California politics: Whitman's refusal to debate raises questions

SACRAMENTO — Meg Whitman's refusal to debate in the early months of her campaign for governor is beginning to raise questions about whether it's part of a long-term strategy to limit her exposure and carefully control the image she wants to project.

As the only gubernatorial candidate with no background in elective politics, the billionaire and former chief executive officer of eBay has eschewed head-to-head confrontations with her Republican primary opponents while insisting she looks forward to debates.

Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner's campaign accused her of trying to "get around" the typical vetting process of a campaign, taking her to task for failing to agree to participate in an Oct. 18 debate in Orange County. Whitman skipped a debate in Sacramento, prompting the Poizner campaign to create a Web site, MegaDuck2010.com, which calls her the "candidate who won't debate."

"It's clear that her strategy will be to spend millions of dollars on TV ads without having to get into specifics," said Jarrod Agen, Poizner's communications director. "There's a giant learning curve in running a campaign. What we're seeing is that she's not ready for prime time. She's being very cautious and not wanting to say the wrong things, because she's not used to the political arena."

http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_13187023?nclick_check=1

like Palin was so fond of doing.

From a business and economic standpoint, I'd agree with the comparison to Romney.