Has Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger poisoned the Republican brand, making it difficult for anyone in the GOP to succeed him?

Do Californians really view him as a Republican anyway? Seems these days the Republican Party, particularly conservatives, don’t have much use for the maverick, independent-minded Guvernator. After he cut a deal with Democrats to raise taxes the right considers him a RINO (not that they trusted him much for years anyway).

But does it really matter anyway? It’s unlikely a far-right conservative can carry blue California. While Republicans carry on a national struggle for the soul of the party — do they tilt hard right or try to regain some of the center? — the two Grand Old Party hopefuls for governor are moderates. Steve Poizner, the California Insurance Commissioner, and Meg Whitman, former chief executive of eBay. Most handicappers have Attorney General, and former Governor Moonbeam, Jerry Brown down for the Democrat’s nominee (as do I). So who will it be? Brown vs. Poizner or Brown vs. Whitman.

I got a flavor of Whitman’s style on the stump Thursday at the Orange County Business Journal’s “Women In Business” awards at the Hyatt Regency Irvine where Whitman was the keynote speaker. As a public speaker she’s not exactly Reagan or Obama, but she’s no slouch either. She weaved together a nice, clear and direct speech that was more a testimonial to her mother, cleverly using the theme of her Rosie-the-Riveter grit during World War II to demonstrate the perseverance of women to overcome obstacles and succeed in a patriarchal world. Whitman’s mother, she explained, had no experience as a mechanic whatsoever when she volunteered for the Red Cross during WWII, but “To this day she still talks about overhauling Jeep engines faster than men.”

Whitman also told a stirring story about eBay’s site crashing for nearly 24 hours June 10, 1999, and how she basically moved into the headquarters to immerse herself into the crisis and help solve it. It appeared to be a clever jab at Schwarzenegger who has taken hits for jetting back and forth from Beverly Hills to Sacramento as a big-shot commuter governor.

She said just about every day someone asks her if she’s nuts.  Seriously, who would want to be governor of California? It seems like a worse job than even president. The state faces a $21.3-billion deficit and you can’t carve down that gap without making enemies with just about everyone.

“I care deeply about this state,” she said in reply. “I refuse to let California fail.”

The women at the Hyatt appreciated that; they jumped to their feet and applauded heartily when Whitman finished.

I dashed after her to squeeze in a few extra questions and, to my surprise, she was quite open to that, though, she was on a tight schedule. She was even aware of the Daily Pilot.

I asked for her verdict on the crushing defeat voters handed Schwarzenegger’s budget plan this week.

The voters are clearly “angry and frustrated,” she said. They were confused by the half-dozen propositions they were asked to decide on, and all they thought to do was just say no, Whitman added.

“We have to figure out ways to grow the economy” to get California back on its feet, Whitman said.

Particular attention must be paid to reforming the leaden bureaucracy that crushes businesses, and one of the best ways to do that is through an upgrade in California’s technology. One idea: Why not let drivers renew their vehicle licenses every two years, instead of annually. That could save up to $1 billion in bureaucratic paperwork, she said.

She cited the governor’s California Performance Review of a few years ago that outlined $32 billion in savings by putting the state’s bureaucracy on a diet, among other efficiencies. But Sacramento lacked the political will to enact it, Whitman said.

Lawmakers and governors have always been leery of taking on the unions to achieve any savings, but in this economic climate it might be easier and it would be something Whitman would pursue as governor. Schwarzenegger, remember, tried that and the voters thrashed him for it. Still, I wondered, would the unions view the desperate straits were in much the same way their brethren do at GM? Auto workers are willing to make concessions just now because without them their industry will surely die. Whitman thought that was an apt analogy.

Then I asked if perhaps voters themselves are to blame for the mess were in. I said they sometimes act like college kids with their first credit card when it comes to referendums. They approve nice-sounding programs the state can’t afford and then lawmakers are legally required to pay for them. On Tuesday, you’ll notice, you were being asked to divert money away from the mental health programs voters approved to the general fund so we could cover the giant hole in the budget. That resolution went down like the Hindenburg, too. The only one to survive was the one refusing salary increases for lawmakers when the state runs a deficit.

Whitman pointed out she voted against propositions 1A, 1B and 1C, the main measures including tax increases to cover the deficit. But she voted yes on propositions 1D and 1E because she believes lawmakers should take money from one of those entitlement programs when they need it.

Then she surprised me by suggesting that it’s high time California hold a constitutional convention to consider not only how to reform referendum politics, but also because we haven’t had one since the 19th Century.

At least one conservative Republican source I know told me conservatives are more receptive to Poizner than Whitman. Not only is she too moderate, but there’s no sense she’s reaching out to the right and she lacks political experience.

I guess we’ll see next year who will prevail.

P.S. Congratulations to Thursday’s award winners. I’ll blog on that tomorrow…

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