Meg Whitman is running unopposed for Governor of the most populous US State. We. Must. Stop. Her.

[NYC_SKP]

No candidates have yet been confirmed by the Secretary of State, but she's the only one who CLEARLY is running.

She's launched a series of slick and convincing ads that are, to me, scary in their effectiveness.

Her website is also slick and alluring (to the common citizen).

The majority of voters here have no idea what it means for Californians if she is successful.

Arrrghhh!!!

http://www.megwhitman.com /

We need Jerry Brown, and we need to begin to support him now.

Please Join Jerry Brown here: http://www.jerrybrown.org

:patriot:

[WheelWalker]

1. Here's a ,kick from an Oregonian n/t

[gateley]

2. And a kick from a Washingtonian. The thought terrifies me even up here. nt

[WheelWalker]

5. Bless you Sister.

:pals: :grouphug:

[gateley]

9. I followed your lead -- I always will. :-) nt

[NYC_SKP]

19. LOL. I posted this then had to go get a root canal.

Forgot it was here.

:rofl:

Thanks for the kick and rec.

:hi:

[gateley]

31. Yeow -- how's your mouth?? nt

[NYC_SKP]

32. Not bad, thanks for asking!

It's not my first, and my dentist is great.

:P

[Johonny]

3. I find her ads chuckle out loud funny

The I'm going to run California as a business line gets me every time.

[left coaster]

6. My favorite part of Meg's TV ads is the contradiciton of the following..

Meg says she will "Cut Taxes" AND "Fix Schools"..

Yeah, well good luck with that, Meg.. cuz you can't do both. Same old, same old from the GOP.

I also think it's telling that no where in her ads does she say she's the Rethug candidate.

[Blue_Tires]

40. well, she has the "script" down, at least

folks have been getting elected in Virginia with it for years

[Cleita]

7. Didn't "successful" business man Arnold Schwarzenegger promise the same

and other Repubs before him? Each time didn't they run the state into the ground? I think that's a loser. Also, as I pointed out to a relative who also said government should be run as a business during shrubby's reign, that he had a MBA from Harvard no less. She had to admit he was a failure as a President. I also now point out that wanting a government that runs as a business is wishing for a kingdom.

All businesses are operated as kingdoms with the Owner/CEO as king. There is a small group of upper management and/or stockholders or aristocracy that keep most of the profits and privileges. The workers are serfs and slaves with no vote and no say in what they must do and how they are treated. The only difference is they can get another job which a citizen can't. The customers or taxpayers have no say in how much the things they need cost or even if they are available. That's what operating California like a business would be like.

[imnKOgnito]

23. As an ebay employee

I can honestly say we're still trying to save the last business she ran. It's also kind of funny to see who the current crop of eBay execs (that pushed her out) personally supported in the 2008 Presidential.

[Doremus]

34. IDK, but from my vantage point it looks like her successor is

the one in destruct mode as he tries to re-make the company into the next Amazon (good luck with that).

As far as Meg, she will have whatever her riches can buy, and that's pretty much anything. Much to the detriment of the citizens of California.

By the way, since her entire campaign consists of "I was CEO of Ebay," it's fun to note that a blindfolded chimp could have "led" ebay during its formative years. The ebay phenom was unstoppable and management rode it wake, not the other way around.

[imnKOgnito]

39. Competing in a marketplace..

that has a market is a much better philosophy than remaining the top dog in a market that no longer exists. Our numbers are far better internally and externally than they were in the last years of Whitman, and that isn't all to do with the slight economic recovery.

[Doremus]

45. How long will earnings per share go up if STR and ASPs continue to fall?

Donahoe is throwing away the very things that made ebay special. Small sellers are leaving in droves, taking their OOAK and non-mass-produced inventories with them. Replacing them are mail order behemoths all peddling the same overstock appliances and China imports.

When the "special" is gone, why will anybody want to shop there? When I want Amazon, I don't want a wannabe.

