If Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina end up beating the odds on Tuesday, you can bet Hollywood won't make their thank-you lists.
The two Republican candiates have mounted spirited challenges to their Democratic challengers Sen. Barbara Boxer and former Gov. Jerry Brown, but the industry’s band of conservatives have largely decided to sit out these hotly contested races.
TheWrap found a pathetically thin list of Fiorina donors with industry ties (only one hand necessary), and less than two dozen for Whitman (see charts).
Even Whitman's list pales in comparison to the scores of movie, music and television stars who have opened their wallets for Brown and Boxer.
Executives like Michael Lynton and Haim Saban (both well-known liberals) have given to Whitman; but they give a lot more to the other side. Best-selling author Dean Koontz has donated to Fiorina (see below), but after that the list grows scant.
Who's giving to Boxer and Brown? See: Elections '10: Who's $upporting Whom in Hollywood
Instead, right-leaning actors and producers such as Jerry Bruckheimer, Gary Sinise and Jon Voight have largely chosen to give to out-of-state Republicans like Illinois Republican senate candidate Mark Kirk or Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown.
At least, they're giving. Some past donors, such as Clint Eastwood and Robert Duvall, haven't written a single check.
Fiorina's campaign doesn't deny there's been a problem, but charges that it's bad politics.
In relentlessly backing the Democratic establishment, Hollywood is voting against its own self-interest, Fiorina spokesperson Andrea Saul told TheWrap.
“Despite Boxer’s decades of repaying special interests who bankroll her campaign, Boxer has been especially bad for the entertainment industry by pressing for job-killing legislation, more than a trillion dollars in tax hikes and more government intrusion into our lives while limiting our film, music, and television shows’ global reach and exposing them to more piracy by opposing free trade,” Saul said.
See also: Kamala Harris Weighs In on Opponent Steve Cooley and Polanski Case
So what's behind the GOP money shortfall?
For one thing, this time the California Republican standard-bearers may be too far right for Hollywood-style conservatives, who like their tax cuts but don’t get as passionate about gay marriage and abortion. For instance, some Grand Old Party boosters like “Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry and Bruckheimer donated to Fiorina’s Republican primary opponent, the more socially liberal Tom Campbell.
“Fiorina has run as fairly dogmatic -- she’s anti-immigration and anti-gay marriage. Whitman has tilted more toward the center, but she’s still running to the right of Arnold Schwarzenegger,” Larry Gerston, professor of political science at San Jose State University, told TheWrap.
Also, “The California races are not duplicating the national pattern in that the Democrats will likely win. There are a lot of real close races across the country, and they may feel that they will have a greater impact if they donate outside the state,” Raphael Sonenshein, a professor of political science at California State University, Fullerton, told TheWrap.
