Whitman Doubles Down in Governor's Race With $20 Million More

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman has plunked down another $20 million toward her campaign, making for a total of $39 million the candidate has contributed in the hopes of winning the Republican gubernatorial nomination.

It's now up to fellow Republican hopeful and billionaire Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner to match that again, or not. Poizner has given his own campaign $19.2 million, but as of the latest campaign finance report, still had $17.5 million of that money left.

It's unclear how much money Whitman has left -- all candidates must file campaign finance reports by the end of the month, however, so we should know soon.

Assuming that the campaign needed the money, and it's not just a bluff attempt to bury Poizner in the polls, where did it go?

Whitman has been running radio ads since back in September, and just released a new advertisement blasting poor Californians receiving welfare during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Which, funny thing, Poizner had already started doing earlier in the month.

(Yes, there's a Jay Leno joke in there somewhere.)

The Whitman campaign is temporarily on hold following the death of Whitman's mother, but has released a new video appeal likely targeted to female voters with Whitman campaign staffers praising the candidate for hiring so many women.

As for Tom Campbell, who ditched the gubernatorial race for the senate race to take Senator Barbara Boxer's seat?

Well, as Boxer and Republican hopeful Carly Fiorina bicker and argue over who raised more money in the last quarter, Campbell enjoys a five percent lead over Fiorina in the latest Field Poll, with 30 percent support among likely voters to Fiorina's 25 percent.

However, 39 percent of respondents to the poll are still backing darkhorse candidate "undecided," so it's still anyone's race with four months to go to the primary.

Jackson West sure as hell wouldn't spend $39 million of his own money to apply for a thankless job, if he had $39 million (39 cents is more like it).