Can Republicans Win in California?

I just read a new SurveyUSA poll that indicated both Meg Whitman in the race for governor (against Jerry Brown) and Carly Fiorina in the race for Senate (against incumbent Barbara Boxer) have leads. In most previous polls both Republican candidates have trailed, but have been close and within the margin of error.

There is still a lot of time left, and in my opinion, the two Democrat candidates are weak, but still, I think it is quite telling that two Republicans have a chance to win statewide in California. If both were to win, this would be an even bigger blow to the Dems than Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts earlier this year. Of the two, I think Whitman has the better chance against an aging Jerry Brown. He is a known entity, and I suspect that California’s attitude may be “been there, done that.” It is interesting that the Democrats could not come up with a better candidate.

Fiorina is not as strong a Republican candidate as Whitman due to her lack of success as CEO of Hewlett Packard. But, Barbara Boxer, the more liberal of California’s two female Senators, has low approval ratings. The time is right for her to be knocked off, but I am not sure that Fiorina can pull it off. The debates will certainly go a long way toward determining this winner.