Tom Campbell announces run for US Senate

Former Republican Congressman Tom Campbell Thursday announced he’s running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Barbara Boxer.

The announcement came just two days after Campbell jumped out of the race for governor.

Campbell had raised a fraction of the money of his two wealthy opponents — former eBay chief Meg Whitman and State Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

“I’ll be very direct with you: pragmatism told me I could no longer continue in that race" said Campbell.

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U.S.C. Political Science Professor Sherri Bebitch-Jeffe put it more bluntly.

“He was being smothered by the money.”

Campbell faces another moneyed contender in his bid for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate — former Hewlett Packard chief Carly Fiorina.

State Assemblyman Chuck Devore of Orange County is also running. Bebitch-Jeffe says DeVore's a darling of conservatives, and that's an advantage in a Republican primary.

“I still think that in California, the ideological right controls the debate," she said.

Campbell is a social moderate who supports gay marriage and abortion rights.

But the former dean of the U.C. Berkeley business school promised to focus on his conservative fiscal values in the G.O.P. primary campaign.

“I have no doubt that the party will unite behind a candidate who is focusing so much on the fiscal side as I am now because the crisis is so great," he said.

As he stood between two charts showing his voting record on fiscal issues during nine years in Congress, Campbell said the nation is in fiscal peril with its $12 trillion debt.

He touted his frugal philosophy.

"Indeed, in two of the nine years I was in Congress, I was the single most fiscally responsible member of Congress according to the National Taxpayers Union Foundation," said Campbell.

Leonard Lanzi chairs the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian caucus within the G.O.P that wants the party to move away from its social conservatism.

“I think Tom can be a bright point in that direction," said Lanzi. "I think we can point to him as he becomes our nominee for California’s U.S. senator. But he can’t do it alone.”

Campbell is a visiting professor at Chapman University in Orange County. He often talks as if he’s in academia. That worries Richard Otterstrom, a real estate agent and supporter.

“You know, it’s like being in a lecture hall with your professor," said Otterstrom. "He needs to, you know, get exciting.”

This is Campbell’s third run for the U.S. Senate in California.

The Republican primary is in June.