Dreaming of Carlyfornia

Mike Bloomberg and Mark Warner are two examples of wealthy business executives who have had electoral succes, but it is not always that easy- ask Al Checchi or Mitt Romney. I know Mitt was the governor in Massachusetts, but this is not a man who has successfully transitioned to politics:




Dubya Bush was a unique case- a constant business failure who ended up having electoral success. 
Carly Fiorina just might be in a class of her own. Here's how HP stock fared during her tenure as CEO:

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Carly "helped John McCain by saying things like Sarah Palin couldn't run a major corporation (considering what a great job Carly did, that is really saying something).


Now Carly's running  for the US Senate in California. Her campaign website has been rightfully described as the worst campaign website ever:





Earlier  this week Carly rolled out her new attack video targeting Tom Campbell. 




 So many questions:
- Where did they get the wanna-be Morgan Freeman narrator?
- Which sheep are the ones we should aspire to be?
- Did Carly herself play the demon sheep?
- Did anyone know that there was such a thing as a demon sheep before this ad?
- How much did they pay the the demon sheep?
- Did they use their own animals or have to tell a rancher that they were creating a demon sheep political ad?


The good news is that John McCain thought she did a good job as CEO:



Meg Whitman will need to kick it up in order to keep pace with Carly.

Campbell opts for the Senate

Tom Campbell, former Congressman and Dean of the Haas School of Business (Go Bears!), has apparently switched out of the gubernatorial race and instead will attempt to be the GOP nominee against Barbara Boxer.  Campbell's a smart guy and figured out the math of running against former Ebay CEO Meg Whitman and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner was daunting. Poizner is worth hundreds of millions and Meg is a billionaire. Campbell was by far the most experienced and intelligent of the GOP gubernatorial contenders, but he had no chance of getting his message out.

He'll be squaring off against former HP CEO Carly Fiorina and Assemblyman Chuck Devore in the Senate primary. Devore is the teabag candidate in the race and Fiorina is allegedly able to appeal to women and fiscal conservatives.

Carly was pretty much a disaster as the head of HP and McCain sidelined her from his campaign after she noted that neither McCain or Palin had the qualifications to run a large corporation. Fiorina walked away with a $21.4 million severance package when HP fired her and she has loaned her campaign $2.5 million, but she certainly does not have the ability to self-fund at the levels of Poizner or Whitman.

I was looking forward to debates between Jerry Brown and Campbell- they are the only two candidates capable of having an in-depth conversation about the massive problems facing our state. Campbell has a better shot at winning the Senate nomination and it might be easier for him to beat Boxer than Brown.

One of the smartest people I've ever met....

I've always had a soft spot for former Republican Congressman Tom Campbell. He just recently stepped down as the Dean at the Haas Business School in order to run for the GOP nomination for Governor. It will be an uphill battle for him because his moderate views often put him at odds with the right-wing. Oh, he's also running against at least two people who can put tens of millions of their own money into the race.

I still think that he would have beaten Barbara Boxer for the Senate (I'm full of revisionist history tonight) if he had been the Republican nominee in 1992. He narrowly lost the nomination to Bruce Herschenson- a hard right candidate who only lost to Boxer by a couple of percentage points.

The LA Times has a profile of Campbell that's worth checking out. I wonder if he will actually run if he determines he has no chance against Whitman and Poizner.

Can Meg Whitman take a punch?

It sounds more and more like she'll be running for Governor of California. Her biggest assets will be her assets (she's a billionaire) and the fact that eBay is generally regarded as one of the great Silicon Valley success stories. Her two most likely competitors for the GOP nomination are Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner (also loaded) and former Congressman Tom Campbell. Campbell was most recently the Dean of the Haas Business School (Go Bears!) and is probably one the five smartest people I've ever met.

Campbell has long been a moderate voice within the Republican ranks and Poizner and Whitman tend to lean that way as well. It will be interesting to see if someone moves to the right or if a movement conservative candidate emerges. Maybe Moose Lady wants to move down from Alaska.

Can Meg Whitman emerge as the nominee or will she flame out like Al Checchi did in 1998?

NY Times profiles her here.