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Republican gubernatorial candidate Whitman

Republican gubernatorial nominee Meg Whitman's rapid decline in the polls as the election approaches reflects in part the damage from the scandal involving her former maid. But it also illustrates the limitations of a campaign that has relied on political consultants and paid advertising, rather than a compelling persona or set of ideas, to try and connect with voters.

Whitman has pumped more than $141 million of her own money into the campaign, and some $17 million has been spent on consultants and related expenses. While the Whitman campaign has pursued some aggressive strategies in "micro-targeting" California's diverse constituencies, it has failed to generate the grass-roots enthusiasm and buzz that the rookie Republican candidate desperately needs in a largely Democratic state.

From the early days of the race, Whitman has relied on a number of former eBay colleagues with limited political experience. Tokoni Inc., founded by former eBay executives Mary Lou Song and Alex Kazim, has been paid about $4 million to handle online services, such as social media outreach and the design of Whitman's web site – the firm's first foray into political work for a candidate.

Henry Gomez, who oversaw public relations at eBay during Whitman's tenure, is now a senior advisor to her campaign, overseeing speechwriting and press relations. His firm, HSG, has been paid nearly $913,940, according to campaign finance reports. Gomez and Kazim are both registered Democrats.

Ray McNally, a Republican political consultant based in Sacramento, said Whitman's camp—an amalgam of Silicon Valley political novices and top-flight campaign operatives—has created a meta-brand, rather than a captivating persona, to engage voters.

By contrast, Brown's campaign is running a "zen-like" operation with a clear message, McNally said.

"She is one of the more dependent candidates on political consultants, and that's a function of her inexperience," McNally said. "Eisenhower probably had a smaller staff for D-Day. When you have $161 million to spend on your campaign, it doesn't mean you get a better campaign, you get a bigger campaign."

Whitman's team also includes veterans, such as chief strategist Mike Murphy, who once advised Mitt Romney and John McCain among other Republicans. His firm, Bonaparte Films, LLC, earns $90,000 a month. Campaign manager Jillian Hasner, the wife of Florida House Majority Leader Adam Hasner, (R-Boca Raton), earns $30,000 a month.

Andrea Rivera, a spokeswoman for Whitman's campaign, said the fractious race required shrewd tactics.

"We have known that this will be a close race and have invested in having an aggressive micro-targeting and get-out-the-vote effort," Rivera wrote in an e-mail.

The campaign tills the state's voter registration file, which includes basic demographic data, such as age, gender and party affiliation, and where and how frequently voters go to the polls. But it has also gleaned highly specific consumer information from marketing firms. For example, a list of magazine subscribers combined with the voter registration records could help pinpoint voters in their late 50s; the campaign might send those voters a mailer touting Whitman's economic policy. By contrast, a young homeowner who owns a Prius might receive a pamphlet about green technology and Whitman's business experience.

The campaign also leverages web users' ISP addresses, customizing online pop-up ads on Facebook, AOL and MSN that implore volunteers and donors to visit the campaign's web site.

Brown recently made strides with Latino and independent voters—key voting blocs that Whitman has tried to embrace through key hires, such as Hector Barajas. He is helping with her campaign's Latino outreach, and more recently, to quell the fallout from Nicandra Diaz Santillan—the illegal housekeeper she employed for nine years.

"When the story first broke, it was a difficult first couple of days," Barajas said. "It was a distraction. But I don't think it will impede her likeability on Election Day."

Under Barajas's direction, the campaign has made an aggressive push into ethnic neighborhoods. Among its 89 offices statewide are several in heavily Latino areas, including Santa Ana, Fresno, Chula Vista and East Los Angeles. The last time a Republican candidate opened a campaign office in East LA was more than 30 years ago, Barajas said.

The campaign has also erected Spanish language billboards and posters in bus shelters along major arteries and freeways in Central and Southern California—also the first such effort by a Republican candidate for a statewide office in at least a decade, Barajas said. The campaign has run 12 television spots and 10 radio ads in Spanish since the start of the primary. Whitman's first television spots in Mandarin and Cantonese recently aired in Los Angeles.

The campaign is also aiming to rally California's diverse electorate with mailers in Mandarin, Spanish and even Vietnamese. The Brown campaign said its advertising and mailers are limited to English and Spanish.

"If you have unlimited resources, like our opponent, you could send out mailers in Tagalog," Clifford said. "But we do not have unlimited resources."

Indeed, Ann Le, a registered Democrat, said she was surprised to receive a slick mailer in Vietnamese from Whitman's campaign.

"It was tailored to me as a Vietnamese-American," said Le, 32, an international development professional who lives in Sausalito. "It won't change my vote, but I felt like, yeah, if I were in the shoes of aunts and uncles who don't speak English that well, and saw that it is in Vietnamese with lots of nice pictures of Asian people, than I'd be like, yeah, why not vote for her?"

Le added that she has yet to receive a mailer in Vietnamese from the Brown campaign.