Whitman meets the press

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After a week of miscues and taking criticism for avoiding questions from the media, Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman walked into the Republican Party convention in Santa Clara and immediately indulged more than a dozen reporters in an hourlong news conference.

Whitman handled a variety of questions on issues ranging from her financial investments to her past record of not voting. Here’s some of what she said:

--She defended her investments in companies that have profited from others’ economic hardships.

--She committed to serving a full four-year term if she is elected governor.

--Although she has called for pension reform, she said she will not help qualify a ballot initiative for the November ballot to change the state’s pension system.

--She accused her Republican rival, Steve Poizner, of flip-flopping on issues, saying ‘Steve has changed his mind on many, many issues.’

--While praising Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for trying, she said ‘the results haven’t been very good.’

--She said she would move to Sacramento and buy a house, and made a commitment to ‘getting to know every state senator and every assemblyman by name.’

--After an embarrassing week on the campaign trail, documented in YouTube videos, Whitman seemed relatively at ease before the gaggle of reporters. She addressed reporters by their first name (since we were all wearing name tags), and, in the process, dispelled what had become a central narrative of her campaign -- that she was somehow unable or, at least, unwilling to handle questions from the press.

‘This is certainly the first of more to come,’ she promised.

--Anthony York in Santa Clara