Yesterday Versus Tomorrow

That's pretty much how the Governor's race in California will be positioned by the GOP.  Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown was governor for two terms in 70's, sadly before term limits were enacted, and the 72-year old lefty just doesn't have anything to offer California except higher taxes, more business failures, and a geriatric governor.

Big Government offers seven reason why they think Meg will win:

7. Meg is News. The news media follows, well, news. New candidates, especially dynamic candidates, are written about and get on the news more than candidates that have been around awhile. Jerry Brown is the anything but new – and hardly news.

6. Meg is Tireless. Meg will be everywhere this throughout this entire cycle. Brown, by contrast, hasn’t been in a heavily contested statewide race in decades. Many question whether he has another such race in him. Brown simply will not be able to keep up with Whitman.

5. Meg is Extraordinarily Determined. Anyone that has spent any amount of time with Meg Whitman knows she is an extraordinarily focused person. eBay wasn’t built in a day and it wasn’t built on hope. Whitman proved in her primary campaign that she is goal oriented and categorically determined to meet those goals. Losing is not in her vocabulary.

4. Battle Hardened. Although primaries can be rough, the best candidates benefit from the experience. Meg has gone through a rough primary, taken the hit, saw the polls tighten, went back to work, and emerged the better for it. By contrast, Jerry Brown has yet to even engage.

3. Meg has the Monetary & Marketing Resources. Say what you want, the fact of that matter is that Meg Whitman will be able to compete in every corner of California – especially the LA market. Historically, Republicans draw even throughout the state and had difficulty in statewide elections because they have trouble competing in the LA Market – especially down the stretch. No such trouble this time. Meg has the resources to be on the air everywhere throughout the entire cycle. Beyond that, her commercials to date demonstrate that she has a very capable marketing team.

2. Jerry Brown Has Nothing Relevant to Say. Jerry Brown is the embodiment of Big Government, environmentalist/union politics. The problem for him is that we are in a Prop 13/Tea Party type of environment – not a pro-government/incumbent environment. So what does the state run Jerry Brown have to offer California in 2010?

Brown can’t talk budget cuts – unions don’t like that. Brown can’t talk bringing regulations into balance – environmentalists don’t like that. Brown can’t talk education reform – the CTA doesn’t like that. Brown can’t talk cutting tax rates – nobody on the Left likes that. So exactly what concrete proposal will Brown propose to fix California? Nothing, I assure you his platform will be more like porridge than concrete.

1. Meg’s Focused & Responsive Agenda. This election will be dominated by skeptical voters. They are no longer interested in platitudes and most do not believe government will solve all of their problems. Indeed, for many in the Central Valley and beyond they know that government is the problem because it is too big, not responsive and out of balance. Any successful candidate in 2010 must address those problems head on. Meg Whitman will.

Meg’s 3-point, focused agenda on restoring California jobs by making our economy competitive again, her plan for the reduction in wasteful spending and improving education is, not only the right program, but it is directly responsive to the major voter concerns of the day. Beyond that plan, her determination to end Sacramento’s bill factory, by vetoing bills outside her 3-point agenda, is a great contrast to an out of control government and its poster child Jerry Brown.

* Bonus Reason. This is not a Democrat year. This is not a status quo year or a Big Government year. This is a year where all of the reasonable predictions are that the Democrats will suffer large losses in Congress across the country. It is was thing to be told you are going to lose, but the Democrat vote will be depressed even more when the wave of losses makes its way across the Country. That wave will hit California and Jerry Brown directly.

When you combine all of the above, it is hard to conclude otherwise than that Meg Whitman will be the next governor of California. Here’s to defeating the terrible B’s: Brown, Boxer and Big Government.

Right now conservatives are motivated to vote for Whitman, but if she does as so many have done and runs to the center to moderate her positions for the general election she will lose that support. I have no doubt she can win the state if she carries her GOP support and makes the kind of comparisons to Brown she needs to make to remind the voters he's a product of the past and does not represent California's future.