[imnKOgnito]

46. The marketplace rejected 'special'

Whether or not eBay succeeds is yet to be seen, and your analysis may be spot on. But the relevant portion of this comparing Whitman to Donahoe is that the marketplace rejected Whitman's attempt at recapturing 'special'. "Buy it now" became far more popular and lucrative than auction format (which is what made eBay 'special') and that was apparent even while Whitman was trying to return to the roots by favoring Auction Format over SIFF. And, of course, there was Skype which may have been one of the most misguided purchases in corporate history but was seen by Whitman as being something that would make eBay even more unique and 'special'. Donahoe was at least smart enough to dump it for what he could get. Fact is, eBay may never be able to compete with Amazon in that space, but eBay wasn't going to survive as what it was in any case, and Donahoe at least recognized that whereas Whitman didn't, or at least not until too late. And if worse comes to worse, we always have PayPal. ;-)

[Doremus]

47. That's where we disagree. The marketplace didn't reject the model.

Why would it? All things being equal, do you think consumers prefer boilerplate transactions with faceless corporations or plain people like themselves? I know which I choose.

Like you say time will tell. We do agree on one thing though: Whitman would be another in a long line of disasters for the state of California.

[imnKOgnito]

49. Well, of course...

being an insider I can't blab company secrets. Besides that, I'm an IT guy and not on the biz side, so I probably don't have all that much secret info to blab from that perspective. But I will say that eBay strategy is not necessarily to take Amazon on head on because that isn't realistic, nor is it to abandon the small seller marketplace, which, admittedly, isn't visibly apparent at this point in time. Time will tell if there is a profitable niche in the balance of the two. As an employee, of course I hope so, but it's not a sled I'm steering in any case.

As to Whitman, just from a political perspective I disagree with her completely and pity California if she gets anywhere near the Governors Mansion without an escort. Fortunately, I live in Seattle, so my nightmares of such an occurence are from a distance, although the way CA goes definitely affects us all.

[Doremus]

53. Definitely rooting for the profitable niche. :)

Fulltime gold PS for 12 years here. I've been diversifying like mad since the 800 lb. gorilla started going insane. AZ has been a nice surprise -- fantastic support, easy selling. My website has been in the works for 1-1/2 years and is just about ready to open. Neither venue can match my ebay sales but I'll keep looking for alternatives.

When a viable ebay competitor materializes there will be a giant sucking sound as thousands of sellers like me rush for the door. Hope you're long gone from there before it happens.

Good talking to you and welcome to DU!

[imnKOgnito]

54. Thanks Doremus

I'm not too proud to hold out for the severane package. ;-) After that, like I said, I'm in Seattle. Amazon is just down the stree. lol

[Johonny]

35. The other co-founder seems to be doing ok with SpaceX

[hlthe2b]

4. I thought Jerry Brown was planning to run...?

[Brother Buzz]

10. Patience Grasshopper

The longer Jerry waits to announce the longer the personal attacks by Whitman are staved off. She has an obscenely huge war chest (she loaned her campaign 39 million dollars). Attacking Brown would become her first priority and Brown would be forced to spend large amounts on money countering the smear early on. He's smart that way.

[WheelWalker]

15. +1

The time for a thing is when it happens.

[bridgit]

8. Jerry is a forward thinker/well positioned: Brown Subpoenas Health Plans over Claims Denials & Hikes

News Release

February 25, 2010
For Immediate Release
Contact: [phone]

Brown Subpoenas Health Plans over Claims Denials and Rate Hikes

Los Angeles-Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., who has an ongoing investigation into possibly illegal practices by some California health insurers, today subpoenaed financial records and other documents from California's seven largest health insurance companies.

"We have been looking at these companies for a number of months and are very concerned that some of them are unjustly raising premiums and denying payment of legitimate claims," Brown said. "Not only are the rate increases devastating to Californians strapped by the economy, but in some cases, they are possibly illegal."

"Our best attorneys are going to get to the bottom of this, and where we find violations of California's unfair business laws, we intend to stop them," Brown added.

Brown subpoenaed records from Aetna Health, Anthem Blue Cross, CIGNA, Health Net, Blue Shield of California, Kaiser Permanente and PacifiCare. Today's subpoenas cover pay-for-service health plans, which are health plans that reimburse doctors and hospitals for services performed instead of a health maintenance organization (HMO) approach. Brown revealed that his office served subpoenas to those same companies last month regarding their managed care plans, known as HMOs.

http://ag.ca.gov/newsalerts/release.php?id=1863

http://ag.ca.gov/index.php

And while Meg says some good stuff here & there, Calfornia is to my mind bigger than E-Bay. Fortunately, it doesn't really take all that much time to toss a hat in a ring. And I'm thinking that's what Jerry is thinking my hope is that he decides to

So yeah Meg's Ads are slick...but they're only slick because she's not able to tell you what's really on her mind the poor dear :(:)

Debra's office is maybe half a block from here, and I do have some LLC stuff she wants from me - I'll ask what in the wide wide world of sports is going on http://www.sos.ca.gov

I see Cal St pols, leaders & echelons poised to give these 'california needs to be run by wealthy republicans exclusively through E-Bay and Marina Del Rey' people a proper bum's rush. Those gloves are off let them come taste the pudding

[avaistheone1]

37. I like and support Jerry Brown.

I think he did a good job as governor.

