California Races Roundup

In the gubernatorial race, the emerging narrative is that GOP frontrunner Meg Whitman is buying the governor's mansion. She has given her own campaign $59 million dollars. Tom Steve* Poizner, her GOP competition, has contributed $19 million to his own campaign, but it doesn't seem to be gaining any ground on Whitman. [*As a commenter notes, Poizner is so far behind, I forgot his first name. -GM]

The latest poll has GOP voters picking Whitman over Poizner by 60 percent to 20 percent. California voters choose Whitman over Dem competition Jerry Brown by 44 percent to 41 percent while Brown leads Poizner by 53 percent to 22 percent.

In the race for Barbara Boxer's seat, the California Secretary of State has the list of 13 official challengers (PDF). Boxer will face blogger Mickey Kaus in the June Democratic primary.

All three GOP candidates are within the margin when matched up against Boxer, though Tom Campbell does slightly better than Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore. The NRSC has said that it will remain neutral in the GOP primary.

For a while, Campbell had a bit of a lead on Fiorina among GOP voters, but that has eroded in recent days as the National Organization for Marriage assails him for his pro-gay marriage stance.

Campbell has also been taking fire over his anti-Israel positions and recent revelations that a convicted terrorist raised funds for his 2000 campaign. The belief that he doesn't understand the threat of radical Islam led GOProud to repudiate Campbell's overtures to gay voters.

Meanwhile, Fiorina's old boss, Senator John McCain, endorsed her today, saying he thinks she's "eminently qualified" to be a U.S. senator.

Staunch conservative DeVore trails in the race only attracting single digits from GOP primary voters.

posted by Gabriel Malor at 09:47 PM

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