Vote Right: Carly Fiorina & The California Republican Senate Primary

The hotly contested Republican Senate primary is winding down, and it looks like Carly Fiorina will prevail against moderate Tom Campbell and true blue conservative Chuck DeVore. But, for some reason, the California MSM has been going out of its way to broadcast to Republicans that nominating Carly will cause us to miss out on the one guy who can beat The Boxer: Latest Senate Poll Leaves GOP Questioning If Their Favorite Candidate Can Win In November

A new poll that has shaken up the GOP race for U.S. Senate is triggering some soul-searching in the California Republican Party. The question: Should Republicans in the June 8 primary vote their hearts or their minds?

Or put another way: Should they elect the candidate they feel most passionate about — or the person who can kick the Democrat they can't stand out of office come November?

The poll by the Los Angeles Times and University of Southern California clearly shows that U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer is unpopular with voters, but in a theoretical matchup, only one of the three GOP primary candidates can beat her: former Silicon Valley congressman Tom Campbell.

But the poll also indicates that Campbell might not have the chance to face Boxer: Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has a huge lead in the three-way primary contest to decide which Republican will run against Boxer in the fall.

Uhhh, is that the same Tom Campbell who already won a previous Republican Senate nomination (in 2000) and lost by 20 percentage points? The same Tom Campbell whom we were told back then was "the only person who could beat Diane Feinstein?" Is this the same Tom Campbell who has been credibly linked to Islamist radicals? The same Tom Campbell who supported the tax-and-debt budget "deal" that was rejected by the voters in the May 2009 Special Election? The same Tom Campbell who helped draft the 2005 California budget? The one that has since blown up? 'Cuz if you mean that Tom Campbell, I don't think there's any way any real Republican could vote for him.

You have to love this analysis that Fiorina has rendered herself unelectable by running to the right. Have the journalists offering this free advice to the GOP ever heard of the conventional strategy of running to the Right in the primary and tacking to the Center in the general? It's happened before, you know. If Fiorina has rendered herself "unelectably conservative," can someone tell me what her conservative positions are? She has absolutely no political record that pre-dates 2008. And, no, being a CEO and laying off thousands of people is not "conservative."

Fiorina, and the journalists covering her, might believe she is "conservative" only because they have met so few of them. But, the fact is that Fiorina is about as conservative as, say, John McCain or David Brooks. I'm sure The Boxer will do her best to paint Fiorina as a wild-eyed right winger, but she is going to have to dig deep to find any red meat.

I'm not enthusiastic about the impending Fiorina victory, but feel comfortable rejecting any advice from the MSM about who would have the "best" chance of winning in November. Guys like Campbell are liberal's favorite Republicans because (1) they lose and (2) if they somehow win, they can usually be intimidated into supporting liberal initiatives for fear of losing their "moderate" label. Republicans have no reason to following this sort of "expert" advice.