Republican Meg Whitman to Run for California Governor

SAN FRANCISCO—Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO and onetime adviser to John McCain's presidential campaign, announced today that she has submitted her bid to run for governor of California next year.

Several high-profile Democrats, including San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and the state's attorney general, Jerry Brown, have already joined the race to replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose second term ends in 2010. Whitman, though, may be the best-known Republican to throw her hat in the ring.

"California faces challenges unlike any other time in its history—a weak and faltering economy, massive job losses, and an exploding state budget deficit. California is better than this, and I refuse to stand by and watch it fail," Whitman said in a prepared statement. "Now is the time for people across the state to join in a cause for change, excellence, and a new California."

With 17 months to go until the election, political analysts here are already predicting a blockbuster race for governor. As more and more big names have waded into the fray, the San Francisco Chronicle , in a typical example of the hyperbole surrounding the nascent campaign, referred to the race today as "a battle for the ages."

Three Democrats—Newsom, Brown, and John Garamendi, the state's lieutenant governor—have each raised more than $1 million for their campaigns, with Brown topping the list at $3.4 million last year. Whitman's likely competition in the Republican primary, Steve Poizner, a wealthy former Silicon Valley executive who serves as the state's insurance commissioner, has personally donated more than $500,000 to his own campaign.

Experts believe Whitman, a fiscal conservative who praised the effectiveness of tax cuts in a prime-time speech at the Republican National Convention, shouldn't have any problems competing when it comes to campaign funding. Her net worth was estimated at $1.4 billion in 2007, and many analysts say her corporate credentials as the former CEO of eBay, where she built a small Internet start-up into a $7.7 billion global giant, will keep donors interested. U.S. News examined Whitman's political prospects in a story last month.

As the gubernatorial field in California continues to take shape, there is still at least one remaining wild card: Dianne Feinstein, the state's popular senator, who leads every poll of would-be Democratic contenders, has not decided whether she will enter the race.

• Read more about Whitman's political prospects.