California may seem to the outside world like a haven of hippy liberalism but in fact it's a deeply split state, and the Republicans are taking note.
The coastal and city zones may be meccas for the more open-minded but most of California's land mass, and pretty much the same amount of people, are from the heartland interior and are very conservative. This makes the state a target for Republicans looking to make life difficult for President Obama and it has enlisted the technology industry's support.
Former
eBay president
Meg Whitman is
running for the Governator's job with his party and
Carly Fiorina is looking to win the Republican nomination to try and unseat
Barbara Boxer. This weekend Whitman got the endorsement of former Vice President Dick Cheney and Fiorina has already received the blessing of Teabagger favourite
Sarah Palin.
Technology firms tend to be socially liberal, particularly as start-ups where every good hand counts, but fiscally conservative because no company likes paying taxes. While companies like
Microsoft traditionally support Democratic politicians (excepting the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's money for the Discovery Institute) Intel and Oracle have interests in both camps.
Whitman's record never showed much political interest but she's looking like the strongest Republican bet to take over the governorship of the state. She's helped by being able to fund a lot of her own effort without having to kowtow to lobbies and Cheney's support means the establishment's financial muscle could start throwing money at the campaign.
Carly Fiorina's campaign is less clear. She's running against Senator Barbara Boxer, although she hasn't clinched the nomination as yet. It'll be a tough race to win, particularly after the '
Demon Sheep' fiasco.
The biggest potential disruption factor is the Supreme Court ruling that corporations and individuals can give what they like to political campaigns. If the tech industry wants to throw its billions of dollars at this election the result could be very interesting.
17 May 2010
