I don't think there's really any question: Tom Campbell is the thinking person's candidate for Governor. He's also moderate enough to appeal all but the most leftist of Democrats, and yet still remains credible to even those of us on the far-right of the Republican Party. I'm not sure how he accomplishes that, but he does, and its something no one in either party can replicate in this state. He's clearly the only electable Republican gubernatorial candidate for 2010. And he's the statesman, from either party, most likely to actually do a good job. Pretty sweet combination, made ever more so by its extreme rarity. I voted in the last six California gubernatorial elections (alternately for Republicans, Democrats, and Libertarians), and no other candidate has ever towered over the others so utterly and thoroughly as does Tom Campbell this time out. I'm no fan of President Obama by any means, but I wouldn't want to see him lose in 2012 to an intellectual lightweight like Sarah Palin. Compared to Tom Campbell, all the other candidates come off as veritably Palin-esque, irrespective of their place on the ideological spectrum. Additionally, only Jerry Brown could credibly claim to have more formal qualifications for the office (nine years in the U.S. House, two years in the state senate, plus some time as Gov. Schwarzenegger's state Finance Director, a distinguished academic career at Standford AND U.C. Berkeley - and he even clerked for the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Byron H. White). My wife voted for George W. Bush in 2000...and then swore she'd never vote Republican again. But Tom Campbell is bringing her around. He's going to be bringing a LOT of people around. He's exactly the sort of calm, steady, learned, and experienced hand we need in tumultuous times like these. He's one of the last adults in California politics. His appeal doesn't rest on his (non-existent) status as some sort of media celebrity. He's the real deal.