Meg Whitman, the former eBay executive turned Mitt Romney-esque candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of California, has been spending lavishly on her campaign — $358,439 a day, $14,935 an hour, $249 a minute, almost all of which is her own money — and it is paying off, at least for now.
According to the latest Field Poll, she is ahead of her Republican opponent and against the only Democrat in the race, Attorney General (and former governor) Jerry Brown, who is running unopposed in the primary and has not been actively campaigning:
Brown … now trails the former eBay Inc. chief executive by 43 percent to 46 percent in a two-way matchup.
Eleven percent of those polled, a random sample of 748 likely general-election voters, said they were undecided. And Whitman’s lead was within the statistical margin of error.
…Whitman also widened her advantage over her rival for the Republican nomination, state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, 63 percent to 14 percent. In January, she led Poizner 45 percent to 15 percent. The percentage of undecided Republican voters shrank from 38 percent to 23 percent.
Brown, not surprisingly, still holds a better-than three-to-one lead (69 percent to 20 percent) over Whitman among Democrats. But Whitman’s lead among Republicans is even grater [sic], 77 percent to 13 percent. Independents split in Whitman’s favor, 50 percent to 36 percent for Brown.
Whitman also holds huge leads over Brown among the roughly one-third of likely California voters who identify with the Tea Party movement. She scored better among middle-aged and older voters, while Brown was favored by younger voters. Both male and female voters preferred Whitman by small margins.
By comparison, Brown led Whitman last October 50 percent to 29 percent, but saw his lead shrink to 10 percentage points, 46 percent to 36 percent, in January.
One factor to consider, however, is that Republican registration has dropped [PDF] to 30.8 percent, while Democratic registration is up 44.6 percent and Independents (called “Decline to State” in California) now represent 20.2 percent of the electorate.
She has really saturated the TV airways here is California. Every time I turn on the tube, there she is. I won’t vote for her just because she has become a real pain-in-the-ass. She doesn’t really say anything. She just throws crap on her opponent.
Screw you, Meg!
“But Whitman’s lead among Republicans is even grater, 77 percent to 13 percent.”
http://numist.net/define/?grater
“Meg Whitman Spending $249 a Minute to Buy California Governorship?” I thought we were all going to vote for Jerry Brown. Vote for Whitman? I’m not a masochist: I’m never voting for a Republican. Never.
Deukmejian and Wilson were horrible/evil Governors, and Schwarzenegger is mostly a joke. Davis (a Democrat) would have been OK if he hadn’t renegotiated the electricity contracts (to our great detriment) – but Davis was the least bad of our past four Governors (including the current one, Schwarzenegger).
but she pays for it with the sidebar ads..
Why didn’t the Dems put up a stronger candidate than Jerry Brown? Come on, there’s got to be some qualified Dem who can recapture the Governor’s office from the GOP!
Not to worry, Garry. Jerry Brown is popular in the state. We’ve also had a series of billionaires — both GOP and Dems — try to buy the seat and fail. Her ads are touchy-feely but content-free. In fact, she’s against gay marriage and — this is a killer — in favor of offshore drilling.
Our coast is a national treasure, right up there with the Grand Canyon and the Outer Banks, and even conservative Californians are against additional drilling. There was a devastating oil spill off Santa Barbara in the 1960s. All you have to do is start showing footage of that again and the issue evaporates.
All she’s doing on the radio now is buying name recognition. She’s not defining herself, so is wide open to an opponent pointing out her many flaws.
And, not for nothing, there’s going to be a prop on the ballot in November to legalize pot. Talk about an energized Democratic base!
If she spends her money like this. how will she spend the taxpayers money, We should be scared.
allen