Troubled California Stays Blue

Fiorina (left) and Whitman.

Michel Czerwonka / Getty Images (left); David McNew / Getty Images

It’s easy to see why Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman think they’d be good for top jobs in California. The senatorial and gubernatorial hopefuls have both run booming companies—Hewlett-Packard and eBay—and California could use some good business sense (you can already hear the ads). Convincing, perhaps, but the government isn’t a business. Policy still matters, especially in major capitals such as Sacramento and Washington. Both women are hoping populist anger will color the Golden State a redder hue, but they’ve already misstepped by staking their campaigns on an impending backlash to environmental concerns—unwise in the state that lays claim to both San Francisco and Hollywood. Whitman will lose to Golden Boy Jerry Brown. And Fiorina? Electing her would mean replacing high-ranking Barbara Boxer with a junior senator in the minority party. One delegate sitting firmly in each caucus would effectively neutralize the state’s impact. California can be called many things—radical, intrepid, broke—but neutral isn’t one of them.