‘The Battle of the Super Rich’

It'll take deep pockets to run for California governor this year, as two Republican candidates—the state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner and billionaire eBay CEO Meg Whitman—throw tens of millions of their own money into advertising. The San Francisco Chronicle is calling the contest the "Battle of the Super Rich." Voters will decide who will replace Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger next November. Right now Whitman holds a 4-to-1 lead over Poizner. Democrats see the big spending—Whitman could pony up $150 million by the end of the campaign—as a sign of the Republican's distance from average voters. "At some point, Ms. Whitman will have to declare herself and what she stands for," said a Democratic party official. "You take away her money, and would we be talking about her?"