Two Former CEO’s Spend Their Way To Victory In California GOP Races
Early poll results show that both Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina are likely to win their cash driven primary races in convincing fashion. This means that Whitman will be the first woman to ever get the Republican nod for the Governor’s seat against Democrat Jerry Brown who ran virtually unopposed in the primary and Fiorina will be facing off against incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer who has occupied the Senate seat she now holds for over fifteen years.
One issue that is likely to take center stage in the general election is the excessive spending that took place in the Republican primaries. While both Whitman and Fiorina are women, which puts a somewhat new face on the GOP, their spending in the primaries was primarily out of their own pockets emphasizing for voters how rich the two women are reinforcing negative stereotypes about the Republican Party as being a party for the desires of the wealthy over the needs of the average person. There is little doubt that the two Democrats in these races will use that perception to hurt their opponents.
The question in this current political climate may come down to what is more distasteful to voters; rich people or incumbents. While Jerry Brown is not the sitting governor he is seen by most as the ultimate political insider in California. He has been Governor, the mayor of a major city and Attorney General of California. This may play to the advantage of the business experienced Whitman who can run as an outsider in a very rough political climate for insiders. The same holds true in the Boxer-Fiorina Senate race. Boxer has been in the House and Senate for decades while Fiorina was helping to run a successful business. The perception of voters could end up being that it will take a different mindset in Washington to fix the problems the nation and state face.
One thing is certain; the upcoming general election will be one where campaign spending in California will likely break records. Even in a down economy with unemployment at well over ten percent in California the candidates will shamelessly spend millions to win a job that pays a small fraction of that over an entire two terms in office. One does have to wonder how so-called fiscal conservatives can justify spending millions of dollars of their own money to win a job that pays far less than that unless they see other ways of using the job to make that money back. In the end it will be up to voters to decide who will best represent them in Sacramento and Washington DC. For now we will all just have to wait and see how it all unfolds.
Troy Wilson-Ripsom | Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article
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