Poizner confident in victory, declines to say whether he will endorse Whitman if she wins

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Steve Poizner, who faces an uphill battle in today’s Republican gubernatorial primary, said Tuesday afternoon that he was confident he would beat Meg Whitman.

“I’m going to win tonight,” he said after visiting a small, stuffy phone bank in Torrance. “We have a great shot, yes, indeed we do.”

Such a victory would be a remarkable come-from-behind win. Poizner has been trailing Whitman badly in the polls, with one recent poll suggesting that she led him 2 to 1 among voters.

He declined to say whether he would endorse Whitman if she won.

“I have said I am going to support the conservative ticket,” he said. “She needs to prove that she really is a conservative. She says she’s a conservative. I’m going to win the primary. After the primary’s over, I’m going to look at all the people who have won and if there are conservatives on the ballot moving into the general election, I’ll be supporting them, you can count on that.”

As he had in recent days, he displayed some bitterness over Whitman’s massive spending.

“There’s no question I’m the underdog here,” he said. “The fact is, Meg Whitman has spent close to $100 million in this campaign, so we’re having to work hard today and the last few weeks to set the record straight. A big chunk of her campaign has been utilized to mislead voters about her record and mine.”

He urged voters to thoroughly research both candidates, perhaps by Googling them.

“Just do a little research, do a little digging into the facts here and you’ll be able to sort through the facts and the fiction,” he said.

Poizner walked into the phone bank arm-and-arm with his wife of 22 years, Carol, and his daughter, Rebecca, who recently turned 18 and cast her first ballot Tuesday morning in Silicon Valley.

“It was pretty cool,” she said of voting for her father.

Poizner spoke to reporters for about five minutes after thanking volunteers and phoning voters. Every voter that he called was not home, so he left them messages reminding them to go to the polls and asking for their support.

A volunteer who had reached a live voter, Pete, handed the phone to Poizner. The voter apparently did not believe he was speaking to the candidate.

“Nope it’s me,” Poizner said. “The real guy, yeah.”

After affirming that he had Pete and his wife’s support, Poizner listened intently and said, “No, I’d be happy to talk to your wife,” and the volunteers burst into laughter.

As he hung up the phone, he said, “We’ve got one!” and the volunteers blew into celebratory paper horns.

-- Seema Mehta in Torrance