Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, top surrogate for the disastrous presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney and John McCain, has decided that her experience selling state planes for other Governors, or rather failing to do so, has rendered her just the character to lead California out of its horrendous budget crisis and into the future of our dreams.
"California faces challenges unlike any other time in its history -- a weak and faltering economy, massive job losses and an exploding state budget deficit," she said in a written statement. "California is better than this, and I refuse to stand by and watch it fail."
True, Ms. Whitman's most recent claim to fame was presiding over a company which was part and parcel of those job losses, having laid off 10% of its workforce. But you can't make an omelet without breaking a couple thousand eggs.
It's also rather unfortunate for Ms. Whitman that the state's chief executive over the past several years, during which this particular economic and budgetary crisis was exacerbated, has been a Republican. (You know him best as Conan the Barbarian).
Still, the position must be appealing for Ms. Whitman, as the Governorship of California is a guaranteed springboard to a national profile. Two California Republicans have been elected President in the past 40 years, and perhaps the Governator might have been, too, if he were eligible.
But that's getting ahead of ourselves; Whitman will have plenty of trouble making it out of the GOP primary. She won't even be the only mega-rich candidate in the field; she's accompanied by fellow dot-com gazillionaire Steve Poizner, currently California's Insurance Commissioner.
Waiting in the wings is the amiable, intelligent former Rep. Tom Campbell (like Whitman and Poizner, a pro-choice "social moderate").
This could force each of the candidates to tack hard to the right in order to edge each other out among their base. Whitman may take some hits among conservatives for not even having been a Republican until 2007, a minor detail for which her rival Poizner's spokesman had a rather pointed response:
Poizner's campaign chairman, Jim Brulte, took a sarcastic approach as he sought to undercut Whitman's standing among GOP primary voters. He circulated a statement saying it was a sign of Republican strength that Whitman had "recently joined" the party. (She was a registered nonpartisan before shifting to Republican in 2007.) Brulte also called Poizner "the only candidate who has proven he can win a tough, statewide campaign."
Unfortunately, Brulte's gallows humor about Republican strength in California point to one of Whitman's other chief liabilities: the abject and stunning failure of her Republican meal ticket, John McCain.
Whitman's main credentials as a Republican are her high-profile associations with the McCain and Romney campaigns. This is a rather dubious claim to fame, as no Republican running for President, Governor or U.S. Senate has performed as horrendously as McCain did since 1974.
Yes, that's right; McCain's California performance was the worst top-ticket performance by any Republican in 34 years, since Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston downed the immortal, unforgettable H.L. Richardson.
So, erm, being a top McCain surrogate may not exactly carry much water for Whitman. In her corner, however, she does have some high-priced talent:
She also announced that former California Gov. Pete Wilson would serve as the chairman of the campaign while Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.) will serve as co-chairs.
Whoever comes out of the Republican primary will probably face a very difficult battle against the Democratic nominee, though it will help that the Democratic primary appears to be every bit as crowded:
A spirited primary appears increasingly likely among Democrats as well. Lt. Gov. John Garamendi is the only major formal contender in the Democratic race for now, but Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom are both preparing to run. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is also weighing whether to join the race after his likely reelection next month. U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein has also not ruled out a run for the party nomination.
Both the nomination and the general election would be Feinstein's to lose if she ran (she beat the holy hell out of Campbell, supposedly a credible challenger, in their 2000 Senate race), but as stated before, her advancing age and her position of increasing influence in Washington are both strong reasons for her to stay put.
Assuming she doesn't run, Republicans ought to be quoted slightly better odds for the general election, but it's hard to see how the Whitman resume, in particular, is going to sell in the primary.
The eBay job losses, the overnight conversion to the Republican Party, and the high-profile association with the most cringe-inducing failure of a presidential campaign in California in several decades, don't exactly add up to a Magic Secret Sauce of electoral victory.