Meg's money has power to change the game

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/28/10 | Debra J. Saunders

[SmithL]

Former Rep. Tom Campbell swears that former eBay CEO and gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman did not squeeze him out of the GOP primary for governor and prompt him to switch to the race to unseat Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer. Whitman spokeswoman Sarah Pompei also denied that Whitman Inc. was involved in Campbell's decision.

Politicos figure that Whitman was too smart to ever directly push Campbell out of the contest. But given that her political guru Mike Murphy sent that memo to Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner suggesting that Poizner instead run for Senate in 2012, it is evident that Whitman Inc. wanted to clear the field for governor. And Campbell had to be aware that the doors of GOP biggies supporting Whitman suddenly would swing open for him if he jumped to the Senate race. Whitman didn't need to push Campbell out. Her money did all the work.

So Campbell moved. And as fast as corn popping, former Secretary of State George Shultz became Camp Campbell's honorary chair, and Whitman fundraising dynamo Kristin Hueter added Campbell to her client list. (Said Hueter: "It's a lie if somebody says there was a deal cut for Tom to pull out of the race.")

However, it worked: The power of Whitman's money - she has plunked $39 million of her own money into her campaign - completely transformed not only the governor's race but also the now three-way Senate primary.

The bad news, ladies: Sisterhood is not all-powerful. The biggest loser of a move to reorder the chess board that has boosted Whitman's chances could be Carly Fiorina, the other female former CEO in California running in a statewide GOP primary. One theory - denied by Whitman Inc. - is that Whitman wants Campbell to beat the former Hewlett-Packard CEO . . .

[bray]

Has Mike Murphy ever won a campaign?? Isn’t that like saying the Cubs are baseball gurus?

Pray for America

[ncalburt]

Both Whitman or Poizner will need their big bucks to take on Moonbeam and his followers :

SEIU
Moveon.org
Hollywood Left
Sierra Trial lawyers club
Nurse union
Gay radical left
David Geffen ( huffington post)
Disney

So did Debra have a problem with Diane Feinstein big money from Chinese Military fron groups ?
Did debra have issues with Johnny Gigolo Kerry big campaign financed by Billionaire Wife ?

[pb929]

Money alone will not win the race. Just ask John Corzine from NJ. The liberals would love to attribute the Dems’ troubles to money but they are missing the larger point. The public is angry at Democrats right now because of what’s going on in Washington and they are all going to pay the price in November.

[chrisinoc]

Brown won’t get the environmental vote when the left finds out he was on the ICN board of directors in the 1990s. The N stands for Nuclear.