Former eBay CEO Meg Whitman debates her rival for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Steve Poizner.  Whitman-Poizner race gets closer in California
By Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 10, 2010For months, former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman was the story of California politics -- using tens of millions of dollars in personal campaign contributions to build a wide lead over state Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner in the Republican primary for governor and emerging as a front-runner in a general-election matchup against state Attorney General Jerry Brown (D). Of late, Whitman is the story for a different reason. She has watched her support rapidly erode and is now in a real race against Poizner in advance of the June 8 primary. In a memo distributed to reporters last week, Poizner pollster Neil Newhouse released data that put Whitman ahead of Poizner by 38 percent to 28 percent, a far cry from the edge of 59 percent to 11 percent she held done in February. (The Fix is aware of at least two other private polls that show the race that close or closer.) "Meg Whitman has been steadily losing voters and doing so at an accelerated rate as GOP voters increasingly begin to focus on this race," Newhouse wrote. The Whitman forces acknowledge slippage but insist all is well. "What we've seen is [Poizner's] money spent in trying to drive Meg's negatives has had a leveling effect on the race," said Whitman consultant Rob Stutzman. What gives? How can a candidate who has already lent her campaign $59 million and hired the best consulting team money can buy find herself in a dogfight with three weeks to go? In conversations with close observers of California politics, a few reasons for Whitman's struggles stand out. First, the state has a history of wariness toward free-spending business people running for office. From Michael Huffington to Al Checchi to Steve Westly, candidates whose money stands at the center of their campaigns have been rejected. (Poizner is something of a flawed messenger on this issue, having already donated $19 million of his own money to his bid.) Second, Whitman has allowed herself to be defined as the insider in a year when being the outsider represents the political high ground. With former governor Pete Wilson serving as her campaign chairman and endorsements from national political figures such as Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, Whitman has turned into the de facto incumbent. Poizner has sought to drive that point home to voters with an ad in which Whitman morphs into Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) -- a decidedly unpopular figure among Republican voters. Third, Whitman's adversarial relationship with the press -- she has had several high-profile run-ins with the media in the state, and her campaign has been accused by Poizner of hiding her from reporters -- has contributed to a sense of entitlement and aloofness that voters find unattractive. While…

 US breast cancer drug decision 'marks start of death panels' America's health watchdog is considering revoking its approval of the drug Avastin for use on women with advanced breast cancer, leading to accusations that it will mark the start of 'death panel' drug rationing. By Nick Allen, in Los Angeles and Andrew Hough
 US regulators will delay consideration of the colon-cancer drug Avastin as a treatment for breast cancer Photo: BLOOMBERG  A decision to rescind endorsement of the drug would reignite the highly charged debate over US health care reform and how much the state should spend on new and expensive treatments. Avastin, the world’s best selling cancer drug, is primarily used to treat colon cancer and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2008 for use on women with breast cancer that has spread. It costs $8,000 (£5,000) a month and is given to about 17,500 women in the US a year. The drug was initially approved after a study found that, by preventing blood flow to tumours, it extended the amount of time until the disease worsened by more than five months. However, two new studies have shown that the drug may not even extend life by an extra month. The FDA advisory panel has now voted 12-1 to drop the endorsement for breast cancer treatment. The panel unusually cited "effectiveness" grounds for the decision. But it has been claimed that "cost effectiveness" was the real reason ahead of reforms in which the government will extend health insurance to the poorest. If the approval of the drug is revoked then US insurers would be likely to stop paying for Avastin. The Avastin recommendation led to revived allegations that President Barack Obama’s overhaul of the US health care system would mean many would be denied treatments currently available. During the debate, those opposed to the reforms cited Britain’s National Institute for Clinical Excellence, which decides whether new treatments should be made available on the NHS on the basis of cost effectiveness, as an example of the sort of drug rationing that amounted to a "death panel". David Vitter, the Republican Senator for Louisiana, said the FDA decision amounted to rationing health care. "I shudder at the thought of a government panel assigning a value to a day of a person’s life," he said. "It is sickening to think that care would be withheld from a patient simply because their life is not deemed valuable enough. "I fear this is the beginning of a slippery slope leading to more and more rationing under the government takeover of health care that is being forced on the American people." Avastin has been described as "the poster child for expensive anti-cancer drugs". When reviewing drugs for approval the FDA is only charged with looking at their health risks and benefits, not cost effectiveness. It usually follows advisory panel recommendations. A final decision will be announced on Sept 17. Avastin made…

 Suburbia's spies next door   On the surface, Richard and Cynthia Murphy seemed utterly at home in the wholesome, leafy New Jersey suburb of Montclair.  Read Article    

 What has Obama got against the PlayStation? The Blackberry-loving US President has struck a fogey-ish tone in his misguided pronouncement about technology, says Shane Richmond.   

Morgan Freeman: The pro Read Article