[ThomWV]

11. Here's a kick and recommend from one of the smallest states

[Zomby Woof]

12. She's a lying sack of shit

One of her radio ads claims CA spending has increased by "80% over the past 10 years". The real number is 27%, and programs have been cut EVERYWHERE, deeply.

She has the unmitigated audacity to prop up her time at eBay in her TV ads. The TRUTH needs to get out there about her time and escape from there.

[Xithras]

13. Meg is running a primary campaign. Jerry is not.

Meg Whitman has some serious competition in Steve Poizner, who is quite a bit more conservative and a darling of the teabagger set. Poizner also has a lot of support in the state Republican party, has actual political experience at both the state and federal level, and is a businessman who has promised a far more "fiscally conservative" governors office than Whitman has proposed. It also doesn't help that Whitman is largely considered to be an outsider within her own party...an inexperienced political late bloomer. THAT is why she is running so many commercials. It's PR to try and build support from nothing, using her wealth to try and counter her status as an upstart political unknown.

Jerry Brown is the all-but-official Democratic candidate for the governorship, and has no primary challenges to worry about at the moment. He's doing fundraising and is building a war chest for the general election campaign, and has no real reason to waste any of it refuting Whitmans primary ads.

[robertpaulsen]

16. True, Brown has no competition since Newsom dropped out.

Whitman does have serious competition in her primary. This is what she does to her competitors:


Whitman no rookie at playing hardball

The GOP gubernatorial candidate, a hard-nosed ex-CEO, tried to push a rival from the race and threatened labor leaders with retaliation if they funded attacks against her. But the moves carry risks.

Reporting from Sacramento - Meg Whitman is campaigning for governor as a political outsider, but behind the scenes she is playing classic political hardball in her quest for the Republican nomination.

She tried to push her chief GOP opponent, Steve Poizner, out of the primary contest with a consultant's threat to wage a negative ad campaign that would destroy his career. Her advisors have worked, with some success, to siphon away Poizner supporters, orchestrating calls by former Gov. Pete Wilson and others for the party to unite -- four months before the primary election -- behind her candidacy.

And Whitman's team warned labor leaders that if they gave money to Democratic operatives planning to attack her, the billionaire candidate would respond by spending millions to qualify a ballot initiative that would make it harder for unions to use dues for political purposes.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-whitman26-2010feb26,0,7185912.story?track=rss

We need to speak out loud and clear that California is a government by the people, not the corporations. Maybe that's a good sign to carry: "California is Not Corporatist!"

[NYC_SKP]

20. We still need to organize, and those Whitman ads still have effect on independents.

And morans.

[Xithras]

21. The Morans are going to vote for anyone with an R after their name.

No concern about them is wasted.

The Independents, on the other hand, are a valid concern, but I don't think that most of the political pundits are worried about them right now. Polling indicates that Brown would win the election if it were held today, and he hasn't run a single ad OR officially entered the race. His favorability ratings are so much higher than Whitman's among the independents that he CAN afford to sit back until June.

The strategy here is simple. The more money Whitman blows now, the less she'll have for the general. The less Brown spends now, the more he'll have for the general. Jerry will be cranking out commercials while Whitman watches her campaign reserves dry up.

Whitman is FULLY aware of this, which is why she threatened Poizner to get him out of the race. She knew that having to fight a primary challenge for the Republican party while her Democratic opponent gets to sit back and relax places her at a serious disadvantage. Because Brown hasn't officially declared, she's also aware that any direct attacks on him run the risk of alienating the "anti-partisan bickering" independents ("Wow Martha, that Whitman lady is attacking an old man who isn't even in the race!")

Sitting back until the primaries are over is a very good strategy for Brown right now. He might have to reevaluate if the poll numbers shift or if Poizner drops out (isn't gonna happen), but for now, he's in a good spot.

