Word: checchi
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...nasty three-way race for California's Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Gray Davis was supposed to be the roadkill candidate: a bland career politician squashed by two glamorous multimillionaire opponents--airline tycoon Al Checchi and Representative Jane Harman. Davis, the state's solid but uninspiring lieutenant governor, was ignored by pundits and written off by insiders who are convinced that California has entered the age of the "virtual campaign," in which elections are won and lost solely in the ectoplasm of television ads. According to this theory, Californians don't follow politics, and the local news media barely cover...
...news never got through to Davis--or the people of California. The latest poll by the independent Field Institute put Davis in first place, with 19% of the vote--even though half of those polled had never seen one of his commercials. Checchi was stuck in second place, with 17%, and Harman dropped from first to third, with 11%. The percentages are low because the June 2 primary is open to all voters; the Democrats will share the ballot with the G.O.P. candidate, state attorney general Dan Lungren, who is running virtually unopposed (and took 27% in the poll...
...Every observer in the state was startled by Davis' resurgence," says Field Institute director Mark DiCamillo. That surge was triggered by the merciless (and often misleading) barrage of attack spots that Checchi leveled against Harman. Last fall, Checchi promised not to indulge in such negative tactics, but he abandoned his pledge as soon as his candidacy stalled. Though he succeeded in driving voters away from Harman, they migrated to Davis, apparently because Checchi's ads turned off voters (those who have seen a lot of them tend to have more negative views of Checchi) and because Davis has a history...
...Checchi's management skills have been coming under attack by Davis, who is buying heavy TV time to slug away at Checchi's stewardship of Northwest Airlines, which he acquired in a 1989 leveraged buyout. Checchi portrays his time at Northwest as a classic "white knight" tale--spent reforming management and saving the airline--while Davis says Checchi's takeover saddled the company with so much debt that he drove it to the brink of bankruptcy. There is truth to both claims: Northwest is healthier now than it was before Checchi came along, but during the recession...
...Davis ad whacks Checchi for failing to vote in four recent California elections, but Harman has so far refused to sling mud with the boys. "Mr. Checchi can waste his money attacking me," she told the camera in one commercial. "I'll spend my time on real problems." It might have worked--if she had been ready with a coherent plan for the state. But she wasn't. A former political aide, lawyer and lobbyist, Harman has spent most of her adult life in Washington. She entered the race late because she saw an opening after Feinstein decided...