Meg Whitman is a refreshingly unlikely candidate rising up through the California GOP. There has never been a woman Republican candidate elected to run for Governor in California; but she might just be the right candidate to not only win the primary, but also win the general election in 2010. Whitman has some positive characteristics that are lacking in the other gubernatorial candidates but there is no question she will have an uphill battle.
The current voter registration is about 44% democratic to 33% republican with another 24% registered voters decline to state/other. The Democratic Party is also 58% female to 42% male and the GOP is 50%/50% male and female.
According to 2008 exit polls, more than 54% of voters in California were women and 46% were men. While 42% of voters were self identified Democrats, 30% were self identified Republicans and 28% were self identified Independents.
Moderate democratic women might be the answer to Meg Whitman’s success. Whitman will have a tough challenge of getting those Democratic women to cross party lines – she is a pro-choice and does not have nearly the name recognition as the Democrats in the race. Whitman also believes in a small government, something that most Californians are not accustomed to.
However Whitman’s positives just might sway enough Democratic women to vote for her. Meg Whitman has never run for office and she appears to have no baggage. Whitman is the only candidate in the field that has no scandal, no voting record and no previous gaffes that so often fuels the negative campaign ads and press.
Whitman also has a seemingly endless supply of money. She gave her campaign $15 million in the summer and has signaled she would spend nearly $150 million more if needed. Whitman definitely leads the money race of the 5 candidates that are running or rumored to be running by nearly threefold. In a state as large as California, money will be a critical aspect of the gubernatorial race in order to reach such a broad and expensive media markets.
Her personal story, effectively crafted as how it translates to her political positions, could be very compelling to voters. She highlights the fact that she was a successful business executive for eBay and wants to fundamentally change the way California is run. She wants to restore California to its grandeur it once was, but has failed to live up to because of lack of leadership. Her experience and success as a business executive might appeal to women voters who are working hard to balance their checkbooks while their state goes on an out-of-control spending spree. One of Whitman’s issues is rebuilding California’s education system from one of the worst in the nation. With a budget that spends nearly half on education it appears coupled with her proven management skills, she might have just what it takes to accomplish that. On Whitman’s campaign website she states, “Restoring California will not be easy. It will take time to uproot old habits… old ways of thinking… and old ways of doing business. But do it we can, and do it we must, because we all love California too much to let it fail. ”
Whitman has not always fallen in line with the GOP; she opposed all of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s budget propositions, all of which failed in the end. More Recently She has been getting a lot of flack for her recent comments supporting Van Jones, before Van Jones resigned. This is minor and she will likely move very quickly beyond this however it may help to lead the undecided voter to respect her independence from her party line.
If Meg Whitman keeps her campaign positive and on the message, she might have a real chance of attracting the moderate women of California and breaking the glass ceiling of California’s highest office.
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Meghan Hays Goodman is a native of California and previously worked for Former Governor Gray Davis and currently works for a consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Goodman self identifies as a Democrat.
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