CA-Gov, KS-Gov, VA-Gov: Three New Candidates

One of the top Democratic targets for the 2010 midterm elections is recapturing the Governorship of the nation's largest state, held for nearly two terms by term-limited action-film star Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The pool of Democrats lining up to seek the seat is near limitless (although perhaps the biggest name in the rumor pool, senior Senator Dianne Feinstein, apparently won't seek the office). It is likely that Lieutenant Governor John Garamendi (who is in), Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, possibly Attorney General (and former Governor and Presidential candidate) Jerry Brown, and a cast of thousands.

On the Republican side, the default candidate was state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. That is, until today, when another relatively high-profile candidate jumped in:

Meg Whitman, the former eBay executive and campaign aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), is considering a bid for governor in California in 2010, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Whitman has stepped down from the boards of eBay, Procter & Gamble and Dreamworks SKG and may make an announcement within the next four to six weeks, a "person familiar with the matter" told the Journal.

During the 2008 presidential race, she was a national finance chairwoman for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) and later served as a national co-chairman for McCain's general election campaign. She had been mentioned as a possible running mate for McCain.

Whitman, who had been tipped for Treasury Secretary in a McCain Administration (tee hee hee), certainly has plenty of money to spend on the race, and has a fairly high political profile from her tenure with the McCain campaign. Given the state's budget crisis, she'll undoubtedly push her business experience as making her uniquely qualified to lead California through a particulary bad economic period.

Still, she faces something of an uphill battle in a state which gave Obama 61% of the vote in November. She'll have a tough race in both the primary and the general, if she makes it that far, but she's a serious candidate whose money alone ensures she won't be taken lightly.

Whitman isn't the only big-name Republican signing on for Governor. In a move which has been expected ever since he dropped out of the Presidential race, Kansas Senator Sam Brownback has announced his intention to succeed term-limited Democrat Kathleen Sebelius as Governor:

Brownback filed documents with the Kansas Secretary of State disclosing that he had appointed a treasurer for a campaign for governor, the Associated Press reported, the first required filing step for state candidates before being able to accept contributions.

The 2010 race represents another pickup opportunities for Republicans in a traditionally-favorable state in which a Democratic governor is term-limited. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D) is barred from seeking reelection.

Republican Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh is thought to be Brownback's major competition for the GOP nomination.

Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson (the former chair of the Kansas GOP, as it happens) has already announced he would not run, and even if he had, Brownback probably would have beaten him. So it's extremely likely that Sam Brownback is going to be the next Governor of Kansas.

This also raises the question of whether Brownback and Sebelius will essentially trade places; she'll have a good shot at becoming the state's first Democratic Senator in John McCain's lifetime if she runs for Brownback's seat.

Finally, in Virginia news, former DNC chairman and Clinton ally Terry McAuliffe appears set to make it official; he's running for Governor of Virginia.

He's hired quite an impressive staff, including campaign manager Mike Henry:

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe announced his leadership team this morning. Many of them worked on the campaigns of Democrats Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, former governor Mark R. Warner and Sen. James Webb.

Mike Henry, who served as campaign manager for Kaine's gubernatorial campaign in 2005 and Warner's senate campaign in 2008, will be McAuliffe's camapign manager. He also has worked to elect Democrats statewide, to elect Democratic senators across the nation and served as deputy campaign manager for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.

"We're proud to have assembled an all-star team that has experience winning elections in Virginia," Henry said. "But we're even more proud to be working for a candidate who will bring the right kind of leadership to Richmond and get our economy back on track."

It's said that McAuliffe could spend anywhere from $30 to $80 million on the campaign, and with that kind of money, along with a particularly strong staff, McAuliffe would have to be considered a pretty serious contender for the Governorshipp.