 8 and gay marriage.

It’s not that social issues aren’t important to California’s staunchly conservative GOP primary voters, said former Silicon Valley Rep. Campbell, who is pro-choice, pro-gay rights and relatively green on the environment. But, he said, “The economic issues eclipse the social issues in the current environment.”

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Tom Campbell — who until this morning was running for California governor — told The Bee this afternoon that he switched races not only because he was facing two wealthy gubernatorial rivals, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, ready to spend tens of millions on their races but because he was alarmed at rising federal spending.

He spoke on his way from San Jose, where he had just finished a campaign event, to Sacramento, where he will hold another event at 9 a.m. Friday at the Hyatt Regency hotel. Campbell announced his switch this morning in Los Angeles.

"What we've seen in the last year is a tremendous growth of the federal government, tripling the deficit and an expansion of the federal role in health care and financial services," Campbell told The Bee. "The federal issues are just exploding in the last year."
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More like Campbell has an itch to win some public office – ANY public office. Just another politician bored with the private sector.

Shock Waves Rippling: Trende makes a good point about the possible effect of a Brown win on health care:

[P]eople are predicting that if Brown wins either (1) the Democrats will pass the Senate bill or (2) the Democrats will get the revised bill through the Senate before Brown is seated.

I guess this is possible, but you have to think that a few more Democrats in R-leaning districts or states will be spooked enough by this to resist voting for the bill. Does Evan Bayh really think his seat is THAT safe? If Scott Brown can win in Massachusetts, John Hostettler can sure as heck win in Indiana. [E.A.]
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Obamacare may be doomed no matter what.

Last evening, while on Broadside with Jim Braude, I told Jim that Scott Brown was trying to prevent Nuns like the Sisters of Charity that taught me from performing medical procedures contrary to their religious beliefs. Today Martha Coakley told WBSM Radio Host Ken Pittman that those nuns should not work in an Emergency Room. The audio can be found here. This exchange starts at 9:34 into the audio.

Ken Pittman: Right, if you are a Catholic, and believe what the Pope teaches that any form of birth control is a sin. ah you don't want to do that.

Martha Coakley: No we have a seperation of church and state Ken, lets be clear.

Ken Pittman: In the emergency room you still have your religious freedom.

Martha Coakley: (…stammering) The law says that people are allowed to have that. You can have religious freedom but you probably shouldn't work in the emergency room.
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What a gaffe. Scott Brown may win this race

3. Matt Drudge

Internet pioneer, owner of The Drudge Report

Many have predicted Drudge’s demise but the internet pioneer who sprung to national attention when he broke the Monica Lewinsky scandal as the mainstream media hesitated endures. As with Limbaugh, the White House despises Drudge but cannot stop thinking about him. When Drudge posted a video of Obama Biographies Plus News talking about the end of private health insurance in 2007, the White House sent out Linda Douglass, White House Deputy Communications Director and a former ABC News reporter to brand them "outright falsehoods”. Drudge promptly posted the clip of Douglass, who came off second in the tussle. Establishment journalism types often decry Drudge but many of them are in email contact with him and crave a link that can immediately catapult one of their stories to the top of their newspaper website’s “most viewed” list.
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#1 Dick Cheney
#2 Rush Limbaugh
#4 Sarah Palin

We asked George if he was OK serving as Campbell's "honorary chair" even though Campbell is pro-choice and pro-same sex marriage. George said he wishes there were fewer abortions but that it's the woman's right to choose. Marriage, however, should be between a man and woman. But those weren't deal-breakers for him. This was about fiscal responsibility, he said.

We know that the Campbell Senate campaign is in its infancy and that they're going to be stressing his fiscal chops (the National Taxpayers Union Foundation gave him high marks while he was in Congress.) But they may want to think the wording on one of the onstage signs here Thursday: "Cheapest Man in Congress." Just doesn't have a good ring.
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Pretty BIG differences. Time for Campbell to move along and quit again.

Honorable and intelligent people can disagree over the substance and details of what President Obama and congressional Democrats are trying to do on health care reform and climate change. But nearly a year after Obama's inauguration, judging by where the Democrats stand today, it's clear that they have made a colossal miscalculation.

The latest unemployment and housing numbers underscore the folly of their decision to pay so much attention to health care and climate change instead of focusing on the economy "like a laser beam," as President Clinton pledged to do during his 1992 campaign. Although no one can fairly accuse Obama and his party's leaders of ignoring the economy, they certainly haven't focused on it like a laser beam.
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Obama ignored the Carville/Begala mantra: It is the economy, stupid.