When Mike Murphy, a heavy-hitter strategist for Meg Whitman, asked if there was anything that could be done to get the state insurance commissioner to drop out of the GOP governor’s race, Steve Poizner could have just said no.
But where’s the fun in that?
Instead, Poizner called a news conference Monday to announce that he was sending letters to the FBI, the attorney general, the secretary of state, assorted U.S. attorneys, the Fair Political Practices Commission and just about everyone this side of the Alpine County sheriff, accusing Murphy and the Whitman campaign of trying to force him out of the governor’s race.
“Meg Whitman does not have the right to prevent a legal election process through threats and intimidation” that would deny Republican voters a chance to choose their nominee, Poizner thundered.
Stirring stuff. Cynical, political and way over the top, but stirring.
Probably no one would be more surprised than Poizner if any of his letters gets anything more than a cursory reading and pro forma response on their way to the back of the file drawer. And the idea that opposing campaign staffers have quiet conversations about political deals that may never happen is about as startling as the news that there was gambling at Rick’s in Casablanca.
Poizner may say that he is shocked, shocked to hear Murphy suggest that Republicans are increasingly worried that Democrat Jerry Brown might be the only winner in a primary death match between two mega-rich candidates like Whitman and Poizner.
He may also argue that despite being 30 points behind Whitman in the polls, he’s poised for victory.
But until Tom Campbell switched his campaign over to the Senate race, Poizner was running third in a three-person race. And he knows that with Whitman spending money at a frantic early pace, her name is the only one Republicans hear.
Which is why Murphy’s ham-handed effort to clear the field for Whitman was like manna from heaven for Poizner.
With Murphy reportedly threatening to put Poizner “through the wood-chipper” if he didn’t withdraw from the race and warning that the Whitman campaign “can spend $40M+ tearing up Steve if we must,” Murphy managed to cast a former businessman who sold his tech company for $1 billion as the little guy threatened by a high-rolling bully.
While Murphy has a reputation as one of the nation’s top GOP consultants, this hasn’t been one of his finest moments.
It’s one thing to have an unofficial chat with someone on the other side of a primary about the “what-ifs” of the campaign, but it’s another thing entirely to put the whole plan in writing and to include the quid pro quo: If Poizner gets out, “we could unite the entire party behind Steve right now to build a serious race against Diane F(einstein) in 2012 (for the U.S. Senate).”
Now the suggestion that Whitman, who didn’t register as a Republican until 2007 and was virtually invisible politically until she began her run for governor, has suddenly become a GOP kingmaker who can crown a Senate candidate isn’t likely to sit well with plenty of longtime California Republican leaders.
And Murphy’s comment that Poizner is “really the only guy on the CA GOP bench for the future” probably has Republican politicians seething.
Murphy, who has been a political consultant for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, apparently has picked up the governor’s less-than-delicate manner of dealing with politicians he is looking to work with (see: Schwarzenegger and Congress).
“I’m starting to worry about (Poizner’s) mental condition,”
Murphy said in a written response to the charges.
Poizner’s campaign is “faltering” and his poll numbers are “still sinking” and he’s “becoming little more than a stalking horse for Jerry Brown and the Democrats.”
Not only that, Murphy said, but Poizner “has been threatening to run a multi-million dollar negative campaign against Meg Whitman for months.”
Now ignoring for a moment that that’s exactly what Murphy said Whitman would do if Poizner stayed in the race or that negative campaigns are what candidates do if they want to win in California, what evidence did he use to show that “Poizner Has Continually Attacked Meg,” as the campaign’s release headlined?
Well, Poizner suggested this week that voters won’t support a rookie politician, mentioned earlier this month that Whitman had backed Barbara Boxer a few years ago and said in September (and plenty of times since) that Whitman hasn’t voted too often over the years and that voters won’t like that.
If Poizner spent more than the price of a few California newspapers for those bits of opposition research, he should demand his money back.
The early response by GOP bloggers, political observers and talk radio sorts (helpfully provided by the Whitman campaign) to Poizner’s ever-so-public slam at Murphy and the Whitman campaign was, at best, mixed, with my compatriot, Joe Mathews, suggesting that “Poizner’s claim seems silly,” and the Red County blog saying that it made the commissioner “look like a weenie.”
But there’s really no such thing as bad publicity for a candidate as far back in the polls as Poizner. His complaints and charges are guaranteed to ignite a short-term furor in the race and put his name in papers across the state.
The shouting and finger-pointing also virtually guarantees that Poizner is in the race until election day and the $17.7 million he had in his campaign account on Dec. 31 will let him run any type of race he wants against Whitman.
This public fight with Whitman could jumpstart Poizner’s moribund campaign and provide him with some sympathy and support. But unless he starts spending some of his cash very soon – and very visibly – it won’t be much help.
John Wildermuth is a longtime writer on California politics.