Whitman appears set to finally make her bid
By: Ken Garcia
Examiner Staff Writer
01/06/09 1:17 PM PST
If former eBay chief Meg Whitman's rumored run for governor turns out to be true, it would seem she would be the person most able to sell her candidacy online.
That, and her relative infancy in big-time politics, may be her only edge.
Sources are telling newspapers throughout the state that the wealthy former CEO of the Internet giant is resigning from a number of corporate boards in order to make a run for the job currently held by Arnold Schwarzenegger, with a formal announcement coming in four to six weeks. And while her money and her absence from the usual suspects list of ambitious pols may seem to give her a boost, history suggests that being a billionaire able to finance your own campaign can be a mighty burden.
Ten years ago, another high-level executive with too much time and too much money on his hands made a similar decision to make his initial entry into politics by running for governor, and he was articulate, idealistic and interesting. But the problem for Al Checchi was that he did not keep his word - hitting his opponents with negative attack ads after promising not to - and revealing a level of cynicism that made voters feel he was trying to buy his way into office.
The same doesn't apply to Whitman - yet - but like Checchi (I nicknamed him Al Checkbook), she has a spotty voting record and only registered as a Republican a little more than a year ago. The members of the Grand Old Party certainly can applaud her business acumen and level of financial achievement, but new-found political faith is a hard item to sell - even on eBay.
Besides, running a successful company is one thing - rescuing a failed one is quite another.
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