March 10, 2010 10:31 PM UTC

Don't Try This Strategy at Home, Kids

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado has had it’s share of non-media savvy candidates and campaigns over the years, with Republican Senate candidate Jane Norton’s campaign leading the way in 2010 where screwing up the earned media side is concerned. But for all the mistakes of candidates like Norton and “Master of the Terrible Press” Ali Hasan, nobody has quite gotten bad media relations down to a science like California Republican Meg Whitman’s gubernatorial campaign. As “The Fix” explains:

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has faced a steady drumbeat of criticism from her Republican primary opponent — state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner — for ducking debates and non-choreographed media appearances in her run for the California governorship.

Yesterday at an event in Oakland, Whitman handed Poizner considerable fodder to make that case — refusing to take questions and then watching as reporters were moved out of the room and some sort of blockade was put in place so the cameras couldn’t shoot film of Whitman standing around. (You must watch the video [below]; it is b-r-u-t-a-l.)

Of the back and forth, San Fransciso Chronicle veteran political reporter Carla Marinucci wrote:

“Veteran reporters, who included KTVU’s Randy Shandobil and KPIX’s Hank Plante, were among the crowd that wasn’t amused. Question: is Whitman a candidate for governor, or a museum piece to be ‘watched’ by reporters?”

Ouch.

As “The Fix” says, you’ve got to watch the video, which is embedded after the jump. It’s just…plain…weird. Why (why?) would you intentionally antagonize the media like this? Can you guess which state’s media is now going to go out of its way to investigate every little tip they receive about Whitman?