Republican gubernatorial candidate Tom Campbell made his way down the western flank of the Capitol this morning -- unaccompanied, as usual, by any staff members and donning a sharp business suit.
A handful of reporters, a student from Sac State and some others were waiting for him at the foot of the Capitol steps.
The former congressman and state senator had invited us to meet him on this chilly morning to talk about health care and other issues and, as usual, greeted each of us at the foot of the Capitol's western steps with extreme courtesy before launching into his policy points.
With his customary handouts on site, Campbell first proposed a state health care plan that he said would take the $42 billion in federal and state money used to cover low-income Californians and spend it instead on private insurance for those same people, which he estimates would produce $8 billion to $14 billion in savings.
That money, he said, could bridge the $7 billion state budget shortfall projected for this fiscal year. One big caveat -- it would require receiving a federal waiver, not a sure bet as the federal government crafts its own health care reform plan. It also wouldn't cover uninsured people unless the state spent the savings on that purpose.
Campbell moved on and repeated his call for an independent investigation into Attorney General Jerry Brown's office covertly taping conversations with reporters.
He also said he would ask voters to support a $11 billion water bond included in recently signed water legislation, with the preference that it "be as much revenue bond as possible" rather than a general obligation bond.
Campbell talked, with traces of his native Chicago accent, about his voting record ("I do not recall a single election when I did not vote"), the challenges of competing against two billionaires ("I've been a teacher and a public servant and if as a result I don't have a personal fortune, I wouldn't change a day of my life"), and his personal motivations for running ("My background is economic, and I've never known a time when the state's economic crisis was greater").
One young man told Campbell he had heard the candidate advocated legalizing heroin. Campbell has in fact said nothing of the kind and responded Friday with icy denial.
Campbell badly trails his rivals Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner in financial resources and has run a campaign based in large part on access -- online, at tele-town hall meetings and at chats such as this morning's. He even called a Bee reporter later from John Wayne Airport in Orange County to clarify a point he had made at the Capitol.
While Campbell had been running a close second to Whitman in polls, a recent Capitol Weekly survey showed Campbell falling behind as his rival uses her enormous war chest and blankets the state in radio ads.
Campbell has done pretty well so far on the strength of access and attention to detail even without much money. The coming months will tell whether that pushes him to the finish line.
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
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