Politics

Meg Whitman Wants to Be President

Meg Whitman’s has spent what seems to be an insane amount of her personal money in her campaign to be Governor of California.  The Sacramento Bee reports that she’s already put in over $119 million:

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman became the biggest ever U.S. campaign self-spender yesterday after putting another $15 million into her campaign, bringing her total contribution to $119,075,806.11.

Governor of California is not a very fun or glamorous job.  I’m sure it’s an ego trip for the first few months.  But by the time the governor’s first budget fight has rolled around, the job is no fun .   I’m pretty sure Governor Schwarzenegger will be relieved once his term is up.  He gone from grand plans:
Every governor proposes moving boxes around to reorganize government. I don’t want to move boxes around; I want to blow them up.
to struggling to get the legislature to tackle tax reform:
Now, here is what we need to accept. Our economy is 21st century and our tax system is 20th century. It is stuck in the wrong century.
The tax system in California is broken and I commend the Governor for trying to fix it.   Governor  Schwarzenegger’s tenure has made it clear that the trying to run a state hobbled by a century of an absurd initiative process is a difficult and thankless job and certainly not one worth spending $119M to obtain.
The only explanation I see is that Meg Whitman wants to be President of the United States and being a governor is historically the best path to get there..   Her failure to vote shows that her interest in politics is minimal.  The reason for Whitman spending this kinda of money to chase a difficult job is that she sees it as a stepping stone somewhere else.    If Whitman wins as governor, I’d be shocked if she didn’t run for president either in 2012 or 2016.
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