Never Concede
I will not concede.
It does not matter that I spent $140 million and am still a dozen points down in the exits. It does not matter that by waiting I am making myself look out of touch. I want to see results from the Secretary of State’s office. And then I want to wait a few hours more.
It does not matter if every media organization in the country has declared the incumbent U.S. Senator the winner – and me the loser. I will lash out at the media for calling the race, saying that “it was maybe not a smart thing to do.” And I will not be the least bit ashamed or apologetic the next morning, when I meet the media.
It does not matter if my party lost a record number of seats in the House of Representatives under my direction. It does not matter that the entire middle of the country thinks that I’m the devil. I will continue to lead my party, no matter what it does to my party.
Meg’s housekeeper would have been big story whenever it came out
For a journalist, there’s nothing quite like a really big disaster – the sinking of the Titanic, the explosion of the Hindenburg, the Meg Whitman campaign for governor. You can spend weeks or months or years sifting through the wreckage and pinning the blame. It’s a joyous exercise for reporters.
Let’s take the most recent of those historic calamities, Meg 2010. Now, this was a campaign with problems, including having too much money for its own good. Its strategic mistakes were numerous. The heavily staffed campaign offers many rich targets for balme.
But there is one specific criticism that should be re-examined before it becomes conventional wisdom: that Whitman could have escaped damage from the revelation that her housekeeper, Nicky Diaz Santillan, was an undocumented immigrant by putting the story out herself, shortly after she learned of the situation in June 2009. Handled this way, goes the media wisdom, it might have been a one-day story.
Nonsense. This would have been big news – and a serious problem for the Whitman campaign — whenever it was released.
Let’s imagine that Whitman had imbibed this media wisdom and had announced the news about the housekeeper on some August day in 2009. Let’s say that, in a speech on immigration, she would have mentioned that she had to fire herhousekeeper, whom she would not name, when she learned she was undocumented. Would the reaction really have been so different?
The Job Jerry Should Give Meg
Gov.-elect Jerry Brown said Wednesday that Meg Whitman called him to concede and offered to do whatever she could to help him and California. When a reporter asked Brown if he wanted her help, he made a crack about how her money could help fill the state budget.
Funny, but Brown should take her offer seriously and give her a real task.
There’s one that fits her resume, and might result in a good outcome for the state and for Whitman.
That job?
Fix the damn computers.
California’s technology systems are failing to perform basic tasks. Controller John Chiang has said that computers are so broken that he can’t adjust payroll without creating problems. And on election night, the California Secretary of State’s system crashed. This is basic stuff that needs to be fixed.
My Secret Love For the Tea Party
This entire political year, I feel like I’ve been living a
lie. I feel like I haven’t leveled with you, my readers. I feel like I’ve been
in the closet, unable to express a love that dare not speak its name.
Now I’ve mustered up the courage to admit it:
Yes, I love the tea party.
The Trouble With Prop 25
I’m the author of a new book that argues that California
needs to get rid of all the two-thirds supermajority requirements that clog its
constitution, including the two-thirds requirement for passing a budget. So why
don’t I like Prop 25, which would permit a budget to be passed by majority
vote?
Because California governing system is so broken that it’s
possible to vote for an initiative that advances a good policy and still make
things worse.
Meg and Jerry Prolong the Agony
One of the curiosities of the gubernatorial campaign involves the public relations competence of both candidates. Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman are supposed to be smart people, so why do they keep turning p.r. brush fires into roaring infernos?
The two most recent examples are instructive. Jerry Brown, by not identifying the campaign aide who suggested portraying Whitman as a "whore" on an accidentally recorded voice mail message, turned what should have been a one-day story into a week-long drama.
A State of Whores
Did I miss a memo? When did "whore" become an insult in California politics?
Without whores, this state would have no system of government.
The logic of prostitution is the central organizing principle of the California budget.
A Write-In Gubernatorial Candidate for Reform?
The most depressing moment of this week’s gubernatorial debate came at the end, when Tom Brokaw asked the two candidates about whether California needed broader constitutional reform. Meg Whitman ducked the question and repeated platitudes. Jerry Brown said that he would work with the system he was given.
Together, that amounted to the same answer:
So what to do? The state’s system doesn’t work. And these two candidates have no proposals – or interest, for that matter – in doing anything about it.
Can We Elect Meg’s Money?
Are you sold on Meg Whitman as a governor? Me neither. The state needs big change, and her campaign has offered stale plans and over-the-top political attacks.
There’s not much hope in Meg.
But one must have high hopes for Meg’s money.
Yes, the billionaire candidate has spent north of $100 million. But there’s much, much more where that came from. And so, while Meg doesn’t inspire me, her money does.
Jerry Doesn’t Need Positions on All Nine Ballot Measures
Meg Whitman’s campaign has been issuing a steady stream of press releases demanding that Jerry Brown take positions on all nine measures, Props 19-27, on the November statewide ballot.
One wonders why she bothers.
Brown isn’t going to take a position on each measure because she asks him to. Nor should he. A candidate is under no obligation to wade into measures. In fact, the political culture in some countries with direct democracy is that candidates and elected officials should stay out of such matters, which are decisions left for the people.