A political analyst says being a popular former baseball player doesn't get you to home plate in a US Senate race in California. 
Baby Boomers in California know the name Steve Garvey very well. The longtime Los Angeles Dodgers infielder finished his 19-year pro career with the San Diego Padres.
But the Republican Senatorial candidate has not been able to get traction against Democrat House Rep. Adam Schiff, one of the most virulent anti-Trumpers in Congress. A Real Clear Polling average has Schiff up by almost 23-points.
Craig Huey is a political pundit, speaker and the author of four books, who spent much of his life in California and keeps up with its politics. He says Garvey has been a disappointment.
“He was put in as a celebrity, as somebody who would have name recognition. He is somebody who voted for Trump but doesn't want to really come out and say he's for Trump. He hasn't excited the conservatives or the Christians in California. So he's kind of California-lite Republican. What you needed to have in there was a fireball who had conservative solutions to the people's problems."
In addition to his lack of political experience and lukewarm conservative stances, Garvey has suffered from insufficient fundraising and limited visibility.
Running against Schiff, a Garvey endorsement from Donald Trump would seem like a no-brainer.
No relationship with Trump
Instead, this could be another example of the moderate stance hurting Garvey’s campaign. In September, Newsweek reported that Trump told reporters in Los Angeles, “I think he’s made a big mistake because he hasn’t reached out to MAGA. If he doesn’t have MAGA he’s got no chance.”
Trump told the group at that time that he had not been in contact with Garvey.
“Steve Garvey presents this all-American moderate man of common sense. I would think he’d be very appealing to Californians, who are reeling under the highest gas prices in the country and the mismanagement of the Gavin Newsom administration,” Washington Times columnist Robert Knight told AFA in March.
Huey says Adam Schiff is doing what he normally does.
"He's lying with a straight face. He really distorts reality. He deceives people with what he says, and he does so as if it was truth and a moral high ground. He is above any judgment because he's so self-righteous. He's going to be California's next senator, and he's going to use that platform to try to position himself to run for president in the future."