[Greyhound]

14. Like so many of them (on both sides), she's become a parody of a

caricature, parroting absurdities to people incapable of understanding what she says.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Sam Brownback is doing the same thing in Kansas

[ThomWV]

18. "Buy It Now" and the Whitman name need to be synomous

[imnKOgnito]

24. We already sold her....

and certainly don't want her back.

[Johonny]

36. If I ran the Dem campaign I sure would run these ads

edited to push the CEO, run like a business angle. Then run Bush samples from 2000, 2004. In no way do I think in California is labeling yourself the CEO candidate that will run the state like a business is going to look good against a good organized campaigner. Not during a recession caused by CEO businessmen running the American economy into the crapper. Her commercials really beg for the punchline "I'm going to run the state like a business"... "oh your going to ask for a federal bailout too". I seriously don't think America is ready for another "CEO" in the executive office.

[Cetacea]

57. And "negative feedback".

:rofl:

[seattle_blue]

22. At first I wasn't sure

who you were talking about. Then I went to the wiki and realized that it was THAT Meg Whitman! She's an absolute MONSTER!!!!

[Nikki Stone1]

25. K&R

*

[EFerrari]

26. Your headline is a little alarming and misleading. The Democrats will

field a candidate.

[NYC_SKP]

27. All I can say is, "Remember Proposition 8", and how, maybe, we were overconfident.

At least I wasn't expecting the outcome.

The ads were slick, if dishonest, and we were outspent.

But people, enough people to make the difference, bought it.

It's not like the people here have suddenly grown brains.

[EFerrari]

29. Well, seeing that we got Enroned and our Dem gov was kicked out

and then the one (Dem) Secretary of State in the whole country that was going after vapor voting, and that we nearly lost CA in 06 because the Republicans were putting in those effed up machines as fast as they could, I agree with you that we can never be complacent about California. NEVER. The Republicans want her, badly, and they will NEVER stop trying to turn her.

[KonaKane]

28. Like we kept Massachusetts in Democratic hands!

Yeah, that was a mighty effort. Whitman will be a breeze!

Yes, that was cynical. But I'm having one of those days, getting fed up with my party and how they are blowing their advantage in record time.

[Hannah Bell]

30. Meg = the product of 4 generations of great wealth on both sides of the family tree:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x7694259

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Hannah%20Bell/111


Raising arrogant, "entitled" and apparently racist children:

http://gawker.com/5462480/are-meg-whitmans-campaign-donors-funding-her-loutish-sons-salary

http://gawker.com/5428493/why-did-meg-whitmans-son-get-suspended-from-princeton

it-gets-worse-meg-whitmans-sons-racism-and-entitlement-were-stuff-of-legend

[NYC_SKP]

33. Whoa. That's news to me... n/t

[Hannah Bell]

50. but all true. she's a dyed in the wool member of the top reaches of the ruling class.

[Cetacea]

38. Big fan. I once attended a Brown rally in NYC

It was before the New York primary and it was one of the best speeches I've ever heard.

He's got my vote.

[Cleita]

41. He was one of the best governors to date that California has had.

I hope that seasoning will make him an even better one the second time around.

[NYC_SKP]

44. Was it at the Cooper Union, by any chance? I was there. n/t

[suede1]

42. They are effective. I've talked to a few people - call them low information - and they are planning

on voting for her.

She's terrible. Much worse than Arnold.

[Faux pas]

43. Oregonian ex Californian loved Jerry in the 70's, love him

now. Name another presidential candidate who campaigned in a bus and ate tuna sandwiches. GO JERRY!

[proud patriot]

48. joined , friended , and shared

:thumbsup:

[NYC_SKP]

55. THAT's what I'm talkin' about, proud patriot!

That right there! Thank you!

:thumbsup:

[dysfunctional press]

51. people generally get the government that they deserve...

even especially in california.

[rufus dog]

52. Holy Shit!

I just saw the commercial with testimonials from some of her employees. That may be the best political ad ever, and is going to pull in a whole lot of independents.

The ads are the anti Fiorina. The first ad was just a get to know her ad and I wasn't too concerned with Brown not being out there yet, but this last one, along with the billion of dollars to follow are concerning.

[NYC_SKP]

56. .

kick. To keep it handy in "myDU".