via AlterNet:
Posted by digby at 9:18 am
May 11, 2010
Right-Wingers Gaining in … California?!?This post originally appeared on Hullabaloo.It looks like the California GOP thinks as Arizona goes, so goes the nation:
For the last decade, many California Republicans have tiptoed around the issue of illegal immigration and sought to distance themselves from Proposition 187. GOP standard bearers from Rep. Dan Lungren (R-Gold River) to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have sought to downplay the issue and set themselves apart from the views embraced by former Gov. Pete Wilson during his 1994 reelection campaign, which had a central tough-on-immigration message.
But now, apparently, it’s time to party like it’s 1994. Spurred on by Steve Poizner’s consistent campaigning on the issue, with big assists from a distressed economy and the national immigration discussion ignited by a new law in Arizona, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman has decided she can ignore the issue no longer.
Whitman launched a new radio ad focusing on immigration this weekend. And who did the Whitman campaign turn to shore up Whitman’s tough-on-immigration bona fides?
You guessed it — Pete Wilson.
In a new 60-second radio spot, Whitman turns to Wilson, who says: “I know how important it is to stop illegal immigration, and I know Meg Whitman. Meg will be tough as nails on illegal immigration.”
It’s hard to believe that Jerry Brown is going to be governor again, but it looks like that’s what’s going to happen. If it doesn’t win, we will know that the right is definitely on the march. If they can’t even fight them back here, then fasten your seatbelts. .............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/05/11/right-wingers-gaining-in-california/