Meg Whitman spending hits $163M

Meg Whiman

By ANDY BARR
Politico.com
10/22/10

California GOP gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman spent almost $23 million in the first 16 days of October, bringing her total to $163 million, according to a campaign finance disclosure filed Thursday.

Whitman still trails Democrat Jerry Brown by 8 percentage points, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll released earlier this week.

Brown spent $14.6 million during the first 16 days of the month, more than half of the $25.3 million his campaign has spent in total. Heading into the last few days of the campaign, Brown has $11.6 million in cash on hand.

Whitman has $12.4 million available in her campaign account, but that figure is essentially meaningless because the billionaire former eBay CEO, has contributed $141.6 million of her own funds on the race, and has pledged to spend up to $150 million of her own money.

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