EBay’s Whitman Battered by Goldman, Immigration as Lead Slides

May 25, 2010, 12:12 AM EDT

By Michael B. Marois and William Selway

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Meg Whitman, the former EBay Inc. executive who’s seeking the Republican nomination to succeed Arnold Schwarzenegger as California’s governor, has seen her lead in polls evaporate over her ties to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and her stand on illegal immigration.

Whitman, 53, has spent $68 million of her own money in the race only to have her support among likely Republican voters plunge 23 points since March in her race with state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, according to a poll by the Public Policy Institute of California released May 19. Poizner, who was paid $1 billion by Qualcomm Inc. for his cell-phone technology company in 2000, has plowed $24 million of his own into the Republican race.

“He’s been hitting her pretty hard on two issues in particular, Goldman Sachs and illegal immigration,â€