Final Meg Whitman tally: $178.5M spent "en route to a loss"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Monday, Jan 31, 2011 20:26 ET
Final Meg Whitman tally: $178.5M
Finance reports reveal that the gubernatorial candidate spent nearly 180 million dollars en route to a loss
By AP/Salon

http://www.salon.com/news/meg_whitman/index.html?story=/news/feature/2011/01/31/us_calif_governor_s_race



New campaign finance reports show Jerry Brown spent about $36.5 million in his successful bid to become governor of California, a fraction of the $178.5 million spent by his Republican opponent, billionaire Meg Whitman.

In reports filed Monday with the secretary of state's office, Brown's campaign reported spending $29 million on TV and radio ads placed by a Georgia-based Democratic advertising firm, LUC Media.

Whitman, the former eBay chief executive, shows she tapped $144 million from her personal fortune and raised the rest from donors.

The 2010 California governor's race was the highest-spending campaign for statewide office in the nation's history.

[Bunny]

1. Heh. Suck on *that*, Meg.

:rofl:

[Brilliantrocket]

2. Rub it in !

[Merlot]

3. Money well spent

Every time she put an ad on tv/radio and people got to hear her voice again and again and again, her favorably dropped.

[bluestateguy]

4. She reached the saturation point with money, and she never got the message

Maybe because CEO's are not used to being told NO or because they are used to surrounding themselves with Yes Men.

At a certain point you reach the saturation level with money in campaigns; a point at which your message has been heard and the voters have made up their mind, and any more money will have a negligible impact.

She spent $178.5 million to get 40.88% of the vote. If she had spent $200 million maybe she would have gotten 40.89% of the vote.

[bleever]

5. Meanwhile, Jerry replaces his beloved dog Dharma by adopting

his sister Kathleen's corgi.

God, it feels good to think about my governor again.

[druidity33]

7. I'd love to hear that story...

got a link?

:)

[bleever]

11. Here's one:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/12/DDI41H5EJR.DTL

[Brother Buzz]

12. The bigger story is Jerry walking to the Capitol while Arnie used to...

assemble a motorcade and travel a couple of blocks, due to one-way streets, to and from the hotel that was just across the street from the Capitol grounds; the He-man could have hoofed it faster, and saved a ton of gas and money.

Here's Jerry, Anne and Sutter:



California Gov. Jerry Brown starts his first full day in office Jan. 4 by walking to the Capitol with his wife, Anne Gust Brown, in Sacramento. Out in front is Sutter, a Welsh corgi dog that is living with the Browns on a trial basis.

[Raine]

6. Well that's 178.5 million

down the crapper! :hurts: :rofl: Now just GO AWAY and STAY AWAY!

[rurallib]

8. @$50,000/year per good job that's how many jobs?

3,560? quicky math in my head, may be wrong.

[Initech]

9. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!

[Brother Buzz]

10. Meg Whitman raised less money than Jerry Brown

That's all we need to know about her political prowess; she never connected with the GOP base, including the Fat Cats.

[upi402]

13. Sometimes the sun comes out

Brown will turn it around but some Rethg ploy will try to undermine him. Hope he's very careful. We need him.

[intaglio]

14. What bugs me

Is that if you had $1.3 million invested and were living off the investment income you would have an income of $35 - $45 thousand and you would regarded a loss of $14,000 as a big deal, but still not too bad. Her personal fortune is $1.3 billion, her loss is equivalent to that, but what she has lost is reinvestment income

[Le Taz Hot]

15. We need to remember this.

The reason the "New Democrats" came in to power was the Republicans had been out-fundraising Democrats 3:1. Instead of examining the caliber of candidate (Dukakis???) they wrongly assessed that the problem was unequal access to money. The "New Democrats" compromised traditional Democratic issues to cozy up to the corps for the campaign donations.

FF to now. Jerry Brown spent $36.5 million. Meg spent $178.5 million and lost. It's not the money, it's the candidate. Offer up good candidates and the campaign will take care of itself. We need to remember that the next time the "pragmatic center" uses monetary parity as an excuse for selling out.

[Blue_Tires]

16. You all are being way too hard on her...

All she wanted to do was give this country a lesson on what wasteful spending looks like!:+ :think: