March 3, 2004
THE DEVIL VS. MR. JONES:
GOP's Jones is picked to battle Boxer (Alexa H. Bluth, March 3, 2004, Sacrament Bee)
Former Secretary of State Bill Jones captured the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, sailing past lesser-known challengers in a low-profile race that never grabbed voters' attention.The Fresno rancher, who lost a 2002 bid for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, collected 48 percent of the vote with the others trailing by double digits with about two-thirds of the vote counted. [...]
Jones said he believes help from Schwarzenegger and the length of the eight-month campaign will help him raise the money needed to challenge the well-funded Democrat. Jones also said he plans to try to draw Republican voters to the polls to help President Bush in California in November.
But it remains to be seen how much public and fund-raising support Jones receives from Bush, whom he angered when he shifted his support to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in the 2000 presidential primary.
The Party should go to McCain and beg him to make this his race. Campaigning frequently with him and the Governor would do Mr. Jones a world of good. Posted by Orrin Judd at March 3, 2004 5:23 PM
Something interesting could be brewing in CA. Arnold is pretty pragmatic, but is he decides to swing for the fences an help either dethrone Boxer or helping W win CA he is suddenly the most powerful Republican in the US (including Bush himself). My fear is that he may decide to play defense the rest of 2004. What a country! (Also, what is NR going to do then...)
Posted by: MG at March 3, 2004 5:41 PMoj: Your McCain thought is inspired. I doubt that the White House would have to beg Sen. McCain. Wasn't he tasked to New Hampshire a few months ago to show the flag?
Posted by: Fred Jacobsen (San Fran) at March 3, 2004 7:58 PMMakes sense -- McCain owes Jones, he's from an adjacent state and by working for a candidate in a state still seen as Bush-unfriendly, can regain some political clout for the post-2004 period if he's seen as helping him defeat Boxer (add to that the fact that -- despite Eric Alterman's fantacizing about a Kerry-McCain ticket -- the John lodged in the Hanoi Hilton in 1971 still has to remember what the other John was doing on Capitol Hill at the time, and no doubt would like to pay him back for that little piece of political theater by shifting the most populous state back into the GOP column).
Posted by: John at March 3, 2004 8:32 PM
Fred:
There was some talk that McCain was here because he may still rin in '08. If true, Jones would be his entry in the shadow primary.
Posted by: oj at March 3, 2004 8:41 PMI would hope Bush and McCain are adult enough to not carry a grudge over 2000 and focus on this year's races - as noted above Bush taking CA and Jones beating Boxer would be huge for the GOP. I'm not sure about McCain in '08 but without a clear nominee (assuming Cheney stays VP) he could do it.
Posted by: AWW at March 3, 2004 11:05 PM