If another Democrat were to get into the governor’s race, the most logical question to ask him or her would be: Are you in league with Meg Whitman?
The best thing that could happen for Whitman would be for Jerry Brown to get some competition.
There are two reasons for this, one obvious and one not so obvious.
1. The obvious. If Brown sails to the Democratic nomination without facing competition, he can avoid damaging attacks and save his money for what it is certain to be an expensive and brutal general election campaign. In fact, Whitman’s bottomless pit of money is a much greater advantage if Brown has to spend millions in a contested primary.
2. The not so obvious. As Steve Poizner fails to gain traction, it’s become clear that Whitman’s real competition for the Republican nomination is Tom Campbell. And Campbell, more than anyone besides Brown, benefits from the absence of real competition on the Democratic side.
How’s that?
Campbell’s positions – fiscally conservative if sensible, moderate on social issues – are likely to appeal to Decline to State voters. DTSers who show up in the primary will have the choice of taking a Democratic or a Republican ballot. If there’s no competition on the Democratic side, it stands to reason that most DTSers will take a Republican ballot, and most of those votes will go to Campbell.
If I were Campbell, I would have sent Gavin Newsom flowers when he left the race. (Cheap flowers, of course, since Campbell has so little money.)
And if I were Whitman and had $150 million to spend on this race, I’d be sorely tempted to fund another Democratic candidate for governor.