The news today that Assemblyman Jim Nielsen pulled a Benedict Arnold on the Poizner campaign wasn’t a total surprise. Team Poizner secured support from an overwhelming majority of State Assembly members and Senators early in the campaign, so it’s reasonable to believe that after Meg Whitman entered the campaign they might lose the endorsement of a few of the legislators on the periphery. I’m sure that the Whitman campaign feels as though they scored a point today, but they still have a long way to go when it comes to securing support from the Republican legislators and local elected officials who matter. It would help if Meg had been a Republican for more than a year or two, but that’s a different story all together.
One thing is for certain; legislators who go back on their word and switch candidates in the middle of a race do not matter–if you can’t trust them, how can you trust their current endorsement?
Additionally, it’s interesting to see how much the Whitman campaign needs to play catch-up to the Poizner campaign. While Team Poizner is building up impressive local support because they have already locked up 70% of elected Republican legislators, Team Whitman is trying to pick off Poizner supporters because there is barely anyone left in Sacramento to endorse Meg Whitman. In fact, Team Poizner announced 11 local elected leaders endorsements from the Bay Area just yesterday. It’s certainly not an enviable position to be in for the Whitman campaign, especially because any endorsement from a “flip-flopper” doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in the endorser or the candidate.
So which is more important–11 local elected officials or one flip-flopping Benedict Arnold Assemblyman? I will take local grassroots support any day.