An alliance that helps McCain -- and her
As John McCain begins a three-day swing today through California -- one of the newest members of his campaign team, outgoing EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman, may draw much of the attention.
Whitman, a 51-year-old billionaire, according to Forbes magazine, is said to be considering a run for California governor in 2010 after getting her first taste of politics on the finance team of ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney, a former colleague at the consulting firm Bain & Co.
Whitman was coy about her own political aspirations in an interview Friday about her new role as national co-chairwoman of McCain's presidential campaign.
The initial speculation began after she met some "very influential and senior Republicans" and big donors while raising money for Romney, and some of those Republican heavyweights said, " 'You should think about this,' " she recalled.
Whitman waved off questions by saying she was focusing on ensuring a smooth transition for incoming CEO John Donahoe, helping McCain get elected and taking back some of the household responsibilities from her neurosurgeon husband, who picked up the slack while she was at EBay for 10 years.
Pressed on whether she would rule out a run, she said: "Never say never."
The McCain-Whitman alliance could be beneficial to both of them.
"By the end of this experience . . . she'll have a real good idea of what she'd have to go through herself to win an election in a state the size of California," said Republican strategist Rob Stutzman, a former California campaign advisor to Romney.
Republican consultant Don Sipple said Whitman would get to know political donors "that she will need to tap if she was to pursue a political career of her own."
Whitman's fundraising skills and connections in Silicon Valley are an obvious asset to McCain, who raised $11 million in February -- compared with the combined $90 million taken in by his Democratic opponents.
McCain's team is also trying to broaden his appeal among professional women as well as bolster his economic credentials. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was recently named to lead the Republican National Committee's political and fundraising efforts for the 2008 campaign.
"McCain's bus is always going to be a boys' club. . . . So it is good to have nonpolitical women -- meaning Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman -- out there," Sipple said. "I think McCain is going to have a huge gender gap going into the general election and he's going to have to ameliorate that."
