DeVore down to 6% of the vote, will he drop out?

Is DeVore going to hang up the phone now that he is down to 6% of the vote?

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What a surprise!  Tom Campbell recently switched from the Governor’s race to the U.S. Senate race, and  now a new poll shows him in the lead, with 30% of the vote, amongst the three Republican candidates.

Campbell is a professor at Chapman University, here in Orange, and he is fairly moderate.  So is Carly Fiorina, who earned a fortune working at HP.  She is coming in second with 25% of the vote.

And then there is Assemblyman Chuck DeVore.  The poor guy has worked his tail off and he is coming in a distant third with 6% of the vote.  No matter what he does, he simply cannot get around the fact that he has very low statewide name I.D., and he really hasn’t accomplished anything of note in Sacramento.  And, as a staunch social conservative, he is out of step with most California voters.

My sources in Sacramento tell me that DeVore was stunned by this new poll and that he is seriously considering dropping out of the race altogether. 

Of course DeVore was crowing in his campaign emails after Scott Brown, a State Senator in Massachussetts, defeated Democrat Martha Coakley this week, to take Ted Kennedy’s seat in the U.S. Senate.  But DeVore simply isn’t Scott Brown!  And Barbara Boxer isn’t Martha Coakley.

Boxer is a fighter, with a warchest of some $7 million.  She isn’t about to give up her seat in the U.S. Senate without a fight. 

You would think that Fiorina would have the best chance against Boxer, as she can match her dollar for dollar, but perhaps the voters are looking for gravitas and wisdom, which Campbell has in spades. 

Fiorina has already attacked Campbell for his past support for Schwarzenegger’s tax increases.  That may stick in a tough primary, but who knows?  Voters may ultimately decide they are tired of inexperienced gimmick candidates, after the debacle that is Schwarzenegger.

As for DeVore, perhaps he can run for the Irvine City Council again.  Except that last time he did that he lost to Democrat Beth Krom, who is now running for the U.S. Congress, against Republican incumbent John Campbell.


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