It's Official: EBay CEO, Meg Whitman, to Run for Governor

As expected, EBay CEO Meg Whitman will run in the Republican primaries to take Gov. Arnold Scwharzenegger's seat when he terms out in 2010. She will face current Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, also a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur and possibly Tom Campbell, an economics professor at UC Berkeley.

"As a first-time candidate, Whitman faces enormous risks. She has never undergone the intense media scrutiny that accompanies any serious bid for high office," notes the LA Times. "She has only begun to meet the state's vast network of Republican Party players. And with no experience in state office, she must study quickly the panoply of issues facing the nation's most populous state, among them a surge in unemployment, substandard public schools, traffic-clogged freeways and a dysfunctional Legislature that routinely fails to overcome budget shortfalls."

On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. John Garamendi has announced his intention to run with Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom expecting to officially join in on the fun soon. Despite Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa consistently denying any gubernatorial asperations this next election, including to Wolf Blitzer on CNN last week, the LA Times says he "is also weighing whether to join the race after his likely reelection next month."