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In late September, when Steve Jobs was a fortnight from his long night, HP, whose co-founder Bill Hewlett had once chatted with and inspired the high-schooler Jobs, named Meg Whitman as its latest CEO. Meg Whitman has many positive and unappreciated qualities, but no one has ever compared her to Steve Jobs. He was the West Coast acid-dropping dropout and seeker; she was the East Coast Ivy Leaguer who kept her nose clean. Her rise up the corporate ladder to eBay was as predictable as any Harvard Business School grad’s can be: Disney, Procter and Gamble, Bain Capital. Even her...

According to her attorney, former maid Nicky Diaz, who worked for former Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman, was sexually harassed by Herman Cain. The allegation was revealed in a press conference today. The attorney, who would not reveal her own identity, said that Diaz told her, "He treated me like dirt." "He just laughed and turned his face to one side," Diaz said through her attorney. Cain's office issued a statement denying the allegation. "We never asked her for anything," the campaign said. Media commentators are saying that the Cain campaign cannot survive the latest allegation. Donations to Cain are...

The media circus surrounding Herman Cain just got its third ring. The celebrity gossip website Radar reports that Gloria Allred — yes, that one — will introduce America to a woman who says Cain harassed her in the past.

The process of firing a CEO is always full of drama -- just ask Yahoo. But Hewlett-Packard's board has taken it to a new level. It's all but certain that members of HP's (HPQ, Fortune 500) own board leaked the big news -- that they were planning to oust CEO Léo Apotheker -- to media outlets including Fortune on Wednesday. The leak hit before HP finally made an official announcement on Thursday, saying it had replaced Apotheker with former eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) head Meg Whitman. The surreal spectacle raised the bar for boardroom dysfunction. "These guys are a bunch...

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All Things D reports that former eBay CEO, gubernatorial candidate could replace Apotheker. Silicon Valley veteran and politically connected former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered to replace Leo Apotheker as Hewlett-Packard's CEO, according to sources speaking with All Things D. The NYSE seems to be on board, as HP stock spiked after the rumors surfaced. (You can follow the stock in real time here.) Apotheker's recent moves -- shuttering TouchPad, WebOS and shopping the PC business -- has left at least 500 people out of work. Those layoffs were announced this morning. The TouchPad was on shelves only...

...Whitman doubts she will ever again run for elected office, and for many months she said little about the campaign. But she has started popping up recently on radio and TV. For a beaten candidate who wishes to remain relevant in politics – Whitman is advising Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in his presidential campaign, and she plans to involve herself in California ballot initiatives – it helps to stay in view. (snip) She said she plans to support ballot initiatives perhaps as early as this summer, likely involving education policy. She said she will recruit and support Republican candidates for...

Former staffers for defeated California candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina have an urgent message for fellow Republicans: Their political future depends on Latino voters, and the Obama administration may be providing an opening. (snip) Mr. Wilson, managing partner at Wilson-Miller Communications Inc. in Sacramento, said that if the topic of immigration arises, Republicans should avoid anti-immigration rhetoric meant to stir up the conservative base. "We're on safe ground when we say, 'We have to secure our borders and get a guest-worker program, then work on a pathway for citizenship for people who are already here'—and then quickly pivot off...

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman, who made her first foray into politics with a bid for California governor last year, said that after losing that race, she’s probably out of politics for good. “I doubt it,” she said Wednesday on Fox Business Network when asked whether she’d run for elected office again. Some had speculated that Whitman, who lost to Democrat Jerry Brown by 13 points in November, might consider a run for Senate. Last month, she said she was “definitely not” plotting a 2012 Senate bid challenging Democrat Dianne Feinstein.

California is being looked at as the rare alternative to Tea-Party rule these days. Jerry Brown’s direct style and transparent budget strategy as governor have led to a waning in people’s longtime pessimism about state government. Yet, with the extreme policies of other new governors dominating the news -- and with Meg Whitman remaining in the public eye-- one must wonder how it would have been if California had voted the other way in 2010. It was certainly significant that voters went to the polls and beat back Whitman's $178 million candidacy. This is further relevant because in California elections...

The reinvention of Meg Whitman continues apace. The former eBay (EBAY) chief has been joining corporate boards at the rate of one a month in the wake of last year's unsuccessful run for governor. On Tuesday, powerhouse venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers announced Whitman is joining as a part-time strategic advisor. Whitman will coach entrepreneurs and help evaluate new digital investments, according to a statement. "Her experience and strategic advice will be invaluable," said Kleiner Perkins partner Ted Schlein. Whitman, in the statement, called Menlo Park-based Kleiner "fabulous advocates for technology-based start-ups." Whitman in January joined the...

