links for 2010-01-20

The Fiorina campaign put out a broadside declaring Campbell’s fiscally conservative credentials expired long ago. In his recent run for governor Campbell supported a temporary gas tax increase to help balance the state budget.

I asked Campbell about that at his Friday news conference.

Campbell said his proposal for a temporary tax increase was a pragmatic, responsible approach to California’s budget problem. He said his overall proposal for the state budget was to cut three dollars of spending for every dollar of tax increase.
Campbell, however, said he would not sign a No-Tax Pledge because, he argued, no one can anticipate every situation that might arise. He asked voters to look at his record in congress to understand that he would not seek a tax increase but would pursue massive spending cuts if elected.
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Sorry but Tom Campbell is a tax and spend RINO

An internal memo I obtained from Carly Fiorina’s campaign (authored by campaign manager Martin Wilson), notes that, “depending on the results today in Massachusetts where a Republican may win in the bluest of blue states, a mindset of ‘anything is possible’ becomes more the norm and not the exception.”
The obtained memo includes internal polling conducted during former Rep. Tom Campbell’s announcement tour (when he switched from the gubernatorial race to the senate race), which shows that in a first ballot match-up, Fiorina and Campbell are tied at 26 percent apiece, with DeVore at 11 percent.

But when voters are provided information regarding Cambpell’s questionable record on fiscal issues, Carly comes in with 35 percent, followed by DeVore at 18 percent. Campbell then trails at 11 percent.
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Marty Wilson is a proven winner with Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Carly Fiorina said today that California Sen. Barbara Boxer, the Democrat she hopes to unseat this year, is “extremely vulnerable,” particularly in light of the Senate upset in Massachusetts on Tuesday.

“I think Barbara Boxer is clearly extremely vulnerable. She was vulnerable a year ago and she’s more vulnerable today,” the former CEO of Hewlett-Packard said today in a small conference at the office of her Sacramento strategists.

Fiorina predicted jobs, government spending and the healthcare legislation in Washington would remain on voters’ minds throughout 2010. ”All of those things play in California just as they played in Massachusetts,” Fiorina said. On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters swept Republican Scott Brown into the U.S. Senate over Democratic state Atty. Gen. Martha Coakley.
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The GOP sees blood in the water and it is Boxer's

In a short talk with reporters Wednesday, Fionrina repeatedly hammered on incumbent Barbara Boxer, whom she hopes to face in November. But — when asked about recent polls — she also attacked Republican Tom Campbell, who announced last week that he would pursue Boxer's seat as well (he had been running for governor). It's a notable change from her M.O. prior to Campbell's departure, when she seemed to avoid talking about her other Republican challenger, state Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. (She also mentioned him today.)

"I think what all those polls say is that Barbara Boxer is vulnerable. Tom Campbell has run for office now several times, and he obviously has strong name ID and when voters realize on many important issues his positions are indistinguishable from Barbara Boxer, his ratings will fall, just as Martha Coakley's did," she said.
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Carly is going right after Tom Campbell

Former Gov. Sarah Palin will announce today that she's hitting the campaign trail for Republicans — including her former running mate John McCain.

Palin, who did not campaign in last year's governor's races or in yesterday's Senate race in Massachusetts, has committed to contests in three states, including two Republican primaries, an aide said.

She'll campaign in Texas for Gov. Rick Perry, who faces a primary challenge from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison; she'll appear in Arizona for Senator John McCain, who faces a challenge from the right; and she'll appear in Minnesota for Rep. Michelle Bachmann, a conservative firebrand who has emerged as a national figure.

The upset victory of Republican Scott Brown Tuesday in the Massachusetts Senate race had an immediate effect in California, where GOP U.S. Senate Republican candidates wasted no time going on offense — vowing that Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is on tap next.

Former South Bay Rep. Tom Campbell made the first move, issuing a jab at Boxer — along a claim that he will now take her on and address "the suicidal direction Congress and the President are taking our economy."
The combative statement from the ususally low-key Campbell hint at the pumped-up themes — and energy — to come from the GOP side in the 2010 CA U.S. Senate race against Boxer, where former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck DeVore of Irvine are already raring to go. And GOP state officials were positively bubbly in their reaction to Tuesday's election results in the Bay State, where Brown handily beat Democrat Martha Coakley.
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Nevada, Colorado and Missouri are next and easier