Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner made official Monday what's been expected for months: He's formally exploring a run for governor in 2010.
The state's only Republican statewide officeholder besides Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he will file paperwork today to open an exploratory committee to succeed Schwarzenegger in two years. The move is the first formal step taken to enter the race.
"I am taking the first formal step toward running for governor in 2010 because I believe in California and I understand that meeting the challenges of the 21st century requires new and innovative ideas," Poizner said in a statement.
Poizner, 51, sold a high-tech business in 2000 for $1 billion and has spent more than $24 million of his own money to launch his political career.
A socially moderate, pro-choice Republican, Poizner has gone to great lengths to woo the conservative base of the Republican Party, touting himself as a fiscal conservative.
In fact, he "announced" the exploration of his run for governor through the Web site of conservative GOP party leader Jon Fleischman, shortly before noon today.
"I told Commissioner Poizner that while this news was hardly unexpected, that it was certainly exciting, and of course when he told me that FlashReport readers were going to be the very first to officially get the news, I was very pleased!" Fleischman writes.
Last Thursday, I profiled some of Poizner's efforts to line up conservatives in the printed Sacramento Bee:
In the last 20 months, Poizner has zigzagged the state, lending himself as the headline speaker at fundraisers for more than 60 Republican clubs. The proceeds don't go to Poizner.
"Just by being available as a speaker for events, he has been a huge help to local parties because they can sell tickets, they can get people there, they can raise money," said Luis Buhler, the vice chairman of the California Republican Party in the Bay Area.
...
Poizner's travel itinerary is replete with campaign-building events.
Last week, he hobnobbed at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., as vice chairman of the California delegation. Today, he'll headline a fundraiser for a Republican candidate in a competitive Assembly race.
He traveled to Israel with President Bush this spring. And he seems to find himself on stage whenever Sen. John McCain makes a California campaign swing.
In announcing his run for governor today, he also rolled out the endorsements of 21 sitting GOP lawmakers, roughly 40 percent of the 47 Republican members.
His backers include Sens. Sam Aanestad, Roy Ashburn, Jim Battin, Bob Dutton, Tom Harman, Bob Margett and George Runner. And in the Assembly: Anthony Adams, Joel Anderson, John Benoit, Tom Berryhill, Sam Blakeslee, Jean Fuller, Ted Gaines, Bonnie Garcia, Guy Houston, Kevin Jeffries, Alan Nakanishi, Jim Silva, Cameron Smyth, and Van Tran.
Poizner is the second Republican to jump into the race. Former congressman and director of the Department of Finance Tom Campbell filed paperwork earlier in the summer.
Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay (and a billionaire herself), is also considering a run. A top adviser to Sen. John McCain, Whitman has repeatedly said she won't look seriously at the race until after the presidential election.
On the Democratic side, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Lt. Gov. John Garamendi have both opened exploratory committees. Other Democrats -- from Attorney General Jerry Brown to Sen. Dianne Feinstein to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell -- are said to be eyeing the contest.
Photo Credit: Brian Baer, Sacramento Bee, February 2008
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