It's 'Minuteman' vs '$700 million man' for California GOP

While a pair of California Republicans are likely vying for the right to get trounced by incumbent Governor Jerry Brown in November, the men have gained some attention in the national press and a lot of attention from the state GOP.

One of the current frontrunners for second place in this non-partisan, "top two advance" primary is Tim Donnelly. Donnelly, the former leader of the California Minutemen, a virulently anti-immigrant, amateur border patrol, claims his fight against immigration is a "war." He has called himself a threat to "country club Republicans," and sports an arrest record for trying to carry a loaded gun through an airport.

Donnelly has accused his closest GOP rival Neel Kashkari of supporting "Sharia law."

Kashkari is Hindu.

But don't feel too sorry for the former assistant Treasury Department secretary, dubbed the "$700 million man" for his administration of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) bailout of the banks after the 2008 financial crisis. Kashkari is one of those country club Republicans, at least in terms of bank account and connections, and has dumped millions of his own money into the campaign while receiving high-profile establishment endorsements from Mitt Romney, Condoleezza Rice, Darrell Issa and Jeb Bush.

But this good pal of the 1 percent, who left his revolving-door job at investment giant PIMCO for this run, is still a relative unknown to California voters — and that has state and national party officials worried.

Too "divisive and destructive," even for the very conservative Lincoln Club of Orange County, GOP-watchers are afraid that Donnelly's presence on the ballot will motivate Democrats to the polls in November. Those voters will come to vote against Donnelly, but might stay to vote for down-ticket Dems, as well.

Kashkari is also pro-choice and not opposed to same-sex marriage, not the sort of positions that motivate core Republican primary voters, but perhaps interesting enough to Democrats and independents in this open primary to give him a chance he wouldn't have in a GOP-only race.

The "jungle" format of the primary, however, also makes it tough on pollsters. The number of votes for versus votes against versus strategic votes trying to game a November matchup is still hard to sample in a system that has been in place in California for less than 4 years. Recent surveys have Gov. Brown far ahead, but are split on whether Kashkari of Donnelly has the inside track to place second.

California polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. PDT. California does not require voter I.D.