As the new year dawned, the Republican race for governor was a contest between two wealthy former business executives who were paying for their campaigns out of their own deep pockets.
The big campaign contributors were on the sidelines, cheering them on.
In the weeks since then, the candidates, who squared off last night in a debate, have continued to pay their own way: More than 80 percent of the reported donations in the race through the weekend have come from either former eBay CEO Meg Whitman ($39 million) or from Snaptrack Inc. founder-turned state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner ($18.67 million.)
But recently, some GOP donations have begun flowing into the race, and almost all of the money has gone to Whitman, records show.
Since Jan. 1, Whitman has raised $672,000 in donations of $1,000 or more, according to the California Secretary of State. Meanwhile, Poizner managed to raise only $34,400 in big contributions.
The amount Whitman got from donors this year is dwarfed by what Whitman has given herself – she wrote herself a $20 million check on Jan. 19.
But the combination of her enormous wealth and her increasing allure for big donors has to be of concern for Poizner, who had seemed relatively well positioned for a campaign against a billionaire.
On Jan. 1, Poizner had about $17.8 million banked for the race. Donors had given him $2.16 million in 2009, to go with the $18.67 million obtained from a family foundation. More importantly, he ran a low-budget campaign in 2009, spending only $3.75 million.
By contrast, Whitman had only about $10.5 million in the bank on New Year’s Day, records show. She put in $19 million of her own money, only slightly more than Poizner up to that point, and raised $10.2 million more. (As California Watch reported, bundled donations came from executives of eBay and of the Goldman Sachs investment bank.) But Whitman spent heavily in 2009 – more than $13 million – and had less cash on hand than Poizner.
It looked like a relatively even contest. Until Whitman’s $20 million (unanswered by Poizner) and the flurry of donations changed that dynamic.
Whitman’s new donors include: the CEO of Devcon Construction, which hopes to build the proposed San Francisco 49ers football stadium in Santa Clara; Nike CEO Philip Knight; and Haim Saban, the Malibu mega-donor who used to give heavily to Democrats, including former Gov. Gray Davis, who put him on the UC Board of Regents. All gave her the maximum, $25,900.
Poizner got a maximum donation from Samuel Cole, who works at Blue Mountain Capital Management in New Jersey.
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