Happy Insurance: california election

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

EBay's Whitman wins California governor primary

Former eBay Inc CEO Meg Whitman, a political novice, has won the Republican nomination for California governor, the Sacramento Bee newspaper, in the state's capital, and television network MSNBC said on Tuesday.

Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman celebrates after winning the Republican nomination for California governor in Los Angeles, California, June 8, 2010

Billionaire Whitman spent some $80 million, mostly her own money, to win the primary against millionaire Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, promising to focus on creating jobs, cutting government spending and "fixing" education.

California Election Results 2010

The California primary elections for governor and Senate went largely as expected on Tuesday night, but now all eyes turn to what are likely to be highly contentious -- and unpredictable -- November contests in the Golden State. Still, the results were historic. For the first time, the California Republican Party nominated women to the top of the ticket in both the governor's race and the race for the a U.S. Senate seat.

Meg Whitman, the billionaire former eBay chief executive who poured tens of millions of her own fortune into her first-time bid for political office, easily won the Republican primary for California governor Tuesday, advancing to face a Democratic icon, former two-term Gov. Jerry Brown. Another wealthy businesswoman, former Hewlett-Packard Co. CEO Carly Fiorina, won the right to challenge Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the fall.

Those wins will kick off an election season of big-money campaigns and high drama in the nation's most populous state, pitting two deep-pocketed Silicon Valley business stars against stalwarts of the Democratic Party establishment.

See the final vote tallies below and let us know which results you were most surprised by.