Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed creator of the Huey Report and direct mail expert, Craig Huey, in-studio to discuss the recall efforts in California and the most likely candidate to replace Newsom.
Leahy: In the studio with us right now, Craig Huey, digital marketing wizard and our most recent refugee from California. He went behind enemy lines.
Huey: Behind the enemy lines for our listeners.
Leahy: And just got back. And we talked a little bit about the fear going on there. There’s something else going on down there. And my question for you, there’s a recall.
Huey: There is.
Leahy: And it looks like the challenges to the recall will not be sufficient to knock it off the ballot.
Huey: That’s correct.
Leahy: So October?
Huey: Newsom would like to have the election as soon as possible. October would probably be the earliest date. Maybe it’ll be in November. And he spent millions of dollars to try to have people who signed the petition have their names removed. And it was a total failure.
Leahy: That’s kind of the old classic Barack Obama move. That’s how Barack Obama actually first got on the ballot when he ran for the state senate in Illinois. There were several other people, and they went in, and they just disqualified the petitions on the other folks.
A tried and true Democrat establishment trick. Now, here’s the question I pose to you. Caitlyn Jenner. Formerly Bruce Jenner. The 1976 Olympic decathlete champion. Decathlon champion on the mail side.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Now is Caitlin?
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Apparently has had that surgery. Yikes. (Laughs) He is now Caitlyn. Kind of a screwed up person, I think I would say.
Huey: Emotionally, physically, mentally, a lot of problems.
Leahy: A lot of problems. The former husband of the mom of the Kardashian. What was her name?
Huey: Kim.
Leahy: Is Kim the mom? Who’s the mom.
Huey: I believe Kim is mom.
Leahy: Okay, well, anyway, the Kardashian mom, it’s hard to keep them all straight, but nonetheless, one thing I have to say about them, they know how to make money.
Huey: They make lots of money.
Leahy: They make lots of money.
Huey: Money that you can’t believe. So if they put that money behind her, she will have a war chest like you can’t believe.
Leahy: But there’s a little bit of I don’t know. I don’t think they ended on good terms.
Huey: No. According to Caitlyn Jenner, she had a lot of conversations with the Kardashian family about running for governor. They were against it, and she’s doing it anyway.
Leahy: Well, you can see why. I don’t know what the right word is. A spectacle, I suppose you could say. Although having said all this, Caitlyn Jenner has the highest profile of any of the challengers.
Huey: Oh, yeah. Everybody knows her name. Everybody knows she’s running for governor. She doesn’t have to worry about name identification. She’s on the news all the time, and she’s making herself available.
She’s speaking before Republican Party groups and conservative groups. She’s going out on the local media and the national media. She says I’ll do an interview and they flock to her.
Leahy: Well because it’s a little bit like looking at a traffic accident.
Huey: (Chuckles) Yes.
Leahy: A little bit.
Huey: Yes. Well, there’s going to be about 100 candidates on the ballot, and there’s maybe half a dozen that are serious candidates. And then there’s Caitlin, and she’s getting all the publicity. And in California, here’s what happens. They will vote yes or no on the recall.
Leahy: Right. You go in and you cast two ballots. The first one yes or no. Do we get rid of this Gavin Newsom character or do we keep him? Then you have a second vote, which is okay, if we get rid of this Gavin Newsome character, which of these hundred people do you want as governor?
Huey: That’s right. And so if you go down that list, you’re not going to recognize most of the names until you see Caitlin.
Leahy: You see Caitlyn Jenner, the name recognition is off the charts. Not necessarily in a good way.
Huey: No because the transgender gay community is kind of against her because she’s against transgenders, for example, girls playing sports.
Leahy: She kind of qualifies that a little bit. But still, it’s weird. It’s California.
Huey: But here’s the thing. She’s running as a conservative.
Leahy: Pretty much all straight down the line. It’s a Trumpian philosophy. That she is supporting. Caitlin, formerly Bruce Jenner. I still can’t. I watched as a kid the 1976 Olympics in Montreal. The winner of the Decathlon is considered the greatest male athlete in the world.
Huey: That’s right.
Leahy: And there was Bruce Jenner waving the American flag, winning the decathlon. Two weeks later, he was on the cover of every Wheaties box in America. Very well known. And just, like, totally screwed up as a person. So it’s a circus.
Huey: It really is a recall circus. There are porn stars, there are rappers, there are entertainment people. Because the second vote where your voting a candidate, all you need is a majority.
