CEO Status Paying Off Big for Trio of GOP Women

The 2010 midterm elections have already seen the rise of the Tea Party, the defeat of incumbents no one knew were in trouble, and a fresh batch of self-funding candidates -- not all of whom got out of their primaries with their prospects still alive -- who were willing to trade their fortunes for low-paying, high-flying jobs as elected officials.

But three of those wealthy 2010 candidates are introducing a new archetype into American politics: the self-made female business executive who has migrated from the highest rung of the corporate ladder to the rough and tumble reality of the campaign trail.

Meg Whitman, Linda McMahon and Carly Fiorina are all CEOs-turned-GOP political hopefuls in 2010. Each has had a high-profile career running a publicly traded company and is now seeking statewide public office. Each also has deep pockets to finance her campaign, zero days in elected office, and an opponent with decades of political experience.

"Business and law are the overwhelming majority of backgrounds for people who go into politics, regardless of whether they're men or women," said Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University. "What makes these women unique is that they were at the highest level of accomplishment in business and they are starting at the top level in politics."

The contest that best reflects the potential strengths and weaknesses these CEOs bring to the table is the California governor's race, where Meg Whitman is running against the state's attorney general and former governor, Jerry Brown. Whitman is the former CEO of eBay, the online auction giant that she ran for 10 years as it grew from 30 employees to 15,000.

Whitman is playing the no-nonsense outsider, putting her private sector experience front and center. "At eBay, I was successful because I led with conservative economic principles," she says in one commercial. Her platform is similarly business focused, promising to create jobs, cut government spending, reform the state's pension system, and make California more business friendly.

She often contrasts her résumé with that of Brown, whom she calls a lifelong politician "with a legacy of failure." Whitman has hit Brown for increasing taxes (a charge he denies), growing government, and saddling California businesses with red tape and taxes. For his part, Brown is working to morph Whitman's strongest asset -- her business experience -- into her greatest weakness by painting her as a tool of corporate America in the mold of George W. Bush.

"She has the values that if you just give it to Wall Street and business and follow the George Bush playbook, things will be well," Brown said during his first debate with Whitman Tuesday night. "But we've seen the results of that, and they're not very pretty."

Brown's attacks on Whitman's business record come on the heels of revelations of a 2007 incident at eBay, in which a female EBay employee claimed Whitman physically shoved her in a company board room. The event resulted in a six-figure settlement for the employee, complete with a gag order that has kept details out of the press. Whitman explained that "that kind of thing can happen in a high-pressure work environment," but Whitman's rivals point to the episode as an example of an aggressive corporate boss who abused her employees.

Like Whitman, Fiorina and McMahon are also learning that their time as CEOs can cut both ways in their candidacies.

In the California Senate race, Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer is using Fiorina's often tumultuous HP tenure in an effort to portray the former chief executive as a corporate fat cat who oversaw massive layoffs, while also enjoying lavish corporate spending when she led the company. "Outsourcing jobs, out for herself," one Boxer ad says ominously.

Across the country in Connecticut, Democrats have also tried to make Linda McMahon's corporate experience a liability by highlighting the unorthodox nature of her family's business -- World Wrestling Entertainment. "Don't let McMahon put the smack down on Connecticut workers," a union mailer reads, as it accuses her of failing to provide health benefits for workers.

McMahon has addressed her WWE record head on and describes the industry a "soap opera."

"That isn't real, but our problems are," she explains in one of her many ads. In addition to promising to create jobs, balance the federal budget, and stop tax increases, she also contrasts her experience against her opponent, Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut's attorney general since 1991. "It's time for something different," she says.

Although all political candidates have to address assaults on their records, Whitman, McMahon and Fiorina are uniquely equipped to respond to opponents' attacks and launch their own, thanks to the fortunes they made in the private sector.

Whitman alone has poured $120 million of her own money into her campaign to fund its operations at every level, making her the highest spending self-funded candidate in American history. Jennifer Duffy, the senior editor of the Cook Political Report, calls California "a sinkhole for campaign money" and said that Whitman's ability to pay for her own is essential to her success so far.

"Democrats like to mock the spending, but if you asked them if they wanted to trade places, they wouldn't turn you down," Duffy said, noting that Whitman may be accused down the line of trying to buy the election. "I'll be interested to see if Democrats make that argument against her."

Although Fiorina has not dipped into her personal fortune at the same level as Whitman, she did pump nearly $7 million into her primary race against Tea Party favorite Chuck DeVore and former congressman Tom Campbell, and may need to do so again if she wants to get traction on Boxer soon. A USC/ L.A. Times poll shows Fiorina trailing Boxer, 43 percent to 51 percent.

McMahon has spent so much money in Connecticut that she had to answer charges that she is trying to buy the Senate race during an appearance on ABC's "The View." So far, McMahon has used more than $20 million of her own money and has promised to put up $30 million more to avoid taking large donations from political interests.

"This is money I've earned so I'm willing to spend it," she said. "I didn't inherit it, it wasn't given to me. It's money I've earned and this is the investment I'm willing to make."

A Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday showed that McMahon's investment is clearly paying off, with Blumenthal's initial 41-point lead over her down to just two points and within the margin of error.

Beyond the money spent and the women's corporate leadership, Jennifer Lawless said the three races are notable because the women have spent little time discussing what are thought of as "women's issues," namely abortion, health care, child care and pay equity. (Whitman and McMahon are pro-choice, while Fiorina is pro-life.)

"There is something to be said for democratic legitimacy and the importance of having two parties that can run female candidates," Lawless said. "In terms of the policy, the jury is still out, but my hunch is it won't forward any kind of women's agenda."

Whether Whitman, McMahon and Fiorina win or lose will be important for their states and their party, but also for other businesswomen contemplating a run for office.

A victory for any of the three will provide a template for female executives looking to move from corporate America to the campaign trail. And if a trend has started, the next crop won't necessarily all be Republicans, either. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), a former RealNetworks executive, is in her second term in the U.S. Senate after spending $10 million in her first Senate race.