By CARLA MARINUCCI, San Francisco Chronicle

Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman proudly argues she turned the online auction company into a household name -- right up there with Coca-Cola and Nike -- by successfully "branding" its image into the minds of millions of American consumers.

As California's two GOP gubernatorial candidates rushed in recent days from NASCAR races to town-hall meetings, Attorney General Jerry Brown -- the Democrats' lone hope for governor this year -- has been so low-key and out of the limelight that Republicans have begun a daily chant: "Where's Jerry?"

SAN FRANCISCO - They're two high-profile, highly competitive female CEOs of national stature who share the same party -- and worked for the same 2008 presidential candidate, Republican John McCain.

SAN FRANCISCO - A high-profile California insurance company that is backing a controversial insurance measure on the June ballot has engaged in practices that may be illegal, including deceptive pricing and discrimination against consumers such as active members of the military and drivers of emergency vehicles, according to a state report obtained by The San Francisco Chronicle.

Meg Whitman, the billionaire former eBay CEO who has plunged an astonishing $39 million of her own money into her 2010 GOP run for California governor, has some advice for America in her new book: "Be frugal."

The 2009 political year began on a high note of "change" and "hope" and ended in a thud of stalemate, despair and public fury over the economy, health care reform and the war in Afghanistan.

No wonder it may go down as the year of the angry voter.

SAN FRANCISCO - The 2010 California governor's race, already an entertaining reality show, is exhibiting signs of morphing into an expensive, combative new series -- "Battle of the Super Rich."

SAN FRANCISCO - Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman was registered as a Republican voter in San Francisco from 1982 to 1985, city records show, contrary to a report last month that there was no evidence of her registration when she lived in the city in the 1980s.

Republican Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard CEO, took her first formal step Tuesday to challenge incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer -- but does she pass the Citizenship 101 test?

Critics suggest maybe not, considering that Fiorina, 54, who has a spotty California voting record, never cast a ballot in two other states where she lived, according to public records.

With polls showing the legalization of marijuana gaining public support, and a state budget crisis fueling an ever-more-desperate search for revenue, backers of the first major statewide initiative to legalize marijuana for personal use -- and allow counties to tax and regulate the drug -- say they're preparing to get the matter on the November 2010 ballot.