Meg hearts Rick!

Meg Whitman, potential future Republican nominee for California Governor, apparently is on a listening tour across the country. She's trying to learn how to be a good Governor from those she considers to be good Governors.

Whitman's resume:

*CEO of a bunch of very successful companies.

*Likes horses and the ocean.

*Womanly.

*Rich.

*No, really, that's a real horse.

Fortune has the story (link). Excerpt follows:

Only a Bain-trained ex-CEO would figure out how she wants to govern by visiting governors across the U.S. That's what Whitman has been doing, seeking best practices from standout Republican leaders. To talk job creation, which she says is the key lever to lift the economy, she went to see the Texas governor, Rick Perry, last October. "More than half of all the new jobs created in the U.S. in 2008 were in Texas," Whitman says, noting that Houston has become a magnet for "green" jobs. "If you can get taxes right and regulation right, you can create jobs."

She has set a goal to create 2 million new jobs in California in four years. California dreamin', her critics say. The Sacramento Bee accused her of "pie-in-the-sky promises" and argued that the state added only 250,000 jobs annually in good times. Poizner, too, says, "I'm an entrepreneur, and I like stretch goals, but I've seen no evidence at all that that's achievable." Says Whitman, who worked with economists at Stanford to come up with her target: "We'll do it by streamlining regulations, restructuring and cutting taxes, spending less and spending smarter."

Uh oh. Rick gave away all the secrets. Who wouldn't want to live in beautiful California with Texas' tax climate? I would move there in a heartbeat if not for the toxic political and business climate they have.