Leahy: Because when the last recall in 2,003 took place, Gray Davis, he was thrown out, like, with 55 percent of the vote. And then Schwarzenegger, he actually got, what, 45 or 46 percent?
Huey: About 45 to 46 percent and he was able to win. Theoretically, you could get 20, 30%.
Leahy: In theory.
Huey: If the votes are spread out enough.
Leahy: But I think in terms of name ID, Caitlyn Jenner is like, I don’t know, two or three times higher than any of the challengers.
Huey: So just think of this. Caitlyn Jenner becomes governor of California. It has a pro-socialist Democrat Supermajority in both houses that are not going to do anything. She will be having a Lieutenant governor that is almost a Marxist.
Leahy: Is it the current lieutenant governor?
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Who’s that? Her name is, I can’t pronounce it.
Leahy: A Marxist basically.
Huey: She’s a Marxist.
Leahy: So she can’t leave the state. Now I’ll make a Nashville connection here. One of the very first California refugees was a music producer, Mike Curb.
Huey: That’s right.
Leahy: And Curb was the Lieutenant governor.
Huey: That’s right.
Leahy: In California back in the 70s? I think it was under Jerry Brown. Curb is a conservative Republican. Jerry Brown leaves the state. And then Mike Curb, he was like, 29 30, something like that. He would do all these things that Jerry Brown hated. It was a big drama.
Huey: I was so excited at that because I remember that well. I couldn’t wait for Jerry Brown to leave the state because he knew fun things would happen.
Leahy: But anyway, so Mike Curb came here, like in 1982 or 1983 I guess, and has this huge music Empire. He’s put the Curb Center for the music business at Belmont. A big supporter of the community here in Nashville. His offices are just down the road on Music Row. We gotta get Mike Curb in-studio here some time.
Huey: It would be great to see his insight. But he was a hero of Conservatives and Republicans. They were shocked that he moved to Tennessee and left California.
Leahy: He was smart.
Huey: Between then and now than on the people who have gone to Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Tennessee, and other States, it is an exodus.
Leahy: So the way it stands right now, it seems to me that the California recall is going to be very, very close.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Gavin Newsom has huge money. You’re telling me a huge amount of money coming in.
Huey: So right now, he officially and there are several different committees he has. He probably officially has about $50 million. He’s going to have $100 million. The other candidates, the Republican establishment Liberal Republican, will probably have about $10 to $12 million. John Cox, the former candidate for governor that lost, was wiped out terribly. He’ll have probably maybe $8 million or $9 million.
Leahy: John Cox is the guy with a branding problem, right? What is he calling himself? The Bear or the Beast? Didn’t think to call you and say, Craig, what kind of branding should I use?
Huey: I’ve talked to him. I’ve criticized him about what he was doing. I told him not to do it. And he did it anyway.
Leahy: Oh, you did talk to him. So just pretend I’m him.
Huey: Sure.
Leahy: And I’m saying I’m gonna go with the beast.
Huey: And you would say, I would say, John, you don’t want to have this image. You want to talk about why people are frustrated with Newsom and concentrate on that and be a serious candidate. And in addition to that, don’t waste your money. You can win this race. But don’t waste your money on TV.
Leahy: It does nothing.
Huey: It does nothing. What you want to do is create data of who it is that’s going to vote for you.
Leahy: And he didn’t listen to your advice. So this guy is never going to be governor. I’m just going to tell you right now.
Huey: He’s not.
Leahy: You got to listen to Craig Huey’s advice if you want to be governor of California.
Listen to the full second hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Gov. Gavin Newsom” by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed creator of the Huey Report Craig Huey, in-studio to analyze the recall effort of Gavin Newsom and who his potential challengers might be in the fight for California governor.
Leahy: In studio with us, our good friend, Craig Huey. A California refugee, direct marketing expert, digital marketing expert. I love it when you’re on, Craig. I always learn something new. In this segment, we’re going to talk about the current status of the California recall.
Governor Gavin Newsom is being recalled. There will be an election. The last time they had one October of 2003, they did recall then-Governor Gray Davis. There are two questions on the ballot. The first question, should you recall the governor? Yes or no? 55 percent in 2003 said yes, recall Gray Davis.
Then the second question, if you vote to remove the governor, who do you pick? And last time, the highest vote getter is the governor. And in that case, it was 48 percent. It was Arnold Schwarzeneger. This time, Newsom, yes or no, that’s going to be very close to 50 percent. I think.
