In California, Meg Whitman leans less overtly on Pete Wilson
Attention inside Washington Monday has focused on Glenn Beck鈥檚 rally over the weekend, but outside the Beltway contests are heating up as well, particularly in many of the country鈥檚 37 gubernatorial races.
In California, Meg Whitman, the Republican candidate for governor, from former governor Pete Wilson as she tries to appeal to independent and Latino voters. The former eBay CEO has relied heavily on Mr. Wilson in her campaign so far 鈥� as did current Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) 鈥� and used his standing among conservatives to bring in votes on the June 8 primary.
But now that she鈥檚 trying to appeal to a broader segment of the electorate, Ms. Whitman is giving less visibility to the former governor, who鈥檚 variously lionized or villified for championing Proposition 187, the 1994 ballot initiative to deny illegal immigrants access to schools, health care, and other social services that was eventually declared unconstitutional.
Wilson, Whitman鈥檚 campaign chairman, called Whitman 鈥渢ough as nails鈥� on immigration , and helped give her campaign early credibility. 鈥淧ete Wilson is radioactive to a lot of California voters, but to a lot of Republicans, he鈥檚 Obi-Wan Kenobi,鈥� Jack Pitney, a government professor at Claremont McKenna College, told The Sacramento Bee.
In Michigan, meanwhile, Republican gubneratorial candidate Rick Snyder made a similar pitch to the middle in his address to the Republican state convention. Mr. Snyder, to take the state back for Republicans this fall in his race against Democratic candidate and Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero (current Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm is prohibited from seeking a third term) appealed for party unity.
He vowed to protect Michigan鈥檚 natural resources and , and left out any talk of abortion, gun rights, or no-new-tax pledges.
Despite Snyder's efforts, however, the convention eventually between "tea party" activists and party regulars. Some of the anger apparently stemmed from the activists鈥� difficulty getting credentials.
And perhaps the award for most ambitious 2010 candidate goes to , who is on the ballot for not one but two offices in November. The candidate for state treasurer is also running for mayor of Mineral Springs, Ark. Mr. Tullis has said he believes he can hold both offices, though not collect both salaries (he鈥檇 take the treasurer鈥檚 $54,305-per-year salary over the $7,800 pay for the mayor鈥檚 job), but others have said the state constitution prohibits it.
