GOP big-money politics

05 November 2009 |permalink | email article

IT just fascinates me the way in which very rich Republican candidates play the political game.

First, there’s billionaire Michael Bloomberg who just won a third term as New York mayor this week. A Republican until 2007 when he switched to “unaffiliated” and succeeded in changing the term-limits law so he could stay in office came close to losing in a tight race. When all the bills are paid, Bloomberg will probably have spent more than $100 million on his campaign.

Then there is former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman who is sparing no expense to win the Republican nomination for California governor next year. The first-time candidate has an army of advisers, expensive charter jets and a big technology tab all adding up to $6 million in the first half of this year.

The billionaire is already floating the notion of a record-shattering $150-million campaign budget to propel her into a race where her likely opponent will be two-term former Democratic governor Jerry Brown who has yet to formally declare his candidacy. Her message is cutting spending, growing jobs and fixing education.

Not to be outdone, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced this week that she’s running for the U.S. Senate in California in 2010 against veteran Barbara Boxer.

Like Whitman she’s considered a moderate and is the first woman to lead a Fortune 500 company. Her focus will be on “economic recovery and fiscal accountability. She’s not a billionaire like eMeg but her severance package from H-P was a mere $21 million.

Given high employment in California, and with the economic stimulus package yet to fully kick in, the audacity of Whitman and Fiorina is nothing short of breathtaking. Both start as huge underdogs against Brown and Boxer in a very Democratic state.

Quotable

“The race for New York’s 23rd District is not over, just postponed until 2010…The cause goes on.” Sarah Palin, forever dreaming on Facebook.

“I’m totally concerned with me.” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, recalling a four-hour dinner she once had with Rush Limbaugh at the “21 Club in Manhattan when he credited his success with being “one-dimensional” – and “that was before he got a contract for $400 million.”

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