eBay's Meg Whitman to Run for CA Governor

The Republican bench in California is remarkably weak, but there's a new player that wants the top job:

Former eBay Inc Chief Executive Meg Whitman, one of the highest profile Republican technology executives in Silicon Valley, has formed a committee to explore running for governor of California in 2010, the first official step of a campaign.

The most populous U.S. state is known for its liberal, trend-making social ways, but it has a strong socially conservative element and a long history of electing Republican governors, from Ronald Reagan to current Governors Arnold Schwarzenegger.

California is in the middle of a fiscal crisis, with a $40 billion budget gap over a year a half, spiking unemployment and a continuing mortgage industry crisis.

"California faces challenges unlike any other time in its history - a weak and faltering economy, massive job losses, and an exploding state budget deficit," Whitman, 52, said in a statement. "I refuse to stand by and watch it fail."

Whitman built eBay from a tiny start-up to the dominant online auctioneer. She will face at least one other Republican tech exec in the battle for the party nomination -- Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.

Andrew Malcolm has more on Whitman here.

A state which has the fiscal problems California has could certainly use a chief executive with some real world business experience. The Democrats will put up either Mayor Antonio "Viva la Raza" Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, Mayor Gavin "Laws Mean Nothing to Me" Newsom of San Francisco, Attorney General and former Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown, or possibly Senator Dianne Feinstein.

On paper Whitman should be an easy choice. In reality, a Democrat is significantly favored regardless of qualifications.