Craig Huey Talks Gavin Newsom Recall and His Potential Replacement as Governor of California
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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Photo “Gov. Gavin Newsom” by Gov. Gavin Newsom.