Whitman echoes campaign ad message in Southern California stop

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Stumping at a Vista rally that had a decidedly more partisan flavor than most of her events, Meg Whitman pledged Saturday afternoon to turn California around but said it would be difficult.

“Something has been missing in California politics for a long time. I’m going to tell it to you straight. I’m going to treat you like grownups,” she told hundreds of supporters gathered in the warehouse of a car alarm company founded by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista).

“You know what? Our problems are tough. But so am I,” she said.

Whitman was preceded by talk radio host Mark Larson, state GOP Chairman Ron Nehring, Issa, state controller candidate Tony Strickland, Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher (R-San Diego), Assembly GOP leader Martin Garrick (R-Solana Beach) and state Sen. Mark Wyland (R-Escondido).

Several of them sought to tie California’s election to the national political mood that has turned against Democrats and incumbents. President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada were invoked more frequently than Whitman’s Democratic rival, Jerry Brown.

“The other side goes to union halls and finds people in parks, just rounds them up, get dead people to vote,” Larson said. “Our side goes to actual businesses that thrive, even in today’s economy.”

The event took place in the warehouse of Directed Electronics Inc., which was founded by Issa and made him the richest member of the U.S. House of Representatives, with a net worth of $251 million.

The company is best known for its car alarm that has Issa’s voice saying, “Please step away from the car.” No car alarms were sounding, but the crowd was entertained by an Orange County rock cover band, The Trip. Its renditions of Free’s “All Right Now,” Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock and Roll” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You” echoed so loudly throughout the warehouse that several older people covered their ears and implored them to turn down the volume.

Whitman gave her standard stump speech, saying Brown would raise taxes and would never reform schools because of his campaign’s financial backing from the teachers union.

“I am going to take on the bosses of the California Teachers Assn.,” she said, to huge applause. “Of course my opponent has no prayer of doing this.”

She pledged to create an environment where business could thrive and start hiring again. “In three more days, we’re going to put a firm stake in the ground, we’re going to say no new taxes on the hard-working businesses and families of California,” she said.

Whitman reiterated her belief that the race is tight, despite several recent polls that show Brown in the lead.

“So Nov. 2 we’re going to win this,” she said. “Our polls show that this is a dead heat, and if we go into Nov. 2 in a dead heat, what happens? We win! Because there is so much more enthusiasm for our side, there is so much more enthusiasm about this race.”

She implored her supporters to urge their friends and family to vote for her, saying they need to turn out every voter to be successful. She asked whose hands the election rests in, and the crowd replied, “Ours!” Whitman beamed, and said, “A few more days, three more days, we are going to retire Jerry Brown.”

At the end of the event, Whitman and other members of the GOP ticket tossed dozens of green Whitman T-shirts into the crowd. The candidate has quite an arm.

-- Seema Mehta in Vista

Photo: Meg Whitman traveled to San Diego and Orange counties Saturday trying to appeal to independents and women. (Lenny Ignelzi, Associated Press / October 30, 2010)