2012 U.S. SENATE RACE: GOP hopefuls lining up to battle Nelson Republicans are bracing for a tough 2012 U.S. Senate primary pitting such political heavyweights as a former U.S. senator, a sitting Florida Senate president and the congressman son of a Republican icon. But to hear a growing number of Republican activists tell it, the candidate to watch is a fellow few Floridians have heard of. “Absolutely -- it’s Adam Hasner,” said Nancy McGowan, a prominent conservative activist and fundraiser from Jacksonville. “A primary for the most part is determined by the grass roots who look for the leadership they...

Once again, political pundits are saying that the California Republican Party is dead and never to rise again unless it begins to embrace more moderate candidates. And just where has trying to be Democrat-lite ever gotten the Republican Party but in trouble? You can’t out-promise or out-spend liberal Democrats! Politics is about real choices. In these challenging times, Republicans must teach, motivate, inspire, and, ultimately, draw a stark contrast between itself and the progressive politicians. Do citizens want more freedom or big government control, Constitutional rule or activist judges, individual rights or group advocacy, low taxes or wealth redistribution? Yes,...

Republicans in California "as a brand," said former GOP party chair Duf Sundheim, "are dead." Ouch. Not that we didn't already know that -- and we told you the other day about some trying to do mouth-to-mouth on the GOP (sorry about the image). But Duf's nugget at the end of a discussion about California's 2010 gubernatorial primary was one of several things we learned here at the lovely Hotel Shattuck at UC-Berkeley's Institute of Governmental Studies looky-loo-back at the 2010 Guv race. As the name hints, this confab is like a rave for political geeks-- and those who aspire...

The Republican Party, as a brand, is dead in California. That's the eye-opening consensus of a crowd of political observers, lawmakers and strategists - Democrats and Republicans - gathered at a UC Berkeley symposium this weekend to mull over California's defiantly blue status in the wake of a conservative tide that swept the nation in November. Many of the 200 attendees at the two-day Institute of Governmental Studies conference appeared surprisingly unified on one issue: that, barring dramatic upheaval, the GOP's prospects may be doomed in the voter-rich Golden State. "Republicans, as a brand, are dead," Duf Sundheim, the former...

George Skelton has an interesting column today, Whitman paid a high price for Latino distrust of GOP . Writes Skelton, "Senior advisor Rob Stutzman isn't exactly spilling his guts about the former EBay chief's spectacular thumping. The billionaire lost to low-budget Jerry Brown by 54% to 41%, despite spending a record $160 million-plus, roughly $142 million of it her own money."But the veteran Republican strategist is blaming the mini-landslide size of Whitman's loss on some ugly dust-ups over illegal immigration that alienated Latinos from the GOP." Bunk. Let's start with the biggest factor in Whitman's Titanic disaster of a campaign...

The pro-Republican wave in the rest of the nation on Nov. 2 is likely to pay dividends for the party for years to come, with the GOP so strong in the state legislatures, which control post-2010 census redistricting, that gerrymandering alone may yield 20 more House seats for the party in 2012. But in California, Republican prospects could scarcely be grimmer. Exit polls showed independent voters were overwhelmingly opposed to all but one of the statewide GOP candidates. Independents were key to Republican gains elsewhere. Meanwhile, the long-expected emergence of Latinos as a dominant voting bloc appears at hand. Exit...

alifornia Republicans woke up Wednesday with a political hangover. Nationally, they celebrated the GOP's taking control of Congress, but their dismal showing in California gave them a lingering headache. Many of them wondered how they missed the national wave - and differed on which direction to go next. They lost nearly every statewide office, drubbed by double digits in most of the races. Meg Whitman couldn't win the governorship despite straddling the political middle and spending a record $160 million. Carly Fiorina couldn't roust Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer, despite tacking right and exploiting Boxer's low approval ratings.For months, party officials...

A Democratic governor and a legislative change from two-thirds to majority passage of the state budget means Democrats will control spending. It is true that Brown and Democrats will be able to jam through their own spending plan without GOP votes if they choose to; passage of Proposition 25 allows lawmakers to pass budgets with the simple majority that Democrats command. It will no longer be necessary that two-thirds of the Legislature approve. In that way, Tuesday's vote "is a tectonic shift," said GOP strategist Adam Mendelsohn. "Republicans are going to have to think seriously about how to reestablish their...

In one of the most critical midterm elections in recent years, Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer won over Whitman and Fiorina, both by at least 10% while on the national level, Republicans took back a majority of seats in the house, with 239 to Democrat’s 18, and Democrats kept their hold on the Senate, with 51 to 46. California kept true to its blue roots, choosing Brown over Whitman in a time when the Democratic vote is not the most popular one. His 13% lead over Whitman was predicted, however, as Whitman’s image had faltered with the public in the...