During Meg Whitman’s 10 years as chief executive of Ebay, she orchestrated a massive expansion of the online auction site, transforming it from a small company with 30 employees to one of Silicon Valley’s powerhouses with annual revenue of $8bn (€5.75bn, £5bn).

That kind of success won her plenty of fans on Wall Street. Now Ms Whitman appears to be betting that her record as a businesswoman will impress California’s voters. Should she run for governor of the state in 2010, as is likely, Ms Whitman will become the most well-known Silicon Valley executive to seek office.