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2014/10/29

Neel Kashkari won't be California's next Governor. But his campaign may be the next blueprint for the state's Republicans

(image courtesy Los Angeles Times)

Kashkari is a 41-year-old Indo-American atop the ticket of a party often seen as old, white and struggling for relevance in the increasingly diverse Golden State. He has focused on anti-poverty messages and framed improvement of public schools as a civil rights issue -- unusual in a party long associated with trickle-down economics and school vouchers. He favors same-sex marriage, abortion rights and background checks for all gun purchases. 
The week he spent "undercover" as a jobless, homeless person on Fresno's streets over the summer helped cement the idea that this isn't your father's Republican campaign. Stunt or not, that wasn't something past GOP candidates for governor -- like Meg Whitman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Simon, Dan Lungren or Pete Wilson -- would have done in a million years. 
"I wanted to see (if) I could run on these issues and get Republicans excited about them -- and I would argue that I have," he said during a recent interview in San Francisco, between campaign stops. "Our party has hit the rocks, and it's human nature for some people to head for the lifeboats. But I'm trying to right the ship and get the ship moving again." 
Kashkari certainly isn't your average Joe. An asset manager and former Treasury Department official, he put $3.12 million of his own money into his campaign. Still, many veteran GOP strategists see this as an exciting moment, a corner being turned.
"Neel has provided a blueprint for the GOP to speak to demographics it's shunned for the last two decades -- the same demographics needed to be competitive in California," said strategist Matt David, who worked for President George W. Bush, Schwarzenegger and U.S. Sen. John McCain.

More @ San Jose Mercury News



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