Tom Campbell showed up at a meeting of the conservative Lincoln Club on a recent night hoping to drum up support for his long-shot bid for the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

As soon as the former Silicon Valley congressman spoke, it was clear he wasn't following the normal political script. Absent were the applause lines and glossed-over details.

Instead, the 57-year-old began by handing out three double-sided pages filled with charts and tables illustrating the depths of the state's fiscal crisis.

He mentioned his service as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's finance director from 2004 to 2005, but credited the state's good economy then – rather than his own actions – for balancing the state's budget.

He held his fire on rival Meg Whitman's scant voting record, which was the political talk of the moment. He also didn't mention that his other rival, Steve Poizner, contributed to Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000.

"What I'm saying," he said in an interview after the speech, "is that I'll explain what I'm trying to do and I'll be driven solely by the desire to do good for the people of California.

"And I will prevail if people are supportive."

Whatever Campbell is doing, it appears to be working – eight months before the Republican primary.

While Whitman outspent him 38-to-1 in the first six months of this year, Campbell is locked in a statistical tie with her for first place among Republican primary voters, according to a nonpartisan Field Poll released last week.

Campbell received 20 percent of voters' support, while Whitman, the billionaire former CEO of online auction firm eBay, was preferred by 22 percent.

Campbell also polled 11 percentage points higher than Insurance Commissioner Poizner, despite spending one-tenth as much as Poizner from January to June.

Analysts credited Campbell's long political career and name recognition for his surprising success, especially against relatively unknown and inexperienced rivals such as Whitman and Poizner. They also doubted whether Campbell's poll numbers would remain competitive once his wealthy rivals began running advertising.

"He's consistently voted and he's consistently been there," said Republican pollster Stephen Kinney. "He's just seen as a nice guy, and voters like him."

Campbell said his underdog campaign was only possible because he has embraced new technology such as blogs and Facebook, which allow him to spread his message without spending millions.

"I think I win the primary on the basis of being substantive and making use of the new media," Campbell said. "If I had the big campaign dollars, I would use them. But I might be driven to the very best method of campaigning simply by the fact that I don't have access to personal wealth."

Campbell's resilience in the polls has spurred speculation that a repeat of the 1998 Democratic gubernatorial primary could be in the making.

That's when then-Lt. Gov. Gray Davis won the Democratic nomination for governor by beating two wealthy rivals, Al Checchi and Jane Harman, who had spent millions bloodying each other during the primary.

Former California Republican Party Chairman Bob Naylor told Campbell as much at the Lincoln Club event, saying he ultimately could emerge as the winner of Whitman and Poizner's increasingly fierce infighting.

"If they each keep that up, then (Campbell) runs right up the middle," Naylor said in an interview. "That's his path to victory."

Campbell said the same thought had crossed his mind.

"I've never said it in so many terms, but I have pointed out what happened in '98," he said.

In an interview last month, Poizner predicted Campbell would flame out if he didn't come up with more money. Poizner also prophesied his own rise in the polls once his marketing campaign began.

Both Poizner and Whitman are wealthy former Silicon Valley CEOs pouring personal treasure into their campaigns.

At the end of June, Whitman had nearly $5 million in campaign cash on hand to Poizner's $3.7 million and Campbell's $317,382. Since then, Whitman has given her campaign an additional $15 million.

Call Jack Chang, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5543.