California: voters are tuned out

07 June 2010 |permalink | email article

POLITICAL analysts believe that no more than a third of California’s 16.9 million voters will vote by the time polls close on Tuesday. A dismal turnout would not be shocking, given the low road major campaigns have taken – notably the brusing Republican primary races for governor and the U.S. Senate. Given such nasty political weather in a state which has long been deep blue Democratic in terms of constitutional offices don’t expect much to change.

Take Meg Whitman’s winning campaign for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.  She talked early on about rebooting the Republican Party in an effort to attract Latino voters. That went out the window when primary opponent Steve Poizner forced her to pivot right on the Arizona illegal immigrant law, gaining her the endorsements of Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney who, like Sarah Palin, are toxic in California.

Former Gov. Pete Wilson, who championed a 1994 ballot measure to deny state funded benefits for illegal immigrants, is Whitman’s campaign chairman, and whose views have not changed. At an Orange County rally Saturday he said public employee unions have “very good reason” to be afraid of Whitman who has pledged to cut 40,000 state jobs. So who will do the work of government?

Sacramento Bee columnist Dan Morain summarized it well:  “You wouldn’t want young children to watch this California primary campaign, at least if you hoped to teach them about honesty, compassion for the less fortunate, the importance of sticking to principles and the value of a buck.” Amen.

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