January 14, 2004
THE DEVIL-FIGHTER AND MR. JONES:
Schwarzenegger will endorse Jones in U.S. Senate primary (BETH FOUHY, Jan. 14, 2004, Associated Press)
Lending his considerable political clout to a political ally, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will endorse former Secretary of State Bill Jones' bid for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, sources close to the governor said Wednesday.The endorsement will take place in Los Angeles on Friday, the sources said.
Jones, a Fresno farmer who spent more than two decades in public life before term limits forced him to step down in 2002, is the best-known candidate in a four-person field that includes former Los Altos Hills Mayor Toni Casey, former Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian and former U.S. Treasurer Rosario Marin.
[T]he timing of the endorsement surprised some observers, who believed Schwarzenegger would only get involved in the race in the closing days before the March 2 primary.
It is also a blow to Marin, who has fashioned herself as a moderate, independent Republican in the Schwarzenegger mold. Unlike Schwarzenegger and Marin, Jones opposes abortion rights in most cases.
Aside from anything else, it's smart politics to intervene early enough to help Mr. Jones wrap up the race early and concentrate on Barbara Boxer and to side with a pro-lifer. Posted by Orrin Judd at January 14, 2004 08:24 PM
It also frees Arnold up to focus on selling his budget plan to the general public over the next seven weeks over the heads of the Democratic-controlled legislature, instead of being sidetracked by endorsement questions during that time.
Posted by: John at January 14, 2004 09:20 PMSorry, but my sense is that only Marin has a chance against Boxer.
Posted by: PapayaSF at January 14, 2004 09:46 PMIf I recall correctly Jones was the GOP pick for Gov before he lost to Simon in '02. He seems like a solid choice.
PapayaSF may be right that only another moderate woman can beat Boxer. But a good race by Jones with solid support from Arnold and Bush (recent poll had Bush winning CA over Dean) may do it.
If Jones does get the nomination Arnold or Bush should find a place for Marin, preferably Arnold, to keep her in the GOP limelight.
Conventional wisdom was tht Arnold would indeed wait a bit on endorsing anybody, and then endorese Marin not only because of the "moderate vs conservative" thing, but because it would be useful to endorse a Latino woman to fight off the groper and anti-immigrant attacks. Hopefully, this endorsement says a lot (positive) about the endorser and coming out of the blue, about the endorsed.
Posted by: MG at January 15, 2004 07:54 AMOne of the advantages of being an ascendent majority party is that sometimes you have more spots available than there are people to fill them. That's important, in that instead of losers staying on until the bitter end, they can be pursuaded to take good sure-thing and give up their slim-to-none hope of the Big One. It's nice to see The Stupid Party(tm) finally figuring this out, which is why we are seeing fewer primary fights to see who loses in November.
Posted by: Raoul Ortega at January 15, 2004 11:03 AM