Huffington Fever Sweeps Brentwood!
By Mickey Kaus
Updated Friday, July 25, 2003, at 3:10 PM PT
Kf Exclusive Scooplet: Huffington Fever sweeps Brentwood! Kausfiles has learned that Arianna Huffington is seriously thinking about running for governor of California in the upcoming "replacement" election on October 7. At least one brainstorming session has been scheduled for this weekend at her house in Brentwood, California to figure out how to make it happen ... And why shouldn't Arianna consider running? She's too controversial (and left) to win a majority of the vote, but on October 7 she almost certainly won't need a majority to win the "replacement" election and become governor if Davis loses the companion up-down recall vote. This is her best shot, and could make her a more serious contender for future races (i.e. Senate) even if she loses. ... Just by entering the race, Huffington might trigger a stampede of competing Democratic "replacement" candidates that would doom Governor Gray Davis to defeat in
the recall vote. If her entry doesn't prompt such a stampede, she'd have the Democratic side of the ballot all to herself. ... I have mixed feelings about all this. The plus side: a) She's not all that left -- she picks her issues very carefully, attacking the excesses of capitalism (crooks, special-interest lobbyists, overpaid CEOs) but not the basic inequality of income it generates. And at least very recently she was still a supporter of school choice; b) In part because of this, she has Hillary-like potential to sell out her left supporters. (That's a good thing!). ... On the other hand, she's unsound on welfare, preferring a Bush-like appeal to private charitable compassion over an appreciation of the large positive effect of the 1993-96 changes in government welfare payments, work rules and earned income tax credits. ... P.S.: It will be interesting to see if Huffington jettisons her pro-school-choice views, as have other interesting Democrats (such as Robert Reich). Certainly the logic of this election would dictate that she do anything to rally the left-wing base--she doesn't need a majority to win, and thus probably doesn't need the appeal to the center that comes with being interestingly heretical. ... Here's the issues page of the RunAriannaRun.com website. Not much about school choice there! ... . 2:32 P.M.
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