Former eBay CEO Running For California Governor

The former CEO of eBay is planning on running for governor. Meg Whitman, one of the wealthiest woman in the world with an estimated 2007 net worth of $1.4 billion, wants to run the State of California. Will California bid on Meg Whitman to win?

No doubt Whitman's Republican star has been rising as of late. Last year she stood alongside and campaigned with Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and later endorsed Presidential Candidate John McCain. At the Republican National Convention last Summer, she spoke to a rousing applause and was hinted by McCain to be slotted for the position of Secretary of Treasury.

In 2005, Whitman was ranked by Fortune magazine as America's most powerful business woman. She helped grow the company in her 10 year tenure from its infant stage to a multi billion dollar brand international company. Having lived just a few miles down the road from eBay headquarters and with my mother working in the same building when eBay first started, it has been a pleasure to see this company grow.

But since 2006, the once $60/share eBay has been on a slide. Some say that its due to overly agressive Internet property acquisitions that have failed to pan out like Rent.com, Shopper.com and VOIP service Skype. In early January 2008, Whitman announced she was stepping down from eBay. Since March 2008 when she officially left, the stock has further cratered into the low teens.

Winning the bid for the governor's seat will be a tough road for Whitman. Vying for the position are some pretty powerful and popular candidates including former California Governor Jerry Brown, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, and SF Bay Area Senator Dianne Feinstein. In a state where popular vote takes on a different meaning in celebrity-like fashion, Meg Whitman would appear to be out of place.

Bid on Whitman? Yes in the sense she has strong business and leadership skills to be a Republican front runner. But there is a difference between social and corporate popularity. Pleasing Wall Street for a living is one thing, satisfying real everyday citizens clamoring for a better world is another.

There is a change in the air in politics. Today it is all about making lasting, meaningful social change. Popularity counts more than ever. Whitman will have difficulty connecting with ordinary, everyday Californians. Besides, being extremely wealthy and running for political office is more of a negative perception among people in a struggling economy. People are looking for someone they can identify with. Someone who really understands and have lived under the same sort of circumstances. Meg Whitman doesn't fit that bill I'm afraid.

People like Jerry Brown who practices passionate hardline politics and the skills to back it are ideal. Or even Gavin Newsome who is rock-star popular in the San Francisco Bay Area with down to earth people skills and politics. Standing up for something to improve our way of life is noble, but being different and distinguishing yourself among others is important in the eyes of California voters.

Meg Whitman doesn't really fit that mold and that's where California will likely pull its bid. There are people who dream and are passionate about the work of politics. Then there are those who wake out of bed with $1.4 billion having already fufilled their dreams.