Today I spoke with Meg Whitman and Jim Bognet of the Poizner Camp. Two interviews focused on this week’s top political story.

Steve Poizner’s press conference was the talk of the state this week, that is until Carly Fiorina decided it was time to represent conservatives as “Sheeple” with her ‘demon sheep’ Internet vignette in her bid to be the nominee for US Senate.

But Poizner’s presser wins as the week’s top political story by a nose … a sheep’s nose possibly.

I have been miffed by Monday’s charges since I first heard them on the conference call at 11AM.

Sure, you can make an argument that Meg Whitman is trying to shove Poizner into a new race (out of the race) by enticing him to wait until 2012. And Poizner makes a solid point about respecting the people’s vote and hearing the issues with real debates being avoided.

But the decision to evolve the presser into an announcement of criminal charges, threats and acusations of personal “wood-chippers” is what forced me to take the Poizner Team to task today.

You can successfully play the victim in a campaign if you desire. If you’re a conservative you best be very careful – conservatives don’t take to victimization all that easily, but it can be done. But there is one line you cannot cross as a conservative, you can never play the “wus”.

And that’s what Steve Poizner did on Monday, and continues to this day.

His argument that Meg’s money is a threat to him and the integrity of the election process is very weak. Every tight political race has what Whitman calls “horse trading” going on. To take the allegations to the next level – and to invite California Attorney General Jerry Brown into the the Republican primary is a horse of a totally different color.

First Meg Whitman.

I spoke with Meg Whitman about the press conference, whether she instructed Mike Murphy to send the email and offer the strategy suggestions.

I also spoke with her about the a debate dilema and lack of such an event at the upcoming convention in March. One of the most interesting answers Whitman offered is her lack of debating expertise. Meg said, “I haven’t debated since I was on the high school debate team.” 

I am sure a fact statement being vetted by the Poizner Team at this moment.

Here is today’s audio from my Meg Whitman interview:

I also welcomed Poizner Campaign Manager Jim Bognet into the studio for a heated conversation today, right after we listened to the Meg Whitman interview.

I have been frustrated with the lack of effort, energy and strategy from Team Poizner for some time now. Before Christmas there was great upheaval of criticism that Poiznercouldn’t raise any money – so Steve wrote himself a check worth $15 million right before the holiday break.

Here we are headed toward the middle of February and Poizner has spent $0 from his kitty; Meg is spending thousands each day and leading by 30-points in the polls.

What is the strategy for the Poizner People? Do they have a Doug Flute complex, “Let’s see how far behind we can get before we play ball, and when we do let’s start with a ‘Hail Mary’ press conference for attention.”

Bognet was good enough to come into the studio today.

He took a few shots from my microphone today, and proved himself to have the mettle needed to head this ship in the right direction.

I asked him “on the air” if Poizner was going to file, if they were in it to win it, and if Steve Poizner plans to spend from his warchest of $19 million – much of it Poizner’s own hard earned cash.

At the end of our talk I asked if Bognet would sign an advertising contract with 1380 KTKZ to start his campaign. Since Meg has committed to debating on March 16th – after Poizner has fully filed  – I asked is Bognet would sign an ad contract for KTKZ that starts the same day.

Again, if Poizner is in it to win it, then he should be invested. They can sign the advertising contract and post-date a check for the initial amount and prove the point. It would do Poizner more good than offering a weak-kneed press conference complaining that Meg is too rich and too mean.

Here is the Jim Bognet interview:

Segment One:

KTKZ asks for a radio buy for March 16, 2010 – after filing and debate in this audio portion: 

Segment Two: