Lopez on Whitman: How the 'cold fish' Candidate Spent $50 Per Vote...and Lost

Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman looks to the crowd after she conceded the election to Democrat Jerry Brown at her election night party in Los Angeles, Tuesday, November 2, 2010. (AP Photo/Spencer Weiner)

Now that the numbers from Tuesday's vote are being finalized, we can divide what losing candidate Meg Whitman spent on her campaign by the number of votes cast for her, and come up with a figure close to $50 per vote. Today, LA Times columnist Steve Lopez takes on her expenditures, on their own and compared to the winning Jerry Brown.

So you can't buy the Governor's job...but did Whitman lose because of how much green she spent or because she was too green when it comes to political know-how?

"I'd say both things did her in," offers Lopez, "as did her cold-fish personality and the revelation that as a student, she had apparently skipped classes on both civics and suffrage, having gone decades without stepping inside a polling booth."

Following her loss Tuesday night, many pundits weighed in on what did Whitman in.