Word: states
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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That's particularly true in California, a state in almost perpetual crisis - it's "effectively bankrupt," as Whitman likes to put it - with a budget deficit befitting Argentina and crises with water, highways, prisons, schools, immigration and unemployment. The legislature and the governor are openly hostile to each other, and the electorate is disgusted with both of them. (Their approval ratings are 18% and 28%, respectively.) This state of affairs is alternately described as the end of civilization or America's bright future, depending on whom you ask. Driving around the state, you'd never know that California...
...things done at 100%, as opposed to trying to solve every problem," she says. To that end, she proposes three ideas: creating jobs by slashing taxes and regulation; improving the education system by grading schools and launching more charter schools; and reducing government spending, primarily by firing thousands of state workers. (She won't say which ones.) And - surprise - she intends to reap big savings from the state budget by eliminating "waste, fraud and abuse" through the introduction of more technology to the statehouse. Then that "spine of steel" comes up again. "If you have a huge need...
...Gray Davis in the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1998; and the businessman Bill Simon, who campaigned unsuccessfully against Davis in 2002. All of them were seen as overconfident and underprepared, liable to self-destruct when pressed on basic policy questions. Raphael Sonenshein, a political-science professor at California State University at Fullerton, notes that self-made, first-time candidates often imagine incorrectly that politics can be made as efficient, orderly and logical as business. "While [very wealthy candidates] are usually competitive, it's not nearly as easy as they think it's going to be," he says. "There...
...hasn't been as controversial as the way she is spending it. So far, she has injected $19 million of her money into a campaign that could end up costing $50 million or more. (She has raised more than $7 million.) She has alarmed longtime GOP hands in the state by burning through her funds at a frightening pace, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars monthly on strategic advisers, pollsters, fundraising experts and a social-networking start-up called Tokoni, founded by former eBay and Skype executives, which is managing her online presence...
...Whitman could still overcome both ideology and history to win. Her opponents for the GOP nomination, former Congressman Tom Campbell and state insurance commissioner Steve Poizner, throw her strengths and weaknesses into stark relief. Campbell is the kindly, well-versed uncle in the race and probably the most qualified candidate for the job. If Hollywood was casting for a man to play a governor in a movie, it would tap someone more like Campbell - with a moderate bent, a conservative suit and five terms in Congress representing Silicon Valley districts - than Arnold Schwarzenegger. When asked what distinguishes him from Whitman...