I want to hear what you think about that. And then about 30 people are on the list of opponents, one of whom is transgender Caitlyn Jenner. You were just out in California, what’s the word when this election is going to be and what’s it look like right now.
Huey: Michael, I just got back from California and I got to tell you, the buzz on what’s going on with this recall is huge. The media is covering it. Social media is covering it. People are wondering because so much money is already being spent, mostly from Gavin Newsom.
Leahy: Gavin Newsom.
Huey: Yes.
Leahy: Raising money at the French Laundry exclusive restaurant, I guess. But now to me, I don’t know this, but Gray Davis was a very grey governor. There was nothing compelling about him. Gavin Newsom is not Gray. Gavin Newsom is a compelling personality.
Huey: He’s pretty dramatic.
Leahy: He’s dramatic. I would say he’s a left-wing authoritarian and a hypocrite, but he’s a compelling speaker. I think.
Huey: He is smooth, almost too smooth.
Leahy: Too smooth, too cool for school.
Huey: Remember, he was a left-wing pro-socialist commentator on MSNBC. He is great on TV. He’s great in speaking. He’s great in mobilizing. But here’s the thing, he already has about $35 million in the kitty. He’s expected to raise $100 million of money is coming in over the nation because they want to save Gavin Newsom.
Leahy: And you tell me his marketing campaign so far is pretty effective.
Huey: Powerful. He has developed incredibly effective and professional videos, TV commercials, and digital marketing to be able to do several things. One, he’s legally attacking the recall and trying to stop it. Second, he’s trying to get people to take their name off the recall and spending a bundle of money advertising take your name off.
And then the third thing is he’s doing this anti-demonizing of the opposition with the Democrats always do. And then finally, he’s got these incredible commercials about how he’s about ready to send you $600.
Leahy: Oh, yeah, he’s trying to buy the election.
Huey: He’s buying the election.
Leahy: Literally bribing people to vote for him with California money.
Huey: It’s terrible. 70 percent of the Californians are going to get a check from Gavin Newsom before the recall.
Leahy: Well, it’s legal, I guess.
Huey: It’s legal.
Leahy: Legal corruption. That’s what the Democrats do. There are what, 30 candidates running?
Huey: That’ll probably be closer to maybe 80 or 90.
Leahy: Okay, so you get to the first question. Let’s say you vote yes to recall or no. Even if you vote not recall, you get to vote for the next question. If Gavin Newsom is gone, who do I want as governor? 80 people running. Let’s say 50.1 percent of the voters in California say I want to recall Gavin Newsom. Then whoever has the most votes of those 80 or 90, then will be the winner. How many votes do they need to win?
Huey: Probably they need to have about 45, 48 percent just like Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had.
Leahy: Who’s the leading contender now? Is it Caitlyn Jenner?
Huey: Well, yes, but let me tell you about several of the other candidates.
Leahy: We’ve got 30 seconds. I’ll tell you what we’re going to do with that. We’re going to hold on to that thought.
(Break)
Leahy: And now we want to talk a little bit back to what we’re talking about earlier Craig, this recall election in California. It will happen when? In November?
Huey: Probably in November. And it hasn’t been set yet because there are still legal challenges by Governor Newsom to stop it. But it will happen.
Leahy: I don’t think those challenges will go.
Huey: Probably not.
Leahy: Or will succeed, but they’ll be on the ballot. He’s got a lot of money. He is aggressively campaigning, and he’s got some good ads. He’s clever. He presents well even though he’s a left-wing, lunatic, authoritarian hypocrite. (Laughs)
Huey: Yes, you’re right.
Leahy: But he presents well. But the way it works is two questions on the ballot, should the governor be recalled? Yes or no? And if it’s 50 percent plus one, he’s recalled.
Huey: That’s right.
Leahy: Then you have 80 or 90 people.
Huey: Correct.
Leahy: And whoever gets the most votes of those 80 or 90 people becomes governor.
Huey: That’s correct.
Leahy: Last time around in 2003, Arnold Schwarzenegger got, like, 48 percent out of 10 candidates, and he was governor.
Huey: Out of 100 candidates.
Leahy: 100 candidates? Okay. So this time around, can you handicap how the top five or six candidates who want to be governor? And the only one that really people know is Caitlin ‘transgender’ Jenner, right. Caitlin Trans-Jenner I guess you might say. Caitlin is running for governor. And, well, high name recognition kind of odd combination of transgender rights activism and conservative policies.
Huey: It’s a weird blend.
Leahy: It’s a weird California blend. When you say a California blend, most people think of coffee, everything, other kind of stuff being blended. (Huey laughs) Then you have this John Cox guy. John Cox ran against Newsom in the last election, was wiped out.
Leahy: He wasn’t a good candidate.
Huey: He was a terrible candidate, terrible organization.
Leahy: Nothing says Let’s run again for governor like being a terrible candidate with a terrible organization.
Huey: He’s looking in the fact he just he had enough votes and he has some name recognition. To me, he’s not a really viable candidate.
Leahy: He’s got some what’s his theme about a bear?
Huey: Because California’s the bear state so he got this live bear walking with him through the forest, which created a lot of buzz.
Leahy: But it’s idiotic.
Huey: These commercials make no sense.
Leahy: It makes no sense. It’s like he’s branding himself as a guy that makes no sense in my view. It’s really sad.
Huey: And then you got the Liberal Republican Mayor of San Diego.
Leahy: Who’s that guy?
Huey: His name’s Faulkner. And Kevin Falkner will have about five to ten million dollars. John Cox will have of about $5 million.
Leahy: How about Caitlyn?
Huey: Caitlyn Jenner, we don’t know how much you’ll have. She’s got the Kardashian fortune. She’s got lots of money. She’s got money that she could put into this campaign. But remember this, Gavin Newsom right now has about $30,000,000. and he will have $100,000,000. from all over the United States that the Governors Association and others have already given him.
Leahy: Democratic Governors Association.
Huey: And so this is going to be the focus the Democrat Party nationwide.
Leahy: Just looking at these motley crew of candidates. Jenner, Cox, Faulkner, none of them seem compelling to me. Is there anybody who is either a current candidate or a potential candidate who might have a chance of being considered a credible alternative to Gavin Newsom?
Huey: There’s a libertarian conservative supervisor from Riverside County. There’s a pastor who is well known in certain areas, but no one else has announced at this point. And there might be some people coming in that we don’t know.
At this point, it’s going to be people without money. Then Caitlyn Jenner, and then you’re going to have Newsom. And Caitlyn Jenner has name identification. They’re running against porn stars (Leahy laughs) and unknown businessmen.
Leahy: It’s California, right?
Huey: Yes. They’re running against all kinds of weirdos.
Leahy: I mean, it wouldn’t be a California gubernatorial contest unless a porn star was a candidate.
Huey: Exactly. It is drama. And the TV commercials that Newsom is running right now are demonizing the recall supporters. He’s promoting the fact that he’s giving everybody $600. He’s reopened California. All this stuff.
He has distorted truth. He has destroyed the California economy. He has taken away individual liberties. People have had enough, but he’s bribing them with a check signed just before the election.
Leahy: Vote for me and you’ll keep getting these free checks. Now, if somebody were to wave a magic wand and say, Craig, here’s $50 million of legally available campaign funds and all you have to do is pick a candidate and then you have to put a campaign together to win.
Would you be able to find a candidate in California who would win? What would your strategy be with that $50 million? And who would you pick?
Huey: So great question. So first of all, think of this. The unions dominate California politics. The nurses union, the teachers union, and the SEIU. And they have a trained group of people to do ballot harvesting. The Republicans like here in Tennessee are behind the time.
They’re just now catching up with how to do ballot harvesting. I would have that money go to a candidate who wouldn’t just be running TV commercials the old-fashioned way or sending out direct mail the old-fashioned way.
They put together a marketing campaign to get people out to vote and to identify their voters. There is the ability it with $50 million to be able to defeat Newsom in California.
Leahy: So you think $50 million properly spent could beat him?
Huey: Oh, yeah. 100 percent. Now you don’t have to have more money than win. The falsehood that people live by is that if you have good policies, you’re going to win. No. The person who’s able to get the voters mobilized will win. And that could be a Republican.
Leahy: One guy comes to mind who hasn’t announced yet. Former Ambassador to Germany and the former Acting Director of National Intelligence, Ric Grenell. He’s a Californian.
Huey: He’s seriously considering it. He has a lot of support among Conservatives in California. He’s articulate, and he’s able to persuade people.
Leahy: How much could he raise?
Huey: I think he could raise more than any of the other candidates other than Caitlyn Jenner. I think he probably could raise about 10 to 15 million.
Leahy: Could he win with 10 to 15 million.
Huey: If he did the right strategies of getting out the vote. I should call up, Ric. I know, Ric. I should call him up and say, here’s, Craig Huey’s phone number. He can help you win.
Huey: That’s right.
Listen to the full third hour here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Gov. Gavin Newsom” by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
