Poizner aide: 'I don't think Meg Whitman gets around Steve in a gubernatorial primary'

A key political adviser to State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a potential 2010 gubernatorial candidate, today pushed back on suggestions that Poizner might back out of a run for the state’s top post if former EBay CEO Meg Whitman jumped into the race.

“I don’t think Meg Whitman gets around Steve in a gubernatorial primary, I don’t think anyone does,” said Tim Clark, an adviser who managed Poizner’s successful 2006 campaign for California Insurance Commissioner. Clark added that Poizner, who is helping to subsidize a new California Republican Party voter registration drive, has “been a leader in pushing the Republican agenda” in the state.

Clark was responding to a San Francisco Chronicle blog post which suggested that a Whitman entry into the Republican gubernatorial field might compel Poizner to challenge U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat facing reelection in 2010, instead. The article also said that Whitman, who is serving as a surrogate for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, has been meeting with top state GOP consultants, including Rob Stutzman and Jeff Randle, in anticipation of a possible run.

Clark, who serves as vice president of the high-powered consulting firm JohnsonClark Associates, said he is one of several people in discussions with Poizner, a first term commissioner who made a fortune as a technology entrepreneur, about his political future. “The best thing he can do right now is be a very good insurance commissioner,” said Clark.