During the recent state Democratic Party convention, I had the chance to sit down and talk politics with former Controller and gubernatorial candidate Steve Westly.
As the co-chair of President Obama's California campaign last fall, one of the president's earliest supporters in the Democratic primary and a leading campaign fundraiser, Westly is probably as close to Obama's political team as any California politician.

So I found it noteworthy when Westly asserted that the Obama camp has an intense interest in California's 2010 gubernatorial campaign. The reason? With the national Republican Party in disarray and lacking any potential 2012 presidential candidates who would appear at this time to be formidable challengers, there is a concern that the 2010 campaign in California could produce one.

The two leading Republican contenders for governor, Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman, each have two qualities that could make them dangerous wild cards in the 2012 presidential calculus. Each is pro-choice, and each is a billionaire -- not necessarily in order of importance. And anyone who is elected governor of California instantly becomes a potential contender in the presidential politics of either party. If the GOP had a Californian on the ticket who could carry his or her home state, the Democrats' path to an Electoral College victory would become very tricky indeed.

Either Poizner or Whitman seems more threatening to the White House just now than, say, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Westly indicated that the 2010 Democratic nominee in California can expect active support from the White House political team.

One other intriguing observation from Westly: He believes the odds of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein running for governor are much higher than conventional wisdom indicates. Westly put the odds at 1 in 4.