The reviews from a weekend of California's political theater of the absurd are in, and even the understudies are dodging rotten tomatoes:
- Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, not to be outdone by Republican gubernatorial nomination opponent Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's NASCAR posturing, will be waving the flag at Saturday's Stater Brothers 300 auto race in Fontana. Poizner will be waving from the pace car in the main event, the Auto Club 500, on Sunday.
- Democrats are now using Whitman campaign chairman and former Governor Pete Wilson's calls for tax return transparency in Wilson's earlier campaigns against Whitman, with independent expenditure committee Level the Playing Field writing an open letter asking for Whitman to make her finances public.
- Good news for Whitman, at least in the closed primary that favors Republican true believers, is the endorsement of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which has helped bankrupt the state by slashing tax revenue.
- Poizner has jumped on the anti-Anthem bandwagon -- after announcing an investigation by his office earlier in the month, he's now accused Anthem Blue Cross with 700 counts of illegal claims delays.
- Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is facing new criticism over online advertising after the campaign used an image of recently elected Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown in a Web ad, as some feel it implies an endorsement of her campaign by Brown that hasn't happened. She's also the focus of another Democratic independent expenditure committee attack site, Carly Exposed.
- And in the junior league, Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn has jumped on San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's comments about the do-nothing Lieutenant Governor job he may or may not be interested in, through a cutting YouTube video. Touché!
Jackson West can't afford the actual theater, and political theater has gotten so much more entertaining thanks to YouTube.
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