Whitman spends $80 million on governor's race


By Jack Chang
jchang@sacbee.com
Published: Thursday, May. 27, 2010 - 7:50 pm
Last Modified: Thursday, May. 27, 2010 - 8:06 pm

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman continued her record-shattering spending streak this spring, burning through $33.8 million in about two months, according to a campaign finance statement filed Thursday.

That amount brings the billionaire candidate's spending total to more than $80 million, with $68 million of it coming from her own personal wealth.

The former CEO of online auction firm eBay has said she's prepared to spend as much as $150 million of her own wealth on her campaign. She had $3.8 million in cash on hand as of May 22.

By comparison, Democratic candidate Jerry Brown had spent just $259,582 from March 18 to May 22, bringing his campaign expenditure total to about $320,000. He had $20.6 million in cash on hand as of May 22.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Poizner, another wealthy former Silicon Valley CEO, spent $17.3 million between March 18 and May 22 after holding onto his resources for months. He's sunk about $24 million of his own wealth in his campaign and had about $3 million in cash on hand.

Poizner's campaign has spent $17.9 million on TV advertising compared to the $42 million spent by Whitman.
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