Bustamante Touts Diet Success In Ads

Oct. 27 - KGO (KGO) -- The race for insurance commissioner has taken a bizarre turn. Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante wants the job and is hoping his high profile diet will help win your vote. But our ABC7 Listens Poll puts San Mateo County Republican Steve Poizner out in front among Bay Area voters who are mostly Democrats.

Cruz Bustamante Ad: "I was really fat."

A slimmer Lt. Governor Cruz Bustamante touts his 70-pound weight loss.

Cruz Bustamante Ad: "I'll keep this promise. I'll lower your insurance rates."

Earlier this year, he promised his family he'd reach his goal. Now Bustamante is using that success in an unusual ad targeted at the average voter.

Bob Mulholland, CA Democratic Party: "He's a regular guy who worked his way up to lieutenant governor."

Bustamante is locked in a tight race with Steve Poizner, a wealthy Silicon Valley Republican who's spent almost $13 million dollars of his personal fortune in his bid to win the insurance commissioner's seat.

That's after spending $6 million dollars in 2004 in a failed bid for an Assembly seat. The Poizner campaign says the weight loss strategy won't work.

Tim Clark, Poizner Campaign Manager: "Voters want to know why an insurance commissioner will have an impact on their lives, why an insurance commissioner will fight for them. I think losing weight doesn't quickly answer that question."

Steve Poizner Ad: "Cruz Bustamante took over $150,000 dollars from insurance companies."

One of Poizner's ads highlights the possible conflict of interest if Bustamante wins. According to state campaign filings, Bustamante didn't give all of those donations back.

Ned Wigglesworth, California Common Cause: "Voters are stuck between a rock and a hard place on this. They're either going to choose between a rich guy trying to buy his way into office and a candidate who might be in the pocket of special interests."

But political science Professor Melissa Michelson says Bustamante needed a positive ad because voters still remember the 2003 recall campaign when he took millions of dollars from Indian gaming tribes in his effort to unseat fellow Democrat Gray Davis.

Melissa Michelson, Ph.D., Cal State University East Bay: "I think a lot of Poizner's support is not so much 'We like Poizner and we want a Republican as insurance commissioner.' I think his support is 'He's not Bustamante